The French Open junior final will be the first Grand Slam final in 30 years with exclusively German participation. The national coach sees an amazing development, but also warns.
Philipp Petzschner, national coach of the juniors in the German Tennis Association, moved the cap of his favorite football club Arminia Bielefeld again. Perhaps it was also a protection against what would come.
Petzschner had a bet with his players who competed at the French Open. If one of Max Schönhaus, Niels McDonald or Jamie Mackenzie won the tournament, you should do what you want with his hairstyle.
Coach Petzschner is afraid for his hairstyle
And Petzschner Schwante Übles this early Friday afternoon: “My wife has already said: nice to have known you!” It was not a matter of course that Niels McDonald and Max Schönhaus face each other in the final. Before this tournament, they were not one of the 20 best players in the junior world rankings. As a result, the final entry of the two can be seen as a big surprise.
McDonald defeated the Spaniard Andres Santarta Roig in the course of the tournament. And Schönhaus had also cleared some more successful players out of the field in the past twelve months.
Petzschner was accordingly proud: “What happened here this week is incredible. The boys did an incredibly good job.”
So far, the last German junior winner in Paris was Daniel Elsner in 1997, Alexander Zverev reached the final in 2013. Nicolas Kiefer won the last purely German Grand Slam final among the juniors in 1995 at the US Open against Ulrich-Jasper Seetzen.
Training in Stockholm, the USA and Frankfurt
Schönhaus and McDonald, both 17 years old, took a different way to this final. McDonald, born in Cardiff and grew up in Schwerin, moved early to the Lower Saxony association in Oldenburg to train there. He has been at the “Good to Great” Academy in Stockholm for nine months now.
Schönhaus, on the other hand, went to the USA early. In Florida he trained at the IMG Academy in Bradenton. When his group dissolved because his training partners were looking for the way to college, he came back to Germany and has been training in Frankfurt since then.
Petzschner praised the development of McDonald and Schönhaus, but also the other player from this year: “We started working with them in the U14, everyone was already there. The development always happens differently, but we believe in the potential of our boys.”
On the juniors until the end of the year
Schönhaus and McDonald go a slightly different way than their two teammates Justin Engel and Diego Dedura, also from the years 2007 and 2008. While Engel and Dedura are already on the men’s tour, the two finalists want to continue playing on the junior tour by the end of the year. With the clear goal of being one of the top ten juniors at the end of 2025.
“I wanted to focus on a tour and end the year in the juniors. When I am among the top 10 at the end of the year, I will get Wild Cards for Challenger next year”according to McDonald. A program of the ITF Tennis Association makes it possible for the best juniors to be supported on their first steps in professional tennis.
Schönhaus: “Are really very good friends”
The two finalists spoke of “Healthy competition” in the junior team. “We write in front of the matches, sometimes pass tactics when we played against the opponent, we are really very good friends” So beautiful house.
What this result will say for the future is not yet clear. But Petzschner is certain that the final entry is a first indication of what else can come: “About two thirds of the juniors in the juniors in the past 35 years have made it under the top 50. That gives a push. It is a step on the way to the tennis professional. But you have to continue working hard.”
The junior national coach is looking forward to the final: “Our job is done, we can look at the final in peace.” He will follow the final with a new hairstyle, probably hidden under an Arminia Bielefeld cap.