MUNICH, May 3, 2017
Yannick Hanfmann has been the man of the week so far in Munich. The World No. 273 battled through the qualifying at the BMW Open by FWU, was victorious in his ATP World Tour main draw debut on Monday and continued his fantastic run this week by reaching the quarterfinals at the MTTC Iphitos on Wednesday.
Yannick Hanfmann during his post-match press conference in Munich
The 25-year-old German saved one match point in the ninth game of the final set to eventually overcome Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil, winning 7-6, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 19 minutes.
Hanfmann, who captured five ITF Pro Circuit titles in his career and is mainly competing at ATP Challenger level this season, entered the media room by greeting the journalists with the words: “Wow, my first press conference.”
Ahead of his presser he also explained that he was born hard of hearing. “It doesn’t affect my tennis. Sometimes, it is even helpful, as I do not hear everything what is going on around the court,” the Karlsruhe native laughed. “I only have to tell it to the umpires, who do not speak loudly.”
After graduating from high school, Hanfmann received a scholarship from the University of California, where he has been competing in college tennis for four years. During this time he helped his team to capture two national titles including the university’s 100th NCAA Championship in 2014.
“I have been playing a lot of matches for four years during college times, which was really tough. It wasn’t always nice tennis but I competed in a lot of difficult encounters, which was good preparation for the tour,” Hanfmann told Tennis TourTalk exclusively after qualifying for his first ATP main draw on Sunday.
Three days later, a dozen journalists attended his first press conference. “It’s still a bit surreal,” he says and talks about his family. “My father is a doctor and my mom a teacher. I have one sister, who is becoming a professional dancer. You have to look up her name, she is really good.”
Over the next couple of days, there might be the chance to find out even more about the German, who doesn’t regard himself as a veteran on the tour. “I have been on the tour for only two years and there is still some space for improvement.”
Hanfmann will crack his career high ranking of World No. 262 on Monday. He is going to take on the tournament’s number two Roberto Bautista-Agut in the second round in Munich including another meeting with the media in prospect.
