Tennis – Title chance brings travel stress for double Krawietz/Pütz – Sport

New York (dpa) – The big chance of their first Grand Slam triumph has thrown Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz’s travel plans into disarray. Instead of flying to the Davis Cup in Zhuhai, China on Friday, the top German doubles team will now play for the title in the final of the US Open on Saturday. “Before the match, the travel agency wrote to us that Sunday afternoon is now the preferred option,” said Pütz after reaching the final in New York, “because that is the only option where there are still places available.”

Before the tournament, Krawietz and Pütz probably didn’t fully expect to have a chance of winning the title and 750,000 US dollars in prize money against the Australians Max Purcell and Jordan Thompson in Arthur Ashe Stadium. In a semi-final thriller, the duo won 6:3, 6:7 (9:11), 6:4 against Marcelo Arévalo from El Salvador and the Croatian Mate Pavic thanks to a stronger performance.

Pütz: “New York was never our favorite tournament”

Krawietz and Pütz actually don’t like the last Grand Slam of the year on the unpopular hard court. “New York was never our favorite tournament,” said Pütz. “We’re doing well mentally by not really shining in terms of tennis, but we’re doing our stuff well.” The final is the reward for that.”

In the tie-break of the second set, the German doubles missed a match point and were 2:4 behind in the third set. However, the two won four games in the series and were able to celebrate after a strong return from Pütz. “It was a bit of a rollercoaster,” said Krawietz, describing the turbulent course of the match.

Only one German double winner so far in New York

So far, Philipp Petzschner is the only German tennis professional to have reached the men’s doubles final at the US Open, winning the title in 2011 together with the Austrian Jürgen Melzer. Krawietz had won the title at the French Open twice with his former doubles partner Andreas Mies.

Now, in their second year together as a doubles team, they have a great chance of winning their first Grand Slam. “First year and second Grand Slam final would have been better, but we’ll take second year and first final too,” joked Pütz.

Davis Cup team boss Michael Kohlmann was one of the first to congratulate him, sending a fist emoji to his cell phone – “then the next question was: when is the final?” reported Pütz, laughing. If the flight rebooking is successful, nothing stands in the way of his appearance on Tuesday in the first match of the Davis Cup group phase against Slovakia.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:240906-930-224558/2