Copyright: AP
Alexander Zverev in his duel with Daniel Altmaier on January 17, 2022.
The Australian Open has started! In the men’s singles, Alexander Zverev competed against Daniel Altmaier, Yannick Hanfmann met Thanasi Kokkinakis and in the women’s singles Andrea Petkovic once again lost out.
The 110th edition of the Australian Open began on Monday morning (January 17, 2022) the day after the negotiation for the entry of Serbian Novak Djokovic ended.
Two Germans met directly in the first round: Hamburg-born Alexander Zverev (24, world number 3) had to deal with Daniel Altmaier (23, world number 87) from Kempen.
Zverev gives a funny interview
After a tight first set (7: 6 for Zverev), Zverev clearly won the second set (6: 1). The third set was hard fought again and went into a tie-break. Zverev clearly decided this 7: 1 in his favor.
“You can’t always play your best tennis, I’m not Roger or Rafa,” admitted the self-critical winner Zverev in an on-court interview after the match.
Because he didn’t understand the questioner’s Australian English properly, the German with Russian roots also made the audience laugh. “It’s difficult to understand you,” he repeatedly replied to the questioner, at the same time referring to his problems with the English language: “I’m a German with Russian roots and live in Monaco. English is my fourth language.” The host at the stadium laughed, “Oh, that must be my accent. I need to speak slower.”
Hanfmann wins “away game” against Kokkinakis
In a duel with local hero Thanasi Kokkinakis (25), the German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann (30) asserted himself confidently. Although the majority of the audience kept their fingers crossed for the Australian, the German won in three sets (6:2, 6:3 and 6:2). Thus, Hanfmann moves into the 2nd round.
The man from Karlsruhe is hard of hearing from birth, he probably hardly noticed the loud background during the “away game”. Hanfmann converted his third match point after 2:07 hours.
In the second round, Hanfmann will now meet Rafael Nadal (35), who has won 89 individual titles in his career so far. However, the Spaniard only won the Australian Open once – in 2009 against Roger Federer (40). Born in Karlsruhe, Hanfmann is currently ranked 127th in the ATP world rankings, Nadal is number five in the world.
“The feelings are great, many people from home watched and sent me videos,” said Hanfmann: “I still have these pictures in my head, they are really nice and I will never forget the match.” He wanted Nadal on hard court “Annoy a little more and just play a good match”.
Women’s tennis: Petkovic is eliminated in the first round
The German women, on the other hand, did not look as good: Andrea Petkovic (34) had to admit defeat in the first round of the Australian Open against the French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova (26) from the Czech Republic. The Czech, who is fourth in the WTA world rankings, gave Petkovic no chance and won in straight sets 6-2 and 6-0.
It was drama all over again: Petkovic seemed tense throughout the game, struggling to control her emotions. Again and again she complained loudly about her own game and hit her racket on the blue hard court.
Andrea Petkovic: “Just a terrible day for me”
“Just a terrible day for me today,” said the 34-year-old. “It was really surprising because I’ve been playing very stable the last few days. Today was the first day in two months that went like this. But that just goes to show that the tennis gods never cease to amaze.”
For Andrea Petkovic, losing in the first round has now become a habit: in 2019 and 2021 she was also eliminated in the first match. In 2020 she did not participate.