After a tournament not without curiosities, the German doubles specialist Tim Pütz is about to win the title in the mixed competition at the French Open.
“Hopefully we can shake another victory out of our sleeves, and then I can call myself a Grand Slam winner with an asterisk,” said Pütz before the final, which he will contest on Thursday at 12:00 p.m. alongside his partner Miyu Kato .
“I’d rather be in the doubles final, that’s no secret, but of course I’m happy anyway,” explained Pütz. In men’s doubles, the 35-year-old from Frankfurt was over in the quarterfinals alongside Kevin Krawietz.
So now he still has a chance at the title, even though he hasn’t known his partner for two weeks.
“We didn’t know each other at all, we happened to meet at the ‘sign in’,” said Pütz and also reported on the strange communication problems with his Japanese partner, who hardly speaks English.
“We actually communicate very little,” said Pütz with a laugh and admitted: “Well, in a week and a half we haven’t discussed anything like position play or running routes.”
Puetz’ mixed partner Kato made headlines on Sunday: after accidentally hitting a ball girl in a women’s doubles match, she and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi, who curiously defeated her in mixed, were disqualified.
The decision then caused criticism, and Boris Becker also called it “exaggerated” on “Eurosport”. The next day, Kato burst into tears at a press conference she held together with Pütz, left the media room early and was comforted by Pütz.