Boris Becker is worried about the next generation of tennis players in Germany ahead of the Australian Open. The country must “watch out”
Boris Becker is worried about the next generation of German tennis players ahead of the Australian Open. “Something has to happen soon,” said the former world number one at a press conference on the TV channel Eurosport. There are “not very many” top talents in the shadow of Alexander Zverev or Angelique Kerber, said Becker, Germany must “make sure that the train doesn’t run too long without us and that we can jump on the train again soon”.
Germany used to have “significantly more and also significantly younger players”, said Becker: “And that’s simply no longer the case. That’s a problem.” There are “theoretically the financial possibilities, we have the sporting possibilities. Germany is an extremely modern country with lots of tennis opportunities,” said the six-time Grand Slam winner: “I can’t for the life of me explain why the talent doesn’t come out more often. “
The “elite mindset in sport has subsided “
In principle, the “elite mindset in sport has diminished”, said Becker, which can also be seen in soccer and athletics: “I think it’s all down to the same problem, namely that professional sport in Germany no longer has the weight it perhaps had ten or twenty years ago. “
In comparison to Germany, a successful athlete is “more important in almost all countries than here at the moment”, said Becker: “It used to be different. But something has been lost in recent years. Something has happened in the promotion of performance in Germany” in sport, which is “no longer as good as it was ten or 20 years ago. “
