Wimbledon
Kevin Krawietz one point away from shock win
The summer fairytale at Wimbledon is over for Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. In the Round of 16 at the Grand Slam tournament, the duo from Coburg and Cologne lost in the doubles to the seventh-seeded Americans Mike Bryan/Jack Sock by 2:6, 7:6 (7:2), 4:6, 7:6 (7:5) and 5:7 after a breathtaking and nail-biting five-set tussle on Monday. Krawietz/Mies put up a thrilling fight against the very experienced clear favorites. The unseeded Germans were a match for their opponents to the very end, produced a magnificent display and would certainly have deserved to win. Krawietz/Mies even led by 5:4 and 40:15 in the deciding fifth set. However, the old hands Bryan/Sock fended off both match balls to tie the score at 5:5. The Germans were visibly shocked and lost their subsequent serve to love. Mike Bryan then ended the quarter-final dreams of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies by holding his serve to love and win the match 7:5.
“That’s annoying and it hurts when you’re just one point away from winning. We almost defeated a top team,” said a disappointed Kevin Krawietz after the encounter. Nevertheless, the tennis professional from Coburg looked ahead with optimism. “We’ve proven that we’re a match for the best and needn’t fear anyone.”
Even though the pair failed to reach the quarter-finals, their performance at the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament is in particular a milestone in Krawietz’ career. The 26-year-old will probably make a big leap forward from his current 86th spot in the doubles world rankings,. Krawietz/Mies can also console themselves with prize money of around 33,000 euros and the certainty of having played a fine tournament. “I think that, when we look back after two days, we’ll take away a lot of positives from this match. If someone had said after qualifying that we’d be close to advancing to the quarter-final, I’d have taken that result,” said Kevin Krawietz, who will continue to team up with Andreas Mies in the future.
Source: Neue Presse