The big invitational tournament “Longines Future Aces” in Paris offers young players the chance to experience the real professional air for the first time. Pauline Bruns missed the chance to reach the quarter-finals.
Paris. A few tears were shed by Pauline Bruns. On Thursday evening, when the opportunity was missed to reach the quarter-finals at the big invitational tournament “Longines Future Aces” in Paris – and perhaps even more to make it to the final on a tennis court set up directly under the Eiffel Tower.
“I didn’t really play free,” said the 12-year-old from Gilserberg, who now starts for SGT Baunatal. Bruns is one of the greatest talents in Germany in her age group, among all players younger than 13, she was selected by the German Tennis Federation for the prestigious competition in the French capital.
Bruns played four matches on Ascension Day against opponents from Japan, Australia, England and Singapore. She won two games, but she also lost two games in the preliminary round – not enough to reach one of the two group places for the quarter-finals. The Northern Hessian also had some problems with the compact format, because only up to three sets were played, not up to six as usual.
“When I slowly get into a match, I usually still catch up,” said Bruns, “but of course it was hard here.” She had actually set off with the expectation for her first big tennis trip that “I have to play very well in order to achieve good results”. Now, at her own discretion, she played rather below average – and was nevertheless very close to all the girls from all over the world.
“That gives me courage for the next time,” she said. The accompanying coach Alex Orlob looked very similar: “She could have gone much further from her potential here. But it was also a learning effect to play under this particular pressure and with this format.”
Of course, Paris was also an overwhelming experience. “It was “pretty cool”, the days with the other players, the draw ceremony on the Eiffel Tower, the common photo with the tournament ambassadors Arantxa Sanchez (three times French Open winner) and Alex Corretja (ATP world champion), the visit to the Grand Slam tournament facility Roland Garros, there with the game of Rafael Nadal against the Italian Simone Bolelli.
It’s just a pity that she was just a spectator at the winning ceremony of the youth tournament on Saturday, because the award ceremony for the winners was held by no less than the married couple Stefanie Graf and Andre Agassi.
Bruns, a technically strong player with a good eye and fluent movements, started playing tennis at the age of seven. At that time she decided against athletics and riding, she had a soft spot for sports activities from an early age. She soon achieved top positions in the youth rankings and has meanwhile become Southwest German champion twice.
Her life is tightly timed and, like all great talents, she has to manage the balancing act between school and competitive tennis. This has worked well so far, but also requires sacrifices. The parents chauffeur the one-man student alternately to Baunatal or Offenbach, to the HTV’s performance centre there. On the way Pauline prepares the homework, which is completed at home in Gilserberg-Schönau in the evening – she has learned to use the time effectively.
Four years ago, Rudi Molleker from Brandenburg won the “Longines Future Aces” among the boys. He is now one of the hopes of the very young generation in Germany and recently won a Challenger tournament in Heilbronn at the age of 17. Pauline Bruns also wants to try to produce such headlines and become a professional player.
How far and stony the road can be, she experienced in Paris. But she still has her whole future ahead of her, and she is optimistic: “I believe I can assert myself.”