After 15 years of waiting: Struff fights Fritz on home soil and is finally the ATP champion!

15 years – that’s exactly how long it took Jan-Lennard Struff to finally say goodbye to his debut ATP title. The German has been a near fixture in the world’s top 50 for the past decade and last year even reached as high as No. 21 in the world rankings after making a stunning run from qualifying to the final of the Madrid Masters. The German seems to have all the weapons needed to win at least one ATP 250 title a year, but his mentality always lets him down at the most important moments.

However, the German has been working with a sports psychologist since the end of 2022 and it is definitely paying off as he has been solidly in the top 30 over the past 12 months and shows no signs of nervousness when he has to close out a game. Struff played possibly the strongest match of his career yesterday, thrashing Holger Rune 6-2 6-0 in just 45 minutes of play to dethrone the ATP 250 champion in Munich and secure a first-ever trophy at the top level in tennis.

This time, the 33-year-old player took advantage of this chance, overcoming the resistance of another former member of the top 10, namely Taylor Fritz, and could succumb to all the emotions raging in him – 7:5 6:3. So the local favorite is sure to return to the top 25 and while he is unlikely to defend his points in the Spanish capital next week, he looks set to at least keep the damage to a minimum.

The final got off to a dream start for the German, who broke in the first game, only for his first serve to be completely off the court and the 3rd seed went to an instant ribbreak. Struff, however, continued to be the dominant figure on the court and reached three consecutive chances to break even at 3:3, but Fritz showed more stability in the subsequent plays and pulled out his serve.

Suddenly, the American played far more steadily against his opponent, who was too hasty in his attempts to finish points, and the former Indian Wells champion secured two set points. The local favorite then played absolutely flawless tennis and went on a 12-match winning streak to secure the opening set.

The fourth seed’s surge in action continued in full force and he quickly pulled to 2-0 in the next set, and Fritz just couldn’t get the ball into the court and soon surrendered his serve once more, trailing 2-5. So close but so far – the pressure still got to the German and his opponent made a break to stay in the match.

Still, Struff had built up a big enough lead and reached a match point at 5:3 in his favor, then put an end to the dispute with an unsalvageable smash and thus made his biggest dream come true.

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