Preparation / Qualifying Tournament
What about my injuries from the last two tournaments? Can I play? What is the preparation for the oldest and most impressive tournament in the world? Many questions and hardly any answers.
With Didi and my physio Philipp, we went to London. Every day massages, treatments, stabilisation and coordination exercises, tape dressings by the metre. And the first light training sessions on the grass at Roehampton (training ground and facility of the English Tennis Association. The qualifying tournament for Wimbledon took place there). Day by day, things got better and the training sessions could be held a little longer.
Then it started. Dominic met the American S. Johnson (BR ATP 23) BR = best career ranking in the first round. It quickly became clear that this would be a tough match for a first qualifying round. At 5:5 Dominic got the decisive break and took the set 7:5. The second set was also hard-fought. But Dominic managed another break and finally won the match 6:4. Is the back holding up, what about the pain? In the second round he had to play the Argentinean J. Ficovich (BR ATP 125). He sensationally beat F. Cobolli from Italy in the first round. But Dominic did not let himself be impressed and won confidently 6:4 / 6:3. Now the last round. And this match was played in 3 winning sets. M. Bellucci (BR ATP 142) from Italy. Dominic and his team knew that this would be a real tough match. Especially as they had followed his match the day before. A player who runs like a hundred-metre runner, returns everything and never gives up. And that was exactly the game he played against Dominic. The start was 6:3. Everything seemed to be going well. But then suddenly something cramped? or nervous? or pain? From the stands, one wondered what was wrong with Dominic. The second set was quickly lost 1:6. “Toilet break” and shirt change were the order of the day.And suddenly Dominic played much better again. Again and again you could hear the encouragement and announcements of his coach Didi: “Better legs”, “more height”, “good service”, “play with pressure”. And this definitely helped. Dominic came out of his little slump and after a good 2.5 hours he won set 3 6:3 and set 4 6:4. The dams were all broken and his first “normal” qualification for a Grand Slam main draw was achieved.
First participation in a Grand Slam main draw tournament
Now Dominic was allowed to play for the first time on the venerable grounds of Wimbledon, in an MD main draw. He had already been able to get some air there in the juniors, but what it would mean to play on the same court with the “big” players is simply indescribable. After a day of rain, the time had come. The opponent, the 1.96 m tall A. Popyrin (BR ATP 59) from Australia. He has the 2nd best performance of all ATP players in terms of first service. This meant that one had to be prepared for one service hammer after the other. And so it came to pass. Both gave nothing to each other. Details decided. The first set was lost 3:6. There were a total of 3 rain interruptions during this match. Waiting again and again, sometimes for hours, also made it difficult to prepare for the next point. But Dominic did not let himself be distracted by the weather. Set 2 and 3 went to him with 6:3/6:2. The numerous audience was offered a lot. Unfortunately, a somewhat unnecessary break in the 4th set was enough for Popyrin to win 4:6. And the start in the 5th set went well. 3 break chances for Dominic. But unfortunately he could not use them (2 times he tried to pass Popyrin longline and 2 times the ball ended up millimetres out of bounds. And so it happened, as it often does in tennis, not to make a break and then to concede one. Dominic was trailing 0:3 and 1:4. The spectators’ seats were bursting at the seams. And everyone was almost exclusively cheering for the Australian. But Team DS gave everything and tried to get the last reserves out of Dominic.
A fairy tale was written.
Whoever would have bet on Dominic would have been looked at strangely by many. Especially as Popyrin had 2 more break chances at 15:40 to make it 1:5. But Dominic fought back and won the 2:4. Now Dominic put all his eggs in one basket, suddenly stood much further in front and tried to upset Popyrin. He managed to break for 3:4 and then a great service game for 4:4. After that, both decided their next game and the score was 5:5. 40:0 Popyrin on his own service. And those who had seen the match for more than 3 hours knew that Popyrin would easily bring home this 6:5 with another service point. But right now Dominic had one blatant point after the other. 5 points on Popyrin’s return. Almost impossible, but true. Dominic’s box stood up and was simply beside itself with excitement. Break to 6:5. Now home serving. Anyone who plays tennis knows what that means. But this at a Grand Slam, the first time over 5 sets, four points before entering the second round and this at the young age of 20. 15:15, 30:15, 40:15 and how a fairy tale is then written. With a powerful ace into Popyrin’s forehand. The dams were broken and Dominic, as well as the whole DS box, screamed with happiness and held each other in their arms. Nobody could believe what had just happened. It was the topic of conversation for many wonderful moments in the life of a tennis player.
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