Women’s national coach Barbara Rittner does not see a clear favourite for the German quarter-final duel at Wimbledon between Jule Niemeier and Tatjana Maria.
“In the end, it will be a close match with a completely open outcome,” the 49-year-old told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur. The 22-year-old Niemeier is also in the top eight of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time at her Wimbledon debut, as is Maria, who is twelve years older.
“Player-wise, I see Jule a tad ahead because she has an even stronger serve and is able to impose her game on Tatjana more,” Rittner said. On the other hand, this was actually the case with Latvian Jelena Ostapeno in the last 16. “Tatjana has impressively shown often enough that she outgrows herself. She will do everything to make it as difficult as possible for Jule. “
Two Germans in the quarter-finals
For the fifth time in the history of professional tennis, two German players have reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals in the same year; there was only a direct duel in this round in 2012 between Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki.
“Tatjana deserves this so much as a highlight of her great career, it’s great how they do it as a family,” Rittner gushed about mother-of-two Maria, who is coached by her husband Charles-Edouard and accompanied by their daughters. “For Jule to hit like that as a newcomer on the big stage shows a lot of potential for the future.”
Niemeier had defeated Britain’s Heather Watson 6-2, 6-4 on Centre Court in the last 16 of what was only her second Grand Slam tournament. For Maria, too, the hard-fought 5-7, 7-5, 7-5 win over Ostapenko was the biggest success of her career.
