tennis
Becker enthusiastic about Struff’s “world class”
Former tennis pro Boris Becker sits with his son Elias (l) and his partner Lilian de Carvalho Monteiro as spectators in the stands. photo
© Marijan Murat/dpa
Boris Becker is impressed as a guest at the lawn tennis tournament in Stuttgart and by Jan-Lennard Struff’s entry into the final. The three-time Wimbledon champion believes in the strengths of the Davis Cup player.
Boris Becker trusts Jan-Lennard Struff to win the tournament in Stuttgart and other highlights in his tennis career.
“He is really playing world class at the moment. I wish him, we are friends, that this will continue for a long time. I see no limit,” said the 55-year-old, who is a spectator at the lawn tournament at Weissenhof, the German Press Agency : “I don’t know where to stop with this style of play. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t continue playing like this for another two or three years.”
The fact that Struff realized that his career was not endless, but that he could still play at world-class level for a few more years, “makes him strong that he can play his best tennis now,” said Becker. “I think that at 33 he knows more who he is, he’s alive,” he also explained the top form of the father of two.
The former men’s boss in German tennis sees good chances for Struff for the final on Sunday (3.30 p.m. / ServusTV and Sky) against the US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe from the USA. It would be the Sauerland’s first tournament victory on the ATP tour.
“Power”, “Concentration”, “Clarity in the game”
“If he plays like he does today, he wins,” said the three-time Wimbledon winner after Struffs 3: 6, 6: 3, 6: 3 on Saturday in the semifinals against Hubert Hurkacz from Poland. Becker was impressed by several aspects: by Struff’s attitude “even in the event of setbacks”, his “power”, his “concentration” and the “clarity in the game”, as he listed: “There were no uncertainties. No moments when you thought he doesn’t know how to play.”
Struff had been outside the top 150 in the world rankings at the beginning of the season and is now higher than ever. “You really have to compliment him,” said Becker: “He came from a long injury misery at the beginning of the year, was over 100. That he had the strength, the motivation, to come back.”
On Monday, the Warsteiner will replace at least number 21 in the world and Olympic champion Alexander Zverev again as the best German tennis pro. Becker was enthusiastic about the “way” with which Struff had performed not only in Stuttgart, but in the past few months and, among other things, in his successful series up to the Masters 1000 final in Madrid. Struff has a “broad chest” and “backbone,” he said.