Maxi Homberg (17) from Freising is in the top 100 of the youth tennis ranking for the first time. Now it's off to South America to collect more points.
Freising
- It wasn't enough for the big hit at the Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships in December.
But Maxi Homberg made a huge leap in the youth world rankings in January: The 17-year-old Freisinger, who trains at the Oberhaching tennis base for his great dream of professional sport, is currently in 99th place, making it for the first time among the top in the ITF Junior Ranking 100.
A year ago at the Orange Bowl, Maxi Homberg had gained an impression of the caliber of the U18 elite: “All really strong opponents,” says the 17-year-old, who, together with his Serbian doubles partner Marko Topo and his trainer Florida flew.
The Orange Bowl in Plantation is one of the world's most important tennis tournaments for juniors - there are of course no easy matches.
+
Selfie in the hotel: Maxi Homberg (r.) And his doubles partner Marko Topo from Serbia were eliminated in Florida in round two against two Wimbledon finalists.
© private
But the Freising did his job well: In the individual, he first prevailed against the American Ryan Colby 6: 1 and 6: 4 in the qualification, his second opponent Aman Sharma (USA) gave two in round with a score of 6: 1 and 2: 0.
"I played aggressively and clearly defined both games," says the 17-year-old, who had thus secured the entry into the main field.
There, however, was the final destination in the first round: Maxi was defeated by Frenchman Joshua Dous Karpenschif with 1: 6 and 4: 6.
“I may have acted a bit too passively,” says Freising.
Bitter: In the second set he was clearly leading 4-0, "but then I just lost every game".
Nevertheless, his conclusion is positive: "I think I can be quite satisfied."
Loss to the Wimbledon double finalists
This also applies to his performance in doubles: In the first round Maxi Homberg and Marko Topo just got the upper hand against Perera / Short (USA) 6: 4 and 7: 5.
In the second it was really difficult: The two Britons Lui Maxted and Toby Samuel were at least in the Wimbledon double finals at the Juniors and were a size too big at 6: 1 and 6: 3 overall.
"We have lost the crucial rallies too often," says Maxi.
The trip to the USA was still worth it - regardless of the fact that after returning to Bavaria he had to be in quarantine for five days until the negative corona test.
“It was really great in Florida.
It was always 25, 26 degrees, we saw alligators, played golf and rattled off some fast food chains, ”says the 17-year-old.
Strict Corona rules naturally applied to the tennis facility itself: “You had to fill out various forms, before entering there was always fever measurements, and there were inspectors everywhere.
And you were only allowed to shower in the hotel.
But that wasn't a problem for me - the main thing was that it could be played at all. "
Maxi Homberg wants to serve in Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay
The Orange Bowl in Florida was ultimately just one of many steps on the way to professional tennis.
Maxi wants to do the next one soon: “I will probably go on a South American tour at the end of January,” emphasizes the Freising native.
The 17-year-old, who is funded by the German Tennis Association, wants to play tournaments in Ecuador, Peru and Paraguay by the end of February.
The first at the end of January in Colombia has just been postponed - “I have to see how it works for myself”.
Either way: Maxi Homberg wants to collect strong points in order to be able to climb further up the youth rankings.
At the turn of the year he had made a set from position 235 to 99.
“This is also due to the fact that the oldest born in 2002 fell out of the ranking,” explains the young tennis crack.
His goal is clear: "I want to be in the top 50 by the end of the year."
Also read: Fit, fitter, Florian Wolf - a portrait of a hard-working district soccer player
