Updated on 05/17/2022 at 13:34
- At the upcoming French Open, only two German women are in the main draw.
- Ex-professional Alexander Waske sees the explanation for this in the youth work of the German association.
- He calls for an in-depth analysis and sees the young talents as having a bit of a duty.
The French Open (May 22nd to June 5th) is just around the corner and the German tennis ladies are again facing a difficult task. Because with Andrea Petkovic and Angelique Kerber there are only two DTB players directly in the main field. The rest of the German players must first survive three qualifying rounds before the ticket for the main draw is bought. Among them are experienced players like Laura Siegemund (34), but also future hopes like Jule Niemeier (22).
But currently only the experienced Petkovic (34) and Kerber (34) make it directly into the first round of a Grand Slam tournament via the world rankings. But what is the experienced duo capable of? “For both, a lot depends on the draw,” says ex-professional Alexander Waske in an interview with our editors. Although Petkovic “was in the semifinals before, he recently missed a few tournaments due to injury,” says Waske. At Kerber, sand is “your weakest surface so far”.
Therefore, it would be a “very positive surprise if we had a player in the second week,” says Waske, setting the goal for the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, who also hopes for Niemeier “who plays well on sand”.
Alexander Waske: “Other nations have clearly overtaken us”
But in the end, the “golden generation” around Petkovic and Kerber, which used to include Julia Görges (end of career) and Sabine Lisicki (comeback after a long injury break), is alone in flying the German flag in professional tennis.
“I think other nations have outperformed us. Canada and Italy are examples. The Canadians used to have nobody and are now at the top and Italy now has a wide range of young top players “Waske says about the international standing of German tennis.
On the one hand, this is due to the financial limitations, “because there are no major tournaments in Germany that flush money into the association’s coffers”. In France, for example, there are 500,000 euros a year at the highest funding level, which means that the top stars there “can draw on the full when it comes to their team (trainer, physiotherapist, fitness trainer)”.
“Multiple coaches who rarely communicate with each other”
On the other hand, Waske, who ended his career in 2012, also shares responsibility for the way the German association works with youngsters. “In Germany, up to the age of about 16, training takes place once a week in the district, twice a week in the association and twice a week with the club coach. The player has several coaches who rarely communicate with each other,” explains the 47- year olds.
He demands: “One should definitely take a look at the models of the successful countries and analyze whether we are still competitive there.” With Philipp Kohlschreiber and Florian Mayer, only two players have managed to make it into the top 50 in the world rankings in the last 15 years, who have constantly worked with the tennis association. All other German tennis stars came about mainly through private commitment and investment, which in turn is not available to every young player. According to information from our editorial team, there is only funding from the tennis association if there is regular cooperation with the association. If this does not happen, one is often automatically an enemy of the association.
But according to an insider, the performances of the talents in the German association’s academies are below average. The result: Fewer and fewer German players are in a Grand Slam main field. A few years ago there were regularly ten or more per main field, in Paris it is, in the worst case, just two for women.
Talents are losing interest in full games
But not only the structures in German tennis are a problem when developing new talents, the distractions outside the court are also increasing.
“Unfortunately, the mobile phone is used far too seldom for something positive. A second after some players have left the field, they have their mobile phone in their hand, and then the training is already over. There is no follow-up on what has been learned and the automatisms in the movements take place significantly slower,” Waske complains. The former tennis pro runs a private tennis academy for young talents in Offenbach, Hesse. For him, for example, it is “not about completely banning social media”, but the correct handling of it must be shown.
In addition, the 47-year-old observes a dwindling interest among young talents in watching an entire tennis match. Instead, the young players “often only look at the highlights and try, for example, to play every ball through their legs,” says Waske. “But in tennis, 70 percent of all points are made through mistakes.”
“Talents must fall in love with the felt ball early”
All of these are not easy prerequisites for recruiting new talents, so Waske demands: “Tennis must see how talented people fall in love with the felt ball early on.” Because if the jump to the professional ATP and WTA tours is actually successful, the enormous costs will continue directly. According to Waske, a player who plays around 30 tournaments a year and is mostly supervised there will have to face costs of at least 50-100,000 euros, including some flights and hotel accommodation. It is all the more important to reach the main draw at Grand Slams at the beginning of a career. After all, at the French Open last year alone, there was prize money of 60,000 euros for reaching the first round.
However, Germany’s young tennis talent is currently not consistently competitive for women and men. So once again in Paris there is only hope for Kerber, Petkovic and a possible surprise.
About the expert: Alexander Waske is a former tennis pro who has climbed to 89th in the world in singles and 16th in doubles. Today, the 47-year-old works with young talents at the Waske Tennis University and has already celebrated several Grand Slam victories there in the junior area.
Sources used:
- Conversation with Alexander Waske
- Website der French Open
