Tennis talent Nicola Kuhn has moved back to the DTB from Spain – and is now attacking in Wimbledon. Nastasja Schunk is also taking off.
Nicola Kuhn’s life story is international: as the son of a Russian mother and a German father, he was born in Austria in 2000. He grew up in Ludwigshafen and to a large extent also in his parents’ holiday home near Alicante in Spain. At the age of twelve he went to the tennis academy of former world number one Juan Carlos Ferrero – where, among other things, top talent Carlos Alcaráz developed his game.
Kuhn brought the German Tennis Association (DTB) early successes such as the two team titles at the U14 European and World Championships. Great talent was joined by ambition and self-confidence. “My will is as great as Djokovic’s”, said Kuhn as a 15-year-old.
Kuhn moves to the Spanish association
In 2016, Kuhn took Spanish citizenship and joined the Spanish FA. “I’ve lived in Spain since I was a kid and I’ve always felt Spanish. It’s always been my dream to play for Spain,” he said at the time. The DTB was disappointed, but not resentful. “Nicola is a great boy who has always behaved correctly – and who will certainly have a great future ahead of him,” said DTB sports director Klaus Eberhard to “Tennismagazin” at the time.
So it became quiet in this country around the blond boy, who grew up speaking four languages (German, Russian, English, Spanish). He made the leap into the professional field early on, as early as 2017 as a 17-year-old in Braunschweig he won his first title on the second-rate Challenger Tour.
Kuhn’s career stagnates
But since then his performance has stagnated, also due to injury. Kuhn is now 22 years old, but has only played ten games on the ATP tour, the top tennis league, and won three of them. He is 246th in the world rankings, well below his career high of 174 from October 2019.
His success in Wimbledon is all the greater: in his second qualification for a Grand Slam tournament, he survived all three rounds and now meets American Brandon Nakashima (ATP 54) in the first main round. The German flag is again next to his name in the tableau, because Kuhn switched back to the DTB in October 2021.
Nastasja Schunk in the peloton
Six Germans started the women’s Wimbledon qualifier, but only one prevailed: 18-year-old Nastasja Schunk. She plays for Ludwigshafen, trains in Leimen and knows the London grass pitches very well. Because last year she stormed into the final in the junior classification, where she beat the Spaniard in three sets Ane Mintegi del Olmo lost.
She recently got to know the great Grand Slam stage of the professionals at the French Open. There she slipped into the main draw as a “lucky loser” after the injury to the Croatian Ana Konjuh and delivered a big fight to the former world number one Simona Halep. With her 4: 6, 6: 1, 1: 6, the left-hander made people sit up and take notice.
Schunk versus Buzarnesku
The athletic qualification for Wimbledon is now the next step on the career ladder. “All Grand Slams are special, but Wimbledon is another league, has a different flair with the grass, and everything is in white,” Schunk said in the SWR interview: “It’s hard to describe, but once you get inside it’s a completely different feeling.”
The draw gave her a solvable task: In the first round she meets the Romanian Michaela Buzarnescu, who is listed as 126th in the world, only 30 places ahead of Schunk.
DTB needs talent
Getting into the second round would be another glimmer of hope for German women’s tennis. Because while the “golden generation” around Angelique Kerber is gradually retiring from tennis, the DTB is happy about every talent with potential for the top of the world. A small group of young, talented players gives courage. Nastasja Schunk is one of them