RiseBut that Saturday I will win the gold medal in the Tokyo final with my doubles partner Kevin Kravitz, but I am also very happy to be home with my family. I can’t postpone my departure as much as possible-anyway, I can’t do more than just hanging out in the Olympic Village and watching my colleagues play tennis.
I like to be an Olympian and I definitely don’t want to miss this experience. But the situation could have been better. I really want to come to Paris again in 2024, under real Olympic conditions, but this is not a very specific goal for me. Just like athletes in other sports, they give their lives to the rhythm of the Olympics.
Mo. -Priest at 4 pm; Sa. – so.18:00
Let’s see how my career develops. By 2024, I will be 36 years old. This is not the age of a doubles player. However, the decision to continue or stop does not only depend on my body. I have been talking about the next thing with my family. Because my career as a professional tennis player has had a huge impact on the lifestyles of my parents and my wife. Since I became a father six months ago, my son has played an important role in deliberations.
As a professional tennis player, I am almost uninterrupted in the history of the world. Without a family support system, this would be impossible. My wife did not advance her career. My parents freed me from many organizational matters in daily life: starting from changing winter tires, not only garbage disposal, but also more important things.
Not to mention the care and assistance for our son. Everyone is shrinking so that I can continue my work. It brings a huge income and enables us to do things that were otherwise impossible. But money is not everything: we only live once, and I want all of us to live our lives as happily as possible—not just me. I hope that as many family members as possible are as happy as possible.
Grand Slam champion is the supreme glory
My athletic performance played a role in the evaluation. I am unlikely to quit anytime soon because I am currently experiencing the best season of my life. After several championship wins, I reached the 33rd place in the world, which gave me the opportunity to top the list and even go further. Because now due to the ranking position, I can guarantee to participate in major tournaments and have more chances to collect more points than before. Until the end of this year, I hardly need to defend any points from last year.
The Olympics confirmed to me that I am now good enough to win the Grand Slam. I played with Kevin Kravitz. He and Andreas Mies won twice at the French Open. We have different strengths, weaknesses and expertise, but in short, we will not take too much. My doubles partner on the ATP Tour, Michael Venus, is also at our level.
Unfortunately, there are 30 to 40 other doubles players in the world as well, so it is very difficult to win the necessary six matches in one game before winning the Grand Slam championship. The balance of the field is much more extreme than the balance of the individual. In addition, if there is a tie, the match will be decided in the championship tie-break. Usually a few balls determine the outcome. Without a little luck at the critical moment, it is difficult to win. But my happiness in life does not depend on whether I become a Grand Slam winner. There are more important things in life than tennis.
Peter Hess had a conversation with Tim Putz, a 33-year-old professional tennis player in Frankfurt, who played in a doubles match with Kevin Kravitz in Tokyo.
