Lawn classic
Jule Niemeier wants to reach the quarter-finals at Wimbledon
Jule Niemeier in action. photo
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Jule Niemeier cannot be satisfied with her tennis year so far. Now she’s back where she celebrated her biggest success to date. That should inspire her.
The return to the place of their greatest success so far Inspire Jule Niemeier again after a complicated year so far.
“It gives you a good feeling to be back here and to know that last year you were in the quarter-finals when you played for the first time,” said Niemeier (23) in London. “I try to take this positive feeling with me.”
However, the Dortmund woman caught a difficult opening opponent. Niemeier meets the French Open finalist Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic today. But Niemeier is not afraid of the number 16 in the tennis world. “She played the final in Paris and is an intelligent player. But it’s also her first game on grass,” said Niemeier, who had to retire in the round of 16 at the tournament in Berlin because of a hand injury. Before that she had celebrated a respectable success against the Tunisian Ons Jabeur. And her hand no longer causes her any problems.
Accordingly, Niemeier starts the grass classic on Church Road with confidence. The fact that she didn’t get any world ranking points for her place in the quarter-finals last year was both a blessing and a curse. “Of course the year would have been very different if there had been points. My ranking would have been completely different, I would probably have been seeded in the Slams,” said Niemeier. “But of course it’s also nice in my current situation that I don’t have any points to defend here.” The goal this year is clear: “The quarter-finals were very nice and I want to achieve that again – but this time with points.”