Stuttgart (AP) – The former world-class player Anke Huber got a good impression of the young German players at the WTA tennis tournament in Stuttgart.
“The fact that they were really able to show that they can keep up with the top 50 players is a bit reassuring that maybe there won’t be such a long gap,” said the tournament’s sporting director (47): “That maybe we can look forward to seeing someone again in the years to come.”
Eva Lys (20) had shone in Stuttgart on her WTA main field debut with her first win. Wildcard holder Jule Niemeier (22) and qualifier Nastasja Schunk (18) were eliminated despite decent performances in the first round of the tournament, which featured seven top ten players.
“Of course we don’t have Angie Kerber again for the next two, three, four years,” said the former number four in the world. She also justified the fact that the German talents still have a few years to develop with the German school system: “Of course we have an incredibly tough school system. It is now almost impossible to do really competitive sports here because we don’t have a system that really is encouraging. You might have to give the girls a year or two more time.”