German tennis pro Otte is the hope at Wimbledon. However, there were problems on the journey – the airline lost his luggage.
Oscar Otte has been missing a tennis bag with shoes and strings since arriving at the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. The piece of luggage was lost on the flight to London – and has not been found by the airline since.
“We can’t reach anyone there, I think the bag is gone,” Otte reported late Monday evening at the grass-court classic after his clear first-round victory over Peter Gojowczyk. “Fortunately, I told myself the night before to take the rackets in my hand luggage. That was important because I probably wouldn’t have been able to get my hands on the rackets so quickly again.
Equipment supplier was able to deliver shoes
The suitcase with clothes arrived in contrast to the bag. In it were, among other things, five pairs of turf shoes and a roll of string to string rackets. His outfitter was able to deliver two pairs of shoes in Otte’s size in time for the start of the tournament.
“If things keep going so well, they’ll have to send some on,” said the 28-year-old from Cologne. Because of the heavy wear on grass, the world number 36 usually puts on a new pair every match. In the absence of Olympic champion Alexander Zverev, who is missing due to injury, Otte is the German number one in the men’s singles at Wimbledon.
Lucky stone of his father in his pocket
He was hardly challenged in his 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 win over Munich’s Gojowczyk in just 77 minutes. Whether Britain’s Jay Clarke or Christian Harrison from the USA will be his next opponent is something Otte can relax about on Tuesday. The fate of his bag is not in his own hands.
Even a completed online form did not yield a positive result so far. Besides the tennis paraphernalia, the contents also had an emotional value: “I think it even had my father’s lucky stone in it, which he gave me years ago,” said Otte.
