Inviolable not only in the German national tennis league: Tim Pütz and Jan-Lennard Struff form a pairing that can also survive on the international scene.
The life of the tennis professional Tim Pütz usually takes place away from the larger public. When Pütz won a Challenger tournament in New Caledonia at the beginning of the year together with the Frenchman Hugo Nys, the focus was on completely different tennis headlines, Julia Görges’ tournament victory or the joint appearance of Alexander Zverev and Angelique Kerber at the Hopman Cup. Görges, Zverev, Kerber – basically they come from a different world, from a perceived different weight class in this sport, their names are more associated with glamour and the literal richness of the travelling circus.
Pütz, the 30-year-old Frankfurter – he stands for something else: For the hard life in the nomadic business, for the struggle for daily livelihoods in the second or third division, for somehow breaking through, day after day, year after year. All the more fascinating that the Davis Cup players such as Pütz and Zverev are able to unite in one team, the number five in the world and the number 293 in the world. And, fortunately for tennis Germany, it is gratifying to see that one such as Pütz sees and uses the Nations’ Competition as an opportunity to build on his otherwise unexciting career as a remarkable highlight.
When the first-round Davis Cup match between Australia and Germany was held on Saturday, Pütz played a decisive role in the 2:1 lead of the Germans – just like Weltklassemann Zverev (20) and Pütz’s double partner, the East-Westphalian Jan-Lennard Struff (27). In the singles, that Struff had lost to Australia’s front man Nick Kyrgios on Friday, but at Pütz’s side he managed a not necessarily expected 6:4,6:7 (1), 6:2,6:7 (4), 6:4 triumph against John Peers/Matthew Ebden. It was by no means exclusive to the appearance of the two Germans on the Australian Gold Coast to keep their nerves in an exhausting, wildly swaying five-set match.
Already during the dramatic relegation thriller in Portugal last autumn, the two buddies Pütz and Struff had already contributed the decisive double point to remaining in the world group “It is characteristic of us that we can rely on each other. Playing side by side with a good friend helps in many situations,”said Pütz,” and thus almost involuntarily summed up what the Germans had been missing in this special discipline in the Nations Competition many years earlier. A powerful, harmoniously working duo that forms an intact Centre Court community. And that, recognizing the possibilities of profiling in the Davis Cup, can outgrow itself in hard-pressed tennis lifetimes.
“I am very happy about this point. It was a great performance,”said Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann afterwards. The Hagener Bank director resisted the temptation to eventually call Zverev into the double-match – instead he relied on the well-rehearsed combination of Pütz/Struff, which has not yet lost a single match in German and French league matches. Especially in the fifth set Pütz and Struff showed their mental qualities, fought off several break points at a 2:3 deficit and a short time later won the decisive break to 4:3.
“We have always believed in ourselves at every stage,”Struff later said, part of a double that has long been known as “TimundStruffi” in social networks. 2:1 after the often groundbreaking double – thus offering Germans two possibilities for their longed-for away win on the final day. First in the top flight between Zverev and Kyrgios, then in the last of all the duels, probably Struff and teenager Alex de Minaur fought it out,”We definitely put ourselves in a position we wanted to start,”said team boss Kohlmann.