How similar the pictures are. She in tight black, he in a dark gray jacket over a white T-shirt, in the background a car of the tournament sponsor: the star guest photos of the Players Party at the BMW Open 2024 differ from last year’s only in a few nuances. The controlled offensive in the facial expressions of Sophia Thomalla and her boyfriend Alexander Zverev also looks familiar, as do the sentences: “It’s nice to be here again”, “I’m looking forward to the tournament”, things like that. What else is he supposed to say? He hasn’t played a single point yet, and the fifth-placed player in the world rankings won’t be entering the tournament until Wednesday. He has already won the BMW Open twice, and on Saturday he could reward himself with a semi-final victory: It’s his birthday, he’ll be 27. And so over to the colorful topics!
Jan Lennard Struff, the German number two, a player without any airs.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
The most colorful evening of the tournament in the Golden Racket Club on the MTTC Iphitos facility is only about sport. As every year, more than a dozen of the world’s best tennis professionals march down the red carpet unrecognized and unmolested by the people photographers. They would be so easy to recognize: the hoodie group, often with baseball caps, generally the least dressed-up guests of the evening. Tim Pütz, the German Davis Cup player, wears jeans, a white T-shirt and a backpack – that’s enough. Jan-Lennard Struff, the German number two, is also content with a plain long-sleeved shirt with chinos.
Just like last year, the pleasantly rock-solid Struff ends up on the red carpet in the middle of a horde of participants from the current Germany’s Next Top Model series, who set the photographers’ speed cameras on fire with a professional look. Compared to such extreme posing, the almost reserved nature of Bachelor Sebastian Klaus looks almost likeable.
Kadidja Becher, Stella Naming and Xenia Tsilikova (from left), Germany’s Next Top Model candidates.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
And then there are the influencers who have long been listed in the VIP department. In a photo overview of the invited celebrities, they take up several pages, only interrupted by Yvonne Catterfeld and Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann – social media rules. But it’s all funny: when asked by someone unfamiliar with GNTM what you actually have to be able to do, the very blonde twins Luka and Julian Cidic answer disarmingly honestly: “Nothing.”
They are also GNTM candidates: the twins Julian and Luka Cidic.
(Photo: Florian Peljak)
To the sport! The event may be called Players Party, but not every athlete can see the anticipation written on their faces. Taylor Fritz, number 15 in the world rankings, is about to shuffle past the photographers, but is gently pushed back and in front of the sponsor’s car, where he barely cracks something like a smile, obediently saying “great tournament” and “very excited.” mumbles into the microphone. The double Zverev/Thomalla, celebrated by the tabloids as a “power couple”, on the other hand, knows the routes and, after a few sentences spoken separately, meet for a final statement in front of the camera of the RTL station, where Thomalla works. Zverev answered the first technical question about the relationship status with a laugh: “Everything is wonderful, everything is going well. If the woman is happy, the man is happy.” Technical question two: What about children? After all, the two have been together for three years and Thomalla is already 34… Zverev says: “Let’s see.” Thomalla says: “We’ll see what time brings.” Ball deflected.
Up in the hall, around 500 guests enjoy the catering from Michi Käfer. Ex-Bunte editor-in-chief Patricia Riekel and Helmut Markwort sit on the sidelines, Marko Pesic, managing director of FC Bayern Basketball and an avowed tennis and Djokovic fan, is there for the first time and has to shake a lot of hands. Jens Lehmann doesn’t do the honors until half past ten. One person, on the other hand, is missing completely and rather unapologetically: Holger Rune, who was intended to be the recipient of the traditionally presented Iphitos Award. The two-time tournament winner, currently number twelve in the tennis world, decided not to arrive on time.
He missed the usual snappy presentation by the feel-good musicians Everso and the appearance of pop star Leony, which Sascha Zverev also captured on his smartphone. Only one person doesn’t feel like celebrating, even though his girlfriend Lili Paul-Roncalli is keeping him company: Dominic Thiem, the 2020 US Open winner. Just half an hour before the party started, the man, who has been suffering from a hand injury for years, was on the Center Court lost his first round match, in what was probably his last game at the BMW Open, against Alejandro Moro Canas, a Spanish no-name. Later at the buffet nobody recognized him.