Tennis: “Alcaraz – Geil”: Struff before dream game in Wimbledon

Jan-Lennard Struff looked at the next very big task in Wimbledon immediately after his coup full of anticipation. “Alcaraz – Horny”, the Sauerlanders raved to the third round at the classic lawn after moving into the third round, which now goes against the top favorite Carlos Alcaraz.

The 35-year-old defeated the favorite Canadian Félix Auger-Aliasime with 3: 6, 7: 6 (11: 9), 6: 3, 6: 4 and celebrated victory with a little joy. After the end of Alexander Zverev, Struff has prevented the worst record of the German men’s tennis with the lawn classic for eleven years.

“I’m looking forward to the match, maybe it will be Center (Court), that would be cool,” he said about the upcoming duel. The organizers fulfilled this wish – Struff and Alcaraz meet in the second game on Friday on the legendary place.

The game had been demolished on Wednesday evening at 1-1 sets due to darkness and continued more than 16 hours later. Unlike Zverev, whose first round was also postponed with the same starting position, Struff kept the nerves even after resuming. After a weak season, he showed his best performance of the year.

“Yesterday it was a tough match with an interruption,” said Struff at Prime Video. “Today I played well from the beginning, dominant. In the fourth it was a bit tight.”

Against the top favorite Alcaraz, Struff is now concerned with the first Wimbledon diney final in his career. Three years ago, he had the Spaniard on the edge of a defeat in the first round, but had to give up in five sets. Struff won one of four competitive duels.

“They have already played close games against each other. I think that Struffi generally has a very good game because it can be a bit more unrhythmic for Alcaraz,” said national coach Michael Kohlmann. “Alcaraz will certainly be a clear favorite”, but Struff is not a opponent that the Spaniard likes to play against. On Friday, Laura Siegemund will also meet the Australian Open winner Madison Keys from the USA in the third round.

In front of Wimbledon only five victories for Struff all year round

For Struff, success comes at an important time in his career: Before Wimbledon, he won the entire tennis year over only five matches on the ATP tour. The first round was immediately over twelve times. “Every win is absolutely important for me. It is a difficult season, but I can still achieve a lot of positive things,” said the family man in Wimbledon.

From position 42 at the start of the season, the Warsteiner had recently crashed by more than 80 places in the world rankings. With the next Grand Slam, he would have to fight for the next state. “It needs victories, it takes a match. This is the only recipe. You can train a lot, but if it doesn’t work on the pitch, it’s tough.”

At dusk on Wednesday, Struff had warded off three set balls of his opponent in a series in the tiebreak of the second round and thus saved himself into the long break with a good feeling. At the restart, he immediately showed himself wide awake, put the number 25 set out of the Auger Aliasimer under his surcharge quickly and again.

Struff sailed two breaks in the third round, in contrast to the previous day, he brought significantly more first surcharges into the field. In the fourth set, the 1.93-meter giant fell into problems several times, but fended off seven break chances.

Siegemund wants to “easily play”

From a German perspective, too, only one veteran is there for women. At the age of 37, Siegemund for the first time was in her career in the third round of Wimbledon and is equally large outsiders against the world ranking Keys.

“I can easily play there,” said Siegemund. “I’m still motivated anyway, but it is even more motivation if you know you can achieve things that you have not reached before. It is always exciting to be able to bring something new and to surprise and reward yourself.”