Tatjana Maria was already on Court No. 1, she had started her round of 16 match with a break to make it 2-1, when prominent figures were only a three-minute walk away. A ceremony was held to honor Wimbledon’s Center Court. After the main arena in the All England Club had filled up quite a bit at 1.30 p.m. and a champagne bottle popped up from one of the rear seats in the grandstand, a film was shown on the screen to mark 100 years of Center Court.
Great moments in the history of this lawn tennis tournament could be seen, Björn Borg, Chris Evert, and Boris Becker also appeared as a 17-year-old with bright red hair. Eventually, John McEnroe and BBC great Sue Barker (who, to the regret of the tennis scene, will retire after this edition) took to the court.
McEnroe and Barker exchanged jokes when suddenly the real Cliff Richards rose from the crowd and sang a ditty. The British are good at ceremonies, and there was something dignified about paying homage to a Covid heroine in the British health system and to refugees from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan. Then former winners entered the Center Court, Martina Hingis, Stefan Edberg, John Newcombe, the sprightly Rod Laver, Björn Borg, Angelique Kerber also appeared.
Judging by the shrill applause, the Brits especially love: Rafael Nadal. Venus Williams. Stephen Edberg. And then came Roger Federer – it got louder than any other champion. Almost all the spectators got up. “I hope I’ll come back one day,” said the 40-year-old Swiss, who is planning his comeback in the fall after two knee surgeries.
In view of this honorable tennis society that had gathered there, it was an amazing punch line that a certain Jule Niemeier, 22, from Dortmund should then enter the court. The current tournament is still running, and her round of 16 duel with the Englishwoman Heather Watson was on the agenda.
Then, while many of the spectators got Pimm’s supplies, over on Court No. 1 Tatjana Maria next. The 34-year-old from Bad Saulgau, who lives in Florida with her husband and trainer Charles Edouard and their two small daughters, had won her first round at Grand Slam level. With her unorthodox style of play, she had unnerved world number five Maria Sakkari from Greece. The only question was: Would Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open winner, get involved in this tricky composition of slice balls, between which Maria likes to mix topspin shots? Or would she uncompromisingly hit everything that moves?
Tatjana Maria can stress her opponents with her style – and Jelena Ostapenko seemed stressed
Ostapenko basically did both, and Maria could only do that right. Because she was equal, and even though she lost the first set 5:7 after a 3:1 lead and fell 1:4 behind in the second set, she was waiting for her chance, which came at the last moment. The 25-year-old from Riga had two match balls at 5: 4 and 40:15 – but Maria fended them off, stayed cool and secured the set 7: 5.
Even in the third set she didn’t let herself be shaken off after a break to make it 0:2, the game remained a conflict between two completely opposite game philosophies. Maria knows she can stress others out with her dead backspin shots, and Ostapenko seemed stressed. Once she put a ball wide open when Maria raised her fist.
It was a tight game until the end, and Maria actually prevailed. At 5:4 she served to win, initially missed the chance, but after a second break she struck – 5:7, 7:5, 7:5. As number 103 in the world rankings, she has now reached the quarter-finals in Wimbledon. Maria stepped up to the microphone in disbelief and said: “I would like to thank the fantastic audience. I thought if you believe in me like that, if you cheer me on like that, then I can do it.” And so she made it.
Only a short time after winning the match, Niemeier also managed the huge surprise. She won 6-2, 6-4 against Watson, whom she was able to beat in terms of level – the Englishwoman is ranked 109th behind her in the world. After the match point, Niemeier dropped the bat and was politely applauded. She was clearly the fun killer on Center Court from the hosts’ point of view. “I’m sorry,” said Niemeier during the interview on the pitch; she apologized for beating a Brit. She said about herself: “I’m really happy with my performance.” She still sounded a bit puzzled.
Later at the press conference, Maria emphasized that she always believed in herself “that I can do it”, that one day she would be able to celebrate such a success. That’s why she came back as a professional after the birth of Charlotte eight years ago and now 15 months after the birth of Cecilia. Niemeier doesn’t know her that well, she revealed, although both even played for TC Bredeney in the Bundesliga. But beaming, she also expressed how much she was looking forward to the German duel: “It’s great for her too,” said Maria, and “it’s nice for German tennis that we play against each other in the quarter-finals, because then in the will be semifinals.”
Jule Niemeier in action against Britain’s Heather Watson.
(Photo: John Walton/dpa)
In the quarterfinals, two German women are now actually meeting, and neither of them is called Kerber, which is remarkable. The most successful performance of the German women in recent years was 2018, when Kerber and Julia Görges were in the semifinals (but did not play against each other) and Kerber won the title. Now the question arises as to who will advance to the round of four this time: the mother with the slice backhand or the young climber with the powerful forehand, who had never won a match in a Grand Slam tournament before this Wimbledon?