Paul Zipser was one of the best basketball players in the world until a brain hemorrhage almost cost him his career. But the Heidelberg native fought his way back onto the basketball court. Now he is playing in his homeland again.
Basketball player Paul Zipser is enjoying his new everyday life and his new, old home. “Heidelberg is pure home for me,” is how the 29-year-old describes his feelings when he met SWR Sport for an interview on Heidelberg’s Neckarwiesen last week. “There are a thousand corners everywhere, so many memories, that’s of course amazing.”
Zipser has been playing again since this summer for his hometown club, the MLP Academics Heidelberg. He also immediately took to his new, old team. Zipser is popular in the team, easy to get along with and helps where he can. His teammates appreciate that. “Paul is a pleasant guy,” says Niklas Würzner, “a very nice guy, very down-to-earth.” Characteristics that help Zipser to return to competitive sports and the basketball court after a serious blow of fate.
Zipser is fighting back after a cerebral hemorrhage
In June 2021, he was diagnosed with a cerebral hemorrhage caused by a cavernoma in the brain stem, a benign vascular malformation. At this time, Zipser is under contract with FC Bayern Munich Basketball. A shock for fans, team and coach. But it quickly became clear to Zipser: “I was focused on getting back from the first second, whether that was basketball or everyday life.”
After the successful operation, Zipser has to learn a lot of things again. He takes the difficult path extremely focused and strong-willed. “Very early on I forced myself to train and do things again,” Zipser looks back on his rehabilitation time and states: “I surprised the doctors.”
Zipser’s career was marked by injuries and comebacks
But it was almost the end of a great career that began in Heidelberg. Paul Zipser is considered one of Germany’s greatest basketball talents. In 2016, his path led via FC Bayern Basketball directly to the North American professional league, the NBA. He signed a two-year contract with the Chicago Bulls and played there against the best in the world.
Paul Zipser (left) plays for two years with the Chicago Bulls in the NBA against the best basketball players in the world
A stress fracture in his foot, which was discovered late, led him back to Germany. Injuries repeatedly set Paul Zipser back in his career – but he always makes his way back, even after his brain hemorrhage. After ten months, he will celebrate his emotional comeback in the Basketball Bundesliga with Bayern in 2022.
In Heidelberg, Zipser wants to find his way back to his old strength
An achievement that is also his new teammates in Heidelberg appreciate with much respect. “I absolutely take my hat off to what he achieved,” says Niklas Würzner. The fact that Zipser has returned to Bundesliga level is “a huge achievement” for Würzner. In Heidelberg, Zipser wants to find his way back to his old strength.
He took a step in the Academics’ season opening game against Alba Berlin last Thursday. In the second game against Rostock on Sunday he was his team’s second best scorer with 22 points. And even if everything doesn’t work out, the club gives him the time. Zipser formulates a clear resolution for the year in Heidelberg: “My big goal is to look better after the year than before the year.”
