Two days after the surprise coup against Alexander Zverev, Philipp Kohlschreiber retired from the US Open. The man from Augsburg lost against the former New York finalist Kei Nishikori (Japan) 3:6, 1:6, 5:7.
Was that still Philipp Kohlschreiber, who provided the biggest tennis coup in the third US Open round – with his brilliant victory over his national rival, the young star Alexander Zverev? Indeed, Kohlschreiber stood on the hard ground of the Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday, it was he who really faced the duel with the Japanese hero Kei Nishikori.
But it wasn’t him either, he was a completely different player than 48 hours earlier against Zverev, a much weaker player, a predominantly very insecure player. For the most part, he was only a shadow of himself – and thus without any real chance of advancing to the quarter-finals of his dreamed-for first time in his long tennis career at the US Open.
3:6, 1:6 and 5:7 – that was the frustrating final score in New York’s second-largest arena for the 34-year-old veteran from Augsburg, who only found his way into the match after it was too late.
Nishikori was actually lucky to see what happened on the newly built Grand Slam stage in the baking midday heat: the finalist of 2014 had by no means had his best day, rather a mediocre day, but Kohlschreiber played on the other side of the net one of the less convincing matches of the whole year – unfortunately at the most important moment.
“Maybe he wanted too much. Finally getting into the last eight,” said Eurosport expert Boris Becker, “he seemed blocked. Kohlschreiber’s Knockout also brought the Grand Slam campaign of all German soloists in the Big Apple to a standstill – on American Labor Day, the day of work, everyone was suddenly unemployed.
Kohlschreiber had not lost to casual customers in four previous US Open Round of 16 matches in the past, Nadal, Federer and Djokovic were his rivals. Players who were simply a house number too big for the Bavarian, even if he often defended himself bravely and courageously.
Nishikori, however, does not belong to the absolute world elite at the moment, he is once again on his way to the front after injury breaks, he is tinkering with one of his werwewhv viele comebacks. Kohlschreiber therefore rightly sensed a realistic chance to end the curse of defeats in the last 16 – but Kohlschreiber was paralyzed by this tempting possibility from the first rallies and minutes on.
And so cramped that the number of unconstrained errors quickly moved into the double-digit range. Kohlschreiber kept pulling his own hair out, which mistakes he made – he found no rhythm, no self-confidence, no security.
Nishikori will be an “unpleasant contemporary”, one who can get you into trouble with “high aggressiveness”, the German said before the game. But just as Zverev was his own biggest opponent in the German duel against Kohlschreiber, Kohlschreiber now had most to do with Kohlschreiber and not with Nishikori – the Japanese was at best forced and invited to give up his entire skill.
“You can lose to Nishikori, even on a good day,” said Becker, the DTB men’s department head, “but Kohlschreiber was only a tougher opponent on the home stretch. The 34-year-old could not be accused of lacking fighting strength, in the last set he even fought back after a 3:5 deficit.
After all, Kohlschreiber’s entry into the last sixteen was a conciliatory end to his Grand Slam year. In Australia and Paris he had lost his first round and in Wimbledon he missed out on the second week of the tournament with the third round out.
Hardly anyone had thought he could do great things in New York, especially after a mixed tennis summer. But then, in his old days, he was once again the last German in one of the big competitions, not a small satisfaction for the veterinarian.