I In Kicker there is the section “The Duels of the Germans.” At the start of the Australian Open there was still beautiful parity there, as no gender commissioner could have imagined better: four women, four men competed. Now, at the halfway point of the first tennis Grand Slam of the year, the column would be a yawning void, were it not for at least Alexander Zverev.
From a certain point of view, it may also be irrelevant whether this column enjoys a certain liveliness or not. So, whether Germans in tennis are successful or not so much. The glamour days of BB and SG, that is, Boris Becker and Steffi Graf, are long gone, the real boom times as well, and the “white sport” has returned from being the fashionable spectator sport to its roots, at least among the women. Those who know the advertising for the Bad Homburg tournament know what I mean.
Even the name Michael Stich is remembered only by those who follow tennis. And Angelique Kerber, she was the last German to win a Grand Slam (indeed three of them, the first in Melbourne), now prefers Insta Reels in which her racket turns into a pulla, a baby bottle.
The woman who brought good mood to these Australian Open, the Happy Slam, was Laura Siegemund. She first staged a legendary comeback in Round 1 – after 0:6, 2:5, 15:40 she still won. Then she gave the local heroine Maddison Inglis a hard but fair fight – even against the umpire who disadvantaged her in one moment. The match was close as well: 4:6, 7:6, 6:7 – 7:10 in the final tiebreak. That was it.
37 and 38 years old
Now Siegemund is already 37; the German No. 2, Tatjana Maria, is 38 years old and even older. There is still Eva Lys, 24, undoubtedly a talent, but visibly lacking the quality needed to reach the very top beyond fashion and furniture advertising.
Alexander Zverev is meanwhile already in the quarterfinals. German Nachwuchs (up-and-coming players) is nowhere to be found. But as said, one can also not care — there were more than 15 years between Graf and Kerber as well.
And other countries also have strong tennis players; it seems that a certain arbitrariness in the list of winners has been replaced by a bipolarity similar to the men’s (Sinner/Alcaraz): if Iga Świątek does not win, Aryna Sabalenka does, and vice versa. Both are, of course, still in the mix in 2026 as well. The signs for a final between them look good.
