It was an unexpected gift for the spectators who came to the Bad Homburg Kurpark on Tuesday.

After initially being able to watch Sabine Lisicki win her first singles on the WTA tour after an 18-month injury break, Angelique Kerber came back to the center court.

Pirmin Clossé

sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

The day before, the opening match of the 2018 Wimbledon winner against the qualifier Anastasija Gassanova had not been played to the end after a long break in the rain.

Now Kerber continued with the score of 4: 2 in the first set - and with 6: 2, 6: 2 short work.

It promptly got a bit crowded in the stands than in the previous match between Lisicki and Tamara Korpatsch (6:4, 7:6) - and a bit louder at the same time.

Kerber as the driving force of the event

Kerber is still the biggest attraction that German women's tennis has to offer.

In Bad Homburg, too, she is the driving force behind the event.

Especially since she is directly involved in the organization as a tournament ambassador.

However, the dual role does not affect your sporting ability.

"It's just fun for me, and when something's fun, it's easier," she said after her effortless opening win against Gassanova.

Last year, Kerber even stormed to victory in the tournament.

She therefore played a major role in the atmospheric premiere despite the strict Corona requirements.

The value of domestic heroines is great for the audience.

"Of course it helps enormously if we have top players from Germany at the start," says Aljoscha Thron, tournament director in Bad Homburg and also Kerber's manager.

"But we want a mix of 'local heroes' and international top players." That's why the organizers gave their wildcards primarily to German players, who are also in the main draw at Wimbledon.

And that's why they set a private jet in motion for the former world number one Simona Halep in order to get her to Bad Homburg in time after her semi-finals in Birmingham at the weekend.

The importance of the German stars in particular for the tournament can also be seen in the schedule for the first few days in Bad Homburg.

Andrea Petkovic played on Sunday, Kerber was scheduled for Monday and Lisicki on Tuesday.

So every day had a highlight from a German point of view, every day a crowd puller.

The problem with the matter: Petkovic is 34 years old and on the home stretch of her career.

Kerber, who is the same age, has already indicated that she will not be there forever.

And Lisicki is two years younger than the other two, but it remains to be seen whether her latest comeback attempt will succeed after a number of injuries.

Behind that is the gap that has been expected for a long time.

The generation of today's mid-twenties has broken away from German tennis for a variety of reasons, the squad of talents around Nastasja Schunk, who was born in Mainz, and Mara Guth from Usingen in Hesse are currently gaining experience on the professional tour.

Only Jule Niemeier is one step further.

At position 97 in the world rankings, she is now the highest-ranked German behind Kerber (18) and Petkovic (56).

On Monday she played her first round match against the American Claire Liu - and won convincingly 6:2, 6:2.

This Tuesday evening she meets the top seeded Russian Daria Kassatkina.

Tennis Germany has already experienced painfully what can happen if the national figureheads are lost.

When Steffi Graf and Boris Becker ended their great careers at the end of the 1990s, their successors failed to achieve comparable success.

This had serious consequences for public interest and the numerous tennis events in the country.

Germany developed from a paradise for tennis to a desert with few oases.

Only recently has this trend reversed.

In addition to the traditional men's event in Halle, German grass tournaments suddenly sprout in Stuttgart, Berlin and Bad Homburg.

"There is no guarantee of lasting success - for no sporting event in the world," says tournament director Thron.

Nevertheless, he is confident that he will be able to present national tennis stars to the spectators even in the post-Kerber era.

"Germany has such a rich tournament landscape," he says, "that the young players can gain important experience here." It also helps that the talented people "have time to mature in the shadow of a larger generation".

What he means by that could also be observed on Monday: while more than 3,000 fans cheered for Angelique Kerber on the center court, Jule Niemeier played in front of around 200 spectators on one of the two outdoor courts.