Tennis surprise: “Sensational” – Krawietz/Pütz celebrate historic title

After their successful chapter in German tennis history, the surprise winners Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz mischievously announced just a small party. The duo was the first German doubles team to surprisingly win the tennis season finale and can therefore also call themselves unofficial tennis world champions.

With strong nerves, Krawietz and Pütz prevailed 7:6 (7:5), 7:6 (8:6) against world number one Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic from El Salvador and Croatia in the exciting final of the ATP Finals in Turin.

“Sensational,” said Pütz: “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I think it will only really sink in with the first beer. It won’t get much more than that,” he said with a smile. After all, the two of them continue straight to the Davis Cup finals.

First German doubles in the semi-finals

Even reaching the semi-finals was historic. Never before had a German double achieved this in the 55-year history of the tournament. On the way there, Krawietz and Pütz also surprised Arevalo and Pavic at the start of the preliminary round.

In the final, the 32-year-old Krawietz (Coburg) and Pütz (Frankfurt/Main), who turns 37 on Tuesday, stayed cool on their own serves. There wasn’t a break in the entire match. In the first tiebreak, the Germans took the first round on the first set point. In the second tiebreak, strong returns from Pütz secured important points.

The coup was perfect after 1:38 hours on the second match point. “We had a wonderful year, this is a great end,” said Pütz and – like Krawietz – thanked his wife, who looks after their two children at home. “Now I have to stop too. Otherwise I’ll cry,” said Pütz, touched.

In September, the two reached a Grand Slam final together for the first time at the US Open in New York. Now, after two titles in Hamburg (2023/2024), they celebrated their third title together and can look forward to joint prize money of $728,500.

Alexander Zverev was the great German hope in Turin, but was eliminated in the semi-finals. The world number two (2018, 2021) is immortalized in tournament history as a singles champion like Boris Becker (1988, 1992, 1995) and Michael Stich (1993). In doubles, Krawietz and Pütz are now included.

Krawietz and Pütz are expected for the Davis Cup in Malaga on Monday evening. On Wednesday the German team will face Canada in the quarterfinals. If they win, they would play in the semi-finals against the winner of the duel between Netherlands and Spain. This would make it possible to meet Spanish world star Rafael Nadal, who will end his exceptional career at the Davis Cup finals.