It had been a while since a German tennis player made headlines for his achievements on the court, but on Saturday Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler was front-page news everywhere. Boris Becker has attracted unwanted publicity for a multi-million divorce settlement, a dispute with a pregnant lover and a trial for tax evasion while Steffi Graf's family life with her high-profile husband, Andre Agassi, kept her in the newspapers in the once tennis-mad country.
With Tommy Haas and Nicolas Kiefer both injured and no top player in the women's draw, it seemed unlikely that the Australian Open would enable German tennis to heal its wounded pride. But with perfect timing, the 26-year-old Schuettler, who had been regarded as a solid but unspectacular player, burst into the limelight with his amazing run to the Melbourne final, in which he will face Agassi.
"Schuettler has put German tennis back on the world map," the Tagesspiegel daily quoted Becker has saying. "He is probably the most fit player on the circuit at the moment and certainly the most professional," the three-times Wimbledon champion added.
"Agassi is the big favourite for the final but Schuettler has a real chance because he believes in himself and is not worried about Agassi." Bild also suggested Schuettler could win the tournament. "Sorry, Steffi," read a headline on the mass-circulation daily's front page.
"Two weeks ago he was a nobody and now the whole world knows him," Bild wrote after Schuettler became only the second German, behind Becker, to reach the men's final in the event's 98-year-history.
RAY OF HOPE
With tennis in Germany going through a crisis and the national federation facing financial difficulties due to declining interest from sponsors and broadcasters, Schuettler's victories have brought an unexpected ray of hope.
"He has won the hearts of the German fans in impressive fashion," said German Tennis Federation (DTB) president Georg von Waldenfels, who boarded a plane to Melbourne after Schuettler's semi-final win over Andy Roddick on Friday.
Schuettler, whose best results on the ATP Tour to date were titles in Shanghai in 2001 and Doha in 1999, has already done enough to replace Haas as the German number one when the latest world rankings are released on Monday.
"He has demonstrated that he is a world class player," said Von Waldenfels. Even the serious Sueddeutsche Zeitung put Schuettler on its front page on Saturday.
The Munich daily also recalled that Schuettler had beaten Andrei Medvedev, Goran Ivanisevic and Cedric Pioline and Briton Tim Henman in Doha four years ago, after entering the tournament as a qualifier.
"For years there was a lot of noise made about Haas and Kiefer, who were described as the successors to (former Wimbledon champion Michael) Stich and Becker and hardly anybody noticed Schuettler," the newspaper wrote.
Schuettler, who comes from a small town in central Germany and whose life is by no means glamorous, still has a long way to go to emulate the likes of Becker and Stich. But his hard work and impeccable fitness have paid off at last, making him the first German man to reach a grand slam final since 1996 -- the year Becker won the Australian Open for the second time and Stich lost the French Open final.
