Wimbledon 2022, Qualifying, 2nd Round, Wednesday, 22.06.2022
One last time, then it’s over! Philipp Kohlschreiber won’t be greeting us on court for much longer, the 38-year-old has heralded the end of his career. In Wimbledon, however, the veteran is determined to reach the main draw once more.
He has already made it through the first round, now a tougher task awaits him on Wednesday.
“It was a great and wonderful career, it will be my last tournament.” Philipp Kohlschreiber addressed his fans with these words on Monday. For a long time, people had suspected a career end, now exactly this case occurs.
At 38, Kohlschreiber is calling it a day, at a place in the world rankings that doesn’t really suit him. He enters the race in London as number 230, and consequently has to get through the qualifying round first.
The first round was already promising, he beat Gregoire Barrere from France 6-2, 6-2. He only allowed one break, but with only 48% on his first serve, he still has to improve his service.
After the French Open a month ago, where the Augsburg-born player was eliminated in the first round of the qualifying, he took a short break. He had failed three times in a row before Wimbledon, and now London should make him rejoice once more.
As he bids farewell to his career, Kohlschreiber will also be thinking of the glorious moments he celebrated in the English capital. A year ago, he came close to defeating Denis Shapovalov, losing unhappily in five sets.
Exactly ten years ago, he showed how far things can go on the sacred green grass. Who knows how far it could have gone had Kohlschreiber not lost two tiebreaks in the quarter-finals against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at 1:3.
The German dueled with his current opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin, in 2015 and 2019, both times on clay. Two matches, two wins – with 2-0 behind him, Kohlschreiber will undoubtedly be top motivated on court on Wednesday.
The Kazakh, at 34 hardly younger than his opponent, is 160th in the world and stronger than Kohlschreiber, at least if we go by pure ranking. However, his best times are also behind him.
This year, his results read very mixed, not even in Challengers was he able to attract much attention. Is Kukushkin in top shape at all? Just a few days ago he had to retire at 0-6 against Fernando Verdasco in Ilkley.
The veteran showed that he is not lacking in athletic fitness quite impressively in the 1st round of the qualifier. He beat the Italian Lorenzo Guistino 6-2, 6-1, especially the 80% won points on the first serve were strong here.
He attracted attention in Wimbledon three years ago, when he achieved his best result by reaching the last 16. Is it a good omen that he was able to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff, a German, at that time?
My Kohlschreiber Kukushkin Tip
For Philipp Kohlschreiber, every match from now on could also be his last. After Wimbledon, he ends his two-decade career.
Like the bookmakers, I think both players are similarly strong. But since the German is likely to be motivated to show it to everyone once more, I’ll risk the following individual bet:
Kohlschreiber wins against Kukushkin!
