For Eva Lys there was nothing to gain in the game against an overpowering opponent. Nevertheless, she also managed something that evening for which the audience celebrated her.
Christoph Cöln reports from Melbourne
Eva Lys smiled. There wasn’t actually much to laugh about in the game against world number two Iga Świątek in the round of 16 of the Australian Open. The first set went to the Pole after just 24 minutes. The match was over after almost exactly an hour. Eva Lys’ tennis fairytale ended after two turbulent weeks in Melbourne.
The 23-year-old was the lucky loser again that day in the Rod Laver Arena, the largest place at the Grand Slam tournament. She had lost, but she was happy. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for ages,” she said afterwards. “There were often evenings when I talked to my parents, with tears in my eyes, about when I would finally have a breakthrough.” She actually always knew that she had the potential to be among the top 100 in the world. “I was the only person standing in my way.”
Now the time had finally come for Eva Lys. Not only had she placed herself among the hundred best tennis women in the world, she had also enchanted the Australian audience with her story. And of course also those at home in Germany. No player had managed to make it into the fourth round, even though she had already been eliminated from the field of qualifiers and had booked a return ticket home, for almost 40 years. “It all came to this week,” she said. “I enjoyed every second I had here.”
The crowd in Melbourne stood for the match against an overpowering Iga Świątek. The tennis fans on Center Court celebrated every point that the German won. And when Lys actually won a game in the second set, the stadium was upside down. People rose from their seats and applauded the challenger.
“I definitely had fun today, even though I didn’t enjoy the scoreboard as much,” she said afterwards. After 60 minutes it was 0:6, 1:6 from Lys’ perspective. You can hardly lose more clearly.
Nevertheless, the young German showed that evening why she had made it into the main draw of the Australian Open and into the second week of the tournament. Especially in the second set, she had some fantastic rallies with the Polish series winner. She fought tirelessly, clenched her fist again and again and never gave up at any point in the match.
Lys proved to be a good loser afterwards. In the press conference she spoke admiringly about her opponent’s incredible game. “She just played outstandingly, she didn’t give me any time to breathe.” Despite her clear inferiority, Lys struggled with the missed chances; in the first game of the match she had two break opportunities that she didn’t take advantage of. She admitted that she thought about it later. What would have happened if she had gotten the early break?
But Lys left no doubt about the brilliance of the Polish world number two. No matter what the German threw at her opponent, Swiątek brought it all back. “She hit me like an express train,” Lys said. Nevertheless, she tried to keep her smile and keep hoping for her chance. The audience helped her.
The fourth game in the second set was the best moment of the evening. When the fans frenetically cheered her on after winning the rally, hoping to hear the sensational story of “Lucky Lys”, as the Australian media had dubbed the Hamburg player, this extraordinary tennis fairytale came to its real climax: Eva Lys smiled. Not only had she made tennis history, but she had also conquered the hearts of Australian fans. Without doubt.