Struff happy to be back after injury despite two defeats on day one at UTS

The German missed Wimbledon, the US Open and Davis Cup with a hip injury

Tennis Majors

September 16, 2023

Jan-Lennard Struff – “The Thunder” – said he was delighted to be back on court after a difficult few months in which he first reached a career-high ranking but then suffered a hip injury and had to miss Wimbledon and the US Open.

The German returned to action at the UTS Frankfurt by Builder.ai on Friday, having been off the Tour since June, when he peaked at No 21 after following up his run to the final of the Masters 1000 in Madrid by making the final in Stuttgart.

And though he lost out to Grigor Dimitrov (“The G-Unit”) and Casper Ruud (“The Iceman”), Struff was simply happy to be playing again.

“It (his body) was OK,” he said. “I did not feel anything. But I feel the difference to practice. I do feel it definitely more. He (Ruud) played well. Some things went well others did not. Too many unforced errors. But it was to expect that not everything will went well.”

Struff had the support of the home crowd in Frankfurt, and said he appreciated their support.

“It was amazing,” he said. “I did many mistakes but the support was there the whole time. It was really nice and made me happy.”

Struff will get the chance to finish with a win when he plays Benoit Paire (“The Rebel”) in his last group match on Saturday and said he was looking forward to making some improvements.

“I’ll need to see about tomorrow’s tactic,” he said. “I just need to find my rhythm.”