Teichmann about her crash year: “I won’t lie to you: it was extremely tough”

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Cooking, baking, painting. These are things that make Jil Teichmann (26) forget her daily tennis life. “It just has to be creative,” she told Blick in May, when she was already in the middle of her sports crisis. Even then, several first-round defeats left the Biel native seriously behind in the WTA rankings. From 28th place at the beginning of the year to 75th place. “Unfortunately I don’t have a magic trick,” said last year’s French Open round. There’s just a worm in their game.

Well, this worm turned out to be a persistent, impossible-to-kill parasite all season long. Teichmann never really succeeded in achieving the desired liberation. She may have only achieved this in her penultimate tournament of the year – albeit in doubles. Then she won the WTA 250 tournament in Cluj (Rum) with the British Jodie Burrage (24).

«A great feeling. “I was finally closer to my old level again,” reports Teichmann. She could use this momentum, this sense of achievement, this psychological advantage for herself too. Only in the new year, when she has to roll onto the field again. Her merciless fall down the rankings means she has to say goodbye to the best in the world and all amenities – from placement lists to regular tickets for the Grand Slam tournaments. Meanwhile, she was only at position 146, currently she is in 137th place.

Coach change? “Together we will get through this”

But Teichmann says she has come out of the long, difficult phase stronger – she was thrown out a total of fourteen times in her first main round match: “It may sound strange: but I know myself much better now. From my game to my emotions. learned much.” But of course she doesn’t want to hide anything, says Teichmann: “I won’t lie to you: it was extremely difficult this year. It was emotional. But I am where I am now.”

Mental coach, family, friends – and especially her British trainer Andrew Bettles (30) helped her through the darkest hours. “We will get through this together,” she says, explaining that she wants to stay with her coach. Together they will prepare for the Australian Open in Barcelona in December. In other words, the place where Teichmann grew up and which gives her a pleasant feeling.

In Australia she will have to take the difficult route of qualifying (from January 8). But this should already be a first step in her planned comeback: “I see it as a process. And I want to show myself that I can still do it.”

Source : Blick