Double Dates

The doubles tournament of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is a lot like a dating site for some players. Players have to look for a partner for the tournament and you have to wait and see if it clicks during the matches. Kevin Krawietz (on the photo with green shirt) knows all about this: "Due to an injury of my regular doubles partner, it was not easy to find a new partner."

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies stepped out of anonymity during Roland Garros in 2019. The Germans surprised friend and foe with the doubles title. They were also supreme on the clay court in Paris last year. The duo had the Olympic Games in Tokyo (from 23 July to 8 August) on their wish list for this year. All this has become uncertain due to the injury of Mies, who had surgery on his knee last month and will certainly be recovering for the coming months.

"That suddenly changes a lot," says 29-year-old Kevin Krawietz, who is paired with the Romanian Horia Tecau in Rotterdam Ahoy this week. "I have to look for another partner until Andi (Andreas Mies) is fit again. Of course you hope to play with one regular partner every week, but it is not that easy. I am happy that Horia Tecau was off this week. ”

They were frightened in the opening round and were supreme in the quarterfinals against the Russian duo Andrey Rublev / Karen Khachanov. "Rotterdam is also known in doubles for a strong field of participants," continues Krawietz. "I'm just going to see who suits me best, but that player must of course be available." The occasional couple will meet the Finn Henri Kontinen and the Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semi-finals.

Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies defeated Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the 2019 Roland Garros final. The French duo will play the other semi-final battle in Rotterdam against the strong Croatian double Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic. Last year, Mektic took the title together with Wesley Koolhof during the Nitto ATP Finals in London.