The gusts of wind came from the left, they came from the right, and just when you expected them to come from the left again, it blew from the front. Basically, all that was missing on this Tuesday afternoon were seagulls in the sky and the sound of the sea in the background; you could have immediately imagined yourself on the Baltic Sea. But the BMW Open, this small, fine ATP tournament, still takes place in Munich. The mountains, even if they were not visible on this very April day due to the clouds, are still not too far away from Bavaria’s state capital, according to SZ information.
Meanwhile, downstairs, on the most prominent training ground directly in front of the clubhouse, the tennis professionals Alexander Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff, number one and number two in Germany, were struggling. They also struggled with the forces of nature. A few times they looked at each other in surprise, Struff later described with some amusement, as to whether some of the cross rallies, i.e. from backhand to backhand, were really effective; both of them made significantly more mistakes than usual. “But we managed a pretty good training session for the wind,” summarized Struff.
Zverev, who appeared at the press conference after the 33-year-old (this time relatively on time), also radiated elated satisfaction; the 26-year-old immediately opened his lecture with a passionate confession. He is now starting at the tournament in Munich for the tenth time, this Wednesday he will face the Austrian Jurij Rodionov. He hasn’t missed a single edition since his debut in 2014 against the Austrian Jürgen Melzer, which he clearly lost – and “I hope I never will in my career,” he emphasized. The organizers should be happy about this lifelong commitment as a professional, especially since from 2025 the tournament will move up from the 250 category (the winner receives 250 world ranking points) to the 500 category and it will certainly not be a bad thing if the best German player commits to this event.
“I still have a few things that I haven’t achieved,” says Zverev
Zverev still has a lot planned anyway, he made that clear; in recent years he has sometimes seemed a little, well, uninspired at the start of the tournament, and quick defeats have followed. “I’m overjoyed with what I’ve achieved in my life,” he said, but quickly added: “I still have a few things I haven’t achieved.” Of course, he meant the missing Grand Slam title and reaching first place in the world rankings; He is currently fifth.
Even though the Munich tournament hasn’t brought Zverev much luck in recent years and the last of his two title triumphs at the MTTC Iphitos was six years ago, the event has developed into a feel-good stop for him and his team. Brother Mischa, ex-professional and ten years older, is now involved in the tournament, as an ambassador and as tournament director of the Para Trophy, which runs parallel; Some of the world’s best wheelchair tennis players compete in this competition. What Zverev and Struff particularly like this year: The tournament, which was introduced in 1900 as the “International Tennis Championships of Bavaria”, will be more of a German championship with international participation in April 2024. With the exception of Daniel Altmaier, who is competing in Barcelona, the entire extended circle of Davis Cup players is present, including the doubles players. “We all get along incredibly well,” said Zverev, “when we’re together, we have a lot of fun together.”
Michael Kohlmann can confirm this judgment; the national coach also benefits from the group meeting. “For me, it makes communication much easier when everyone is in one place,” he told SZ. “It’s incredibly valuable for me that I have the opportunity to discuss everything in advance, including things like the Olympics and the Davis Cup.”
On Tuesday, Kohlmann had to sit a lot as he watched games with German participation on the Center Court. Dominik Koepfer lost against the Chilean Cristian Garin 6:7 (3), 3:6, Maximilian Marterer then defended himself more intensively, but in the end he sat down the favored Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime won 6:7 (5), 7:6 (6), 7:6 (3); Marterer led 5:2 in the third set and missed a match point at 6:5. The game lasted 3:24 hours, making it the longest at the BMW Open since 1991; Since then, playing times have been recorded in the data.