Jan-Lennard Struff spread his arms and smiled blissfully. For the first time in his long career, the 33-year-old tennis professional won a tournament on the ATP tour – in the pouring rain, he won the final of the BMW Open in Munich 7:5, 6:3 against Taylor Fritz from the USA. When he scored his first match point after 79 minutes of play, the audience screamed out of their seats.
“It’s unbelievable, I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said the visibly overwhelmed Struff a few moments after his triumph and added a little breathlessly: “I’ve been there for so long, now I’ve finally done it.”
It took a long time, a very long time, before Struff finally won the last match of a singles tournament. The BMW Open was his 218th participation in a tour-level event – he played his first match almost exactly eleven years ago, losing in the first round in Barcelona on April 22, 2013. So now: The coronation, after four titles in doubles, the first in singles.
Struff has earned at least 9.94 million dollars in prize money (currently the equivalent of 9.32 million euros) in his career so far – his first winner’s check now had the sum of 88,125 euros. That’s not all: because he won in Munich, there was also a winning car from main sponsor BMW, this time worth around 100,000 euros – and of course a pair of lederhosen.
2024-04-21 12:59:00
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