Lost next duel
German tennis women have a messed up day
November 10, 2023, 6:54 p.m
Things could hardly have gone worse: the tennis women lost the Billie Jean King Cup against France without a point. Niemeier smashes her racket, Maria leaves the court early.
The German tennis women suffered their second 3-0 defeat in a botched second group game at the Billie Jean King Cup. After Jule Niemeier initially lost at the start of the group duel with France in Seville, Tatjana Maria had to give up a little later due to problems with her abdominal muscles. The 36-year-old Swabian was leading 3-0 against Varvara Gracheva when she called a team supervisor over and decided not to continue playing. The German Tennis Association said she didn’t want to risk a worse injury.
One day after the 3-0 defeat against Italy, the next defeat was once again determined prematurely. Metzinger Laura Siegemund and Niemeier lost the final doubles match tiebreak 7:5, 3:6, 1:10 against Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Neither team had a chance to reach the semi-finals before, and Italy had already won the group. Team boss Rainer Schüttler’s German selection finished last in the preliminary group without winning a point. Of course they were “disappointed,” said Schüttler: “We were outsiders, but we would have liked to have made it a little tighter. The goal is clearly to qualify again next year.”
In a strange match, Niemeier initially missed the German tennis women’s first victory at this year’s final round of the team competition. The 24-year-old from Dortmund lost to the Frenchwoman Clara Burel 4:6, 3:6. The match was of a very manageable level; there were only breaks in the first five games. Niemeier was the first player to serve to make it 4-2, but after that the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist didn’t win a game in the first set.
When her twelfth double fault gave her opponent a set point, Niemeier smashed her racket with two powerful blows to the ground. With a new racket, Niemeier, who had slipped to 162nd in the world rankings, immediately made a double fault again and the Frenchwoman won the set. In the end, the statistics recorded 15 double faults for the German, and Burel’s serve also wobbled considerably (8).