In the past few weeks and months, the German tennis youngsters have been talking about himself. Justin Engel (world ranking place 345) and Diego Dedura (World Ranking Platz 374) are currently even the two ATP’s best-placed U18 players. In the women’s 15-year-old Mariella Thamm (world ranking position 713) is the youngest player in the top 1000. The German tennis icon Boris Becker still sees a lot of negatives when looking at the DTB offspring.
“I have had the experience with the generation of around 20-year-olds: a lot is too strenuous, too difficult for them,” criticized Boris Becker in an interview with the “Spiegel”. “They cannot cope with the pressure. They have panic attacks if you challenge them,” said the three-time Wimbledon winner.
Many young people are more important to many young people than success. Everything had to be “very cozy, everything nice”, Becker denounced.
The 57-year-old also takes responsibility for the German Tennis Association. At the DTB there are “many honorable people who all have their merits. But as far as the sport is concerned, the understanding of why you win a match or not how to design a training week, I do not see the specialist knowledge,” complained the former number one in the world, which was also responsible for the men’s area of German tennis in the past.
View of the tennis world rankings is worried
If you look off from the youngsters mentioned, Becker’s criticism is poorly dismissed. In the men’s area there are currently only three Germans in the top 100, with the world ranking runners-up Alexander Zverev, Germany has a single single player of world format.
It looks even darker for the women: only three DTB players rank in the top 100, Eva Lys is 68. The black-red-gold number one.