Dhe Frankfurt tennis pro Tim Pütz won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open in Paris. The 35-year-old Davis Cup player won alongside Miyu Kato from Japan in the final against Michael Venus/Bianca Andreescu (New Zealand/Canada) 4: 6, 6: 4 and 10: 6 in a match tiebreak. The duo only got together shortly before the start of the tournament in Roland Garros and only decided to start together in mixed doubles shortly before the registration deadline.
Pütz is the third German mixed champion in Paris. In 1930 Cilly Aussem triumphed with the American Bill Tilden, in 2014 Anna-Lena Grönefeld won the title with Jean-Julien Rojer from the Netherlands. Before Pütz, however, only one male German tennis player had won a major mixed title: in 1933 Gottfried von Cramm triumphed in Wimbledon with Hilde Krahwinkel.
Pütz/Kato received 122,000 euros in prize money for the win, and in doubles Pütz also earned 40,000 euros after reaching the quarter-finals with Kevin Krawietz. In professional tennis, mixed is only played at the four Grand Slam tournaments and at the Olympic Games.
“I’d rather be in the doubles final, that’s no secret either, but of course I’m happy anyway,” Pütz said after reaching the final.
It worked out with Kato (28) despite some communication difficulties, since the Japanese speaks little English. “So in a week and a half we haven’t discussed anything like position play or running routes,” said Pütz.
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