By Cheryl Jones
For only the second time since the Gerry Weber Open has been contested, there will be an all-German final. In 2011, Philipp Kohlschreiber came out on top when he faced countryman Philipp Petzschner on the final Sunday of the weeklong grass court tournament that since 1993 has been a magnificent precursor to Wimbledon. Now five years later teenage sensation Alexander Zverev will take on underdog Florian Mayer.
Saturday’s matches began promptly at Noon, with the stadium filled to capacity. The crowd was there to watch the opening act with eight-time tournament winner Roger Federer. He faced Alexander Zverev in the first of the semifinal contests. The crowd was animated in their support for both players. Zverev is nineteen and one of the youngest players on the men’s professional tennis tour. He was born in Hamburg, spends time in Florida and since early spring, has a residence in Monaco. To the fans in Halle, he will always be German, though.
Zverev swooped on the scene last year after winning kudos as a junior when he won the Australian Open Boys Singles in 2014. His ranking has steadily climbed to its highest point right now. He is in the top fifty, with a ranking of 38 as of the sixth of June. He will move even higher after today, no matter what happens in the final on Sunday. He defeated Federer 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 in just a couple of ticks over two hours. It was quite the victory for young Zverev. It was his first win over a top ten player. He said after the match, “I can’t grasp it at the moment. It is unbelievable to play in front of such an audience.” (As an aside, Zverev was a year-old when Federer began his professional career.)
Federer thought that Zverev had the goods. He complemented and congratulated the young man in his own after-match interview. The Swiss tennis maestro made no excuses for his loss. He simply said, “He played better and deserved to win.” Federer indicated that he was planning to head back to Switzerland for a few days and prepare for Wimbledon, now with a bit of extra time to execute a specific schedule.
Sunday will give Zverev a chance to be the star of the show when he steps on the court for the final showdown. There will be another contestant for that starring role, though. It will be Florian Mayer.
Mayer is a bit older than Zverev, thirteen years to be exact. The thirty-two year-old was born in the former West German town of Beyreuth – now it is just Germany. Today’s match against Dominic Thiem should have been a bit more even but Mayer easily slipped by the Austrian dynamo, 6-3, 6-4. Last weekend, Thiem was involved in a lengthy final in Stuttgart. He must have been exhausted, but he said, “I’m happy that it’s over a little bit. …then for sure we’re going to have a very good practice in London. Then we’ll see the draw and for sure from Friday on everything is focused on the first round in Wimbledon.” (Since he and Federer are both headed for Wimbledon, it might be worth a look-see if they might be meeting in an opening round match.)
Mayer has been injured. He had a torn tendon in his right adductor. It seems to be healed at this point, as he was scrambling around the court with little effort. As for his Wimbledon plans, he is hoping that his win today will result in a Wild Card, because he was unable to request a direct entry by the deadline that is set at six weeks previous to the tournament.
Tomorrow’s final will begin at three in the afternoon. The all-German challenge for the title will likely fill to capacity the 12,300 available seats. In the 2011 final, Kohlschreiber took home the trophy in a disappointing 7-6, 2-0 Retired, final. This time, everyone is hoping for a match that is without injury to either of the men.
Will it be the 6’6” youngster from Hamburg or will it be the 32 year-old who has managed to come back after a serious injury? Mayer said after the match, “Yes, a great feeling for me of course, also in the late autumn of my career. I am very happy.” By definition, happiness is a state of mind. A few hours on the lawn on a Sunday afternoon in a small town in Germany will reveal just whose mind will be the happiest?
