WTA: Barbara Rittner:”Do you want to promote more individually?

For five years now, the best young female players have formed the Porsche Talent Team. In the interview “Head of Women’s Tennis” Barbara Rittner draws up an interim balance sheet. She reports on which young women will receive special support in 2018 and explains the introduction of the Porsche Junior Team.

Mrs. Rittner, the Porsche Talent Team was founded just over five years ago, a group of young players who are specifically promoted by the German Tennis Association and the commitment of its premium partner Porsche. What is your assessment after half a decade?

Cooperation with Porsche in general and the foundation of the Porsche Talent Team in particular are a great success story. With the introduction of the junior team, we were able to start promoting the best female talents on a much more individual basis, to take them closer to our hands, to subsidize training measures more generously and to establish a more intensive bond with the DTB. There are a number of players who have developed excellently from the Porsche Talent Team. First and foremost, of course, Carina Witthöft, who was part of the founding team in 2012, has now played her best season on the WTA Tour this year and is among the top 50. But Anna-Lena Friedsam or Annika Beck were also present from the very beginning and were able to establish themselves on the WTA tour in the following years.

Which players will be part of the Porsche Talent Team from the 2018 season onwards?

The core of the team from last year remains unchanged. These include Antonia Lottner (21), who has been supported by us since the company was founded five years ago, Katharina Gerlach (19), Lena Rüffer (19) and Katharina Hobgarski (20). With these six girls, we have a group of talented players who all have the potential to make it to the top 100 in the world.

What was the deciding factor in integrating two new players into the intensive support measures?

In 2017, Jule drew attention to himself with consistently good results, especially at major international youth tournaments. At the end of the year she played her first ITF profit tournaments and qualified for the main fields. She has a game with fast shots and a good serve, so she can win the women’s tour in the long run. She has earned her vocation to the Porsche Talent Team through her positive development. That goes for Anna too. We have been observing them for a long time and I regularly meet them at the DTB Federal Base in Stuttgart. Unfortunately, she has been suffering from a knee injury since August. I hope she can attack healthy and fit in 2018.

What support do the Porsche Talent Team players receive?

We guarantee you a close support, on the one hand in training, but also at tournaments. In addition, the players are supported with special measures: for example, by an extensive subsidy of the exercise bikes, additional units with fitness coaches, individual training plans of our Fed Cup fitness coach Mike Diehl or financial support for the cooperation with mental trainers. In this way we relieve the families and take some pressure off the girls. Regular training courses and very intensive supervision by the DTB national coaches Jasmin Wöhr, Ute Strakerjahn or Dirk Dier are also important achievements. Ultimately, we all assist the players as a team of coaches with words and deeds.

Starting in 2018, a Porsche Junior Team for younger talents will also be introduced. What support measures benefit the girls?

In this team we want to support young girls born in 2002,2003 and 2004. These include the starters Luisa Meyer on Heide (15), Mara Guth (14), Julia Middendorf (14), Mina Hodzic (15), Amelie-Christin Janßen (14), Nastasja Schunk (14), Sarah Müller (13), Mia Mack (13) and Joelle Steur (13). The focus will be on courses that we invite the players to attend, especially during the school holidays. We also want to promote these vintages in a more individual way, to offer them better training conditions and more intensive support at home. In individual cases, we also assume part of the costs for distance learning schools.

A few weeks ago, the contract extension between DTB and Porsche AG was announced. The automobile manufacturer remains a premium sponsor of the umbrella organization for another three years. What distinguishes the cooperation?

Apart from the fact that Porsche’s financial commitment to the DTB is of course extremely valuable, Porsche is also the perfect partner in terms of image. They have a number of active and enthusiastic tennis players on their management level, above all they have been firmly rooted in the international women’s tennis scene for decades with the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. The company is behind our sport – this is incredibly important.