The 17-year-old from Ludwigshafen, who first served in a Grand Slam tournament, had to concede defeat to Spaniard Ani Producer del Olmo 6:2, 4:6, 1:6 in Sunday’s final. The German Tennis Association (DTB) awaits its first major junior title since Annika Beck’s victory at the 2012 French Open.

At Wimbledon, the drought ran for 30 years: In 1991, Barbara Ritner, 48, who is now the director of women’s tennis at DTB, is also in charge of youth, won. “I try to focus only on myself and not think: the final is really good,” said Shank, who was born in Mainz, before the final in stadium No. No. 1, the second largest stadium on Church Road. There she defeated top seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra in the semi-finals on Saturday and also showed impressive tennis strength from the baseline against her Spanish opponent in the final.

Four identical balls are not enough

After 2:03 hours and four match points handicapped, she still had to congratulate Mintegi del Olmo (17). Ashleigh Barty on Saturday showed where a small winner could lead her: the world number one from Australia won the women’s singles title – ten years after winning as a young girl in London. Today’s best German player Alexander Zverev won the junior competition at the Australian Open in 2014. Shank came to tennis through her six-year-old brother, worked her way up in April through qualifying for the tournament in Stuttgart and made her debut on one of the main fields of the NFL. professional tennis players. There she lost to the best Swiss player, Belinda Bencic. Your goal now, Shank said, is “to prove yourself on the women’s tour.”