Athletes are rarely asked where they were during the craziest moment of their careers. The answers are known: Max Schmeling was in New York’s Yankee Stadium in 1938, Helmut Rahn was in the background in Bern in 1954, Wilfried Dietrich was on top of Chuck Taylor at the 1972 Olympic wrestling match in Munich. You had to ask Eva Lys on Tuesday because what happened was so unusual. If you made up the story, everyone would laugh at you because it sounds so crazy; So the answer right away: on the massage table.
On the massage table, the German tennis player found out that she had made it into the main field of the Australian Open – but had to get on the court in less than 20 minutes for the first round game against the Australian Kimberly Birrell. “I had heard that it can be chaotic sometimes, but I have never experienced anything like that,” said Lys later: “It was absolute chaos – and therefore the best thing that could have happened to me!”
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It was like this: Lys had failed to qualify for the Australian Open, but as a so-called lucky loser she still had a small chance of taking part. Because of her ranking (number 128 in the world rankings), she was one of the four players whose names were thrown into a draw – she came in third place. Colleague Petra Martic, who was also part of the quartet, found out two days before the start of the tournament that she would be there, and Harriet Dart found out four hours before her game started on Monday morning. At Lys it was even closer: The Russian Anna Kalinskaja signed off on Tuesday at exactly the moment when Matteo Berrettini was serving for victory in the fourth largest arena in the complex. “I got a text message,” said Lys about that moment on the massage table: “But I ignored it – my mom texts me so often.” Then the announcement came – and panic broke out in her head: “I knew no longer how to put on pants. I first put on one sock, then the T-shirt, then the other sock, then the pants.”
However, the tumult was helpful: she is a mental person who occasionally thinks too much. There was no time for that, it had to happen quickly. Her father and coach Wladimir, who had to travel home after the defeat in the qualifying, shared with her the unforgettable Beckenbauer philosophy: “He said: Go out and have fun! You’re a lucky loser, you could be home already. There are no expectations.”
Lys’ opponent, Kimberly Birrell, was also surprised by the events
National coach Torben Beltz also helped with his boundless optimism: “For the last few days he acted as if I was definitely going to play.” That’s another reason why she behaved accordingly: training in the morning, going back to the hotel briefly, returning on time the attachment. Warming up, then going to the physio on the cot – then the message came: “Everyone helped: mixed drinks or brought me sushi to the place later; I hadn’t eaten anything yet.”
It is often said in sports that you control the controllable. Lys had done that. She was prepared for the chaos. And you shouldn’t forget that there was a player on the other side of the net who also had to deal with this situation with an opponent who wasn’t prepared for her. “It really threw me off course,” Kimberly Birrell admitted afterwards. Lys said that she had already noticed how nervous the Australian was: “I took advantage of that. I think the most important thing in this sport is to stay spontaneous. You often don’t know what a day will bring; you cannot book hotels and flights. You can never say: Oh, the day after tomorrow, I have an incredible opportunity – it just comes and then you have to take it.”
That’s exactly what Lys did. She found that perfect mix of adrenaline rush and relaxation and just had fun for 70 minutes. She only allowed Birrell four winning strokes (she managed 20 herself) and caused 37 errors from her opponent. “That was her best match in a long time,” said Beltz then spoke to the SZ. The coach knows from experience that a crazy moment, a rush of adrenaline, can lift a player onto a wave at the right time that takes her to unexpected places: in 2016, Angelique Kerber, who he coached, had to fend off a match point in the first round before she then won the Australian Open.
Lys doesn’t think that far after the 6:2, 6:2. But because she now occupies the position of Kalinskaja, seeded 13th, in the table and lost to Wictoria Asarenka from Belarus, seeded 21st, she can only meet a seeded player in the round of 16 at the earliest – sometimes things just go uncontrollable. But Lys also knows that she first has to survive against the Frenchwoman Varwara Gratschova in the second round. How? She had an idea: “I’m still a lucky loser. Maybe I should not prepare, enjoy the chaos and just have fun.” In any case, she knows where she will be on Thursday: on the pitch and not on the massage table.
#Eva #Lys #enjoys #chaos
