Sabine Lisicki has been out of tennis for a year and a half. Plagued by numerous setbacks, the 32-year-old has not been able to play a professional match since November 2020 due to a persistent knee injury and only returned to the tour at the beginning of May. Currently, “Bum-Bum-Bine” is still struggling to bring her quality onto the court. However, she is hoping to improve her form on her favourite surface, grass.

On Tuesday evening, she gets the chance against a compatriot. The first round of the tournament in Bad Homburg will see a German-German duel between Lisicki and Korpatsch. According to the odds, Korpatsch, who is somewhat less known in Germany but is much higher up in the world rankings, is slightly favoured. However, the 27-year-old has not necessarily made an appearance as a grass court specialist so far.

This might be the chance for Sabine Lisicki, who has won three of her five matches on grass after her injury break. As a former Wimbledon finalist, her class on the fastest of all surfaces is undisputed. It’s only her lack of rhythm and the question mark over her fitness that make betting on the 32-year-old in the Lisicki vs Korpatsch clash a risky proposition.

Sabine Lisicki – Statistics & current form

Sabine Lisicki is still in the record book of tennis history. In July 2014, the 32-year-old managed the fastest service on the tour so far on hard court in Stanford. Lisicki accelerated the yellow felt ball to 211 km/h and has been one of the best servers in women’s tennis ever since. Of course, this strength is particularly effective on grass.

The lady from Troisdorf also celebrated her greatest success to date on grass. In 2013, she reached the final of Wimbledon, but lost to Marion Bartoli in two sets. Because she never made it past the third round or the round of 16 at the other Grand Slams, it has to be said that grass is definitely the preferred surface of the powerful right-hander.

Lisicki hopes grass will end her drought

The former world number twelve, who was repeatedly set back by injuries and could have possibly even made it into the top ten, is accordingly motivated to take a few steps back to her old form on the green surface. Because she has dropped to 804th place in the rankings, however, she has to fight her way through the arduous qualifiers or hope for wildcards. She received one such wild card for the WTA tournament in Bad Homburg, where she now wants to win a match in a main round for the first time in one and a half years.

On the one hand, the aforementioned fact that Lisicki traditionally plays with more confidence on grass and can use her strengths gives hope in this respect. On the other hand, the first signs after the injury also give cause for optimism.

Among others, Asia Muhamad was defeated in the qualifying for the tournament in Berlin. She also fought her way into a tie break against Daria Saville (formerly Gavrilova) after a weak first set and only lost by a narrow margin. In doubles, she even made it to the semifinals alongside Bianca Andreescu. Bum-Bum-Bine” can now be expected to win against her compatriot in the singles on Tuesday, although slightly higher odds are being offered on the latter player before the duel between Lisicki and Korpatsch.

Tamara Korpatsch – Statistics & current form

While Sabine Lisicki benefited from a wildcard in Bad Homburg, Tamara Korpatsch had the tennis gods to thank. Despite her qualifying defeat against Katie Swan, against whom the 27-year-old only managed to win three games (2:6, 1:6), the right-hander is allowed to play in the first round. The reason is the lucky loser rule.

Because Belinda Bencic, who was actually scheduled as Lisicki’s opponent, withdrew, Korpatsch slipped into the main draw and wants to reach the second round of a WTA tournament there for the first time since the beginning of May. Over the season, Korpatsch stands at 19 wins and 13 losses. However, 13 of those victories have come on her favourite surface, clay.

Korpatsch with only eight wins on grass in her career

Korpatsch, who has never been in the top 100 in the world rankings, but is currently ranked 105, her career high (104), has not really been convincing on grass so far. She has lost two of her five matches on this surface this season. The previous week, the qualifier in Berlin was a positive one, but Korpatsch lost to China’s Han in three sets in round one.

However, if we consider the aforementioned performance against Katie Swan of Great Britain, one can in good conscience aim for a prediction of “bum-bum-bine” between Lisicki and Korpatsch. Korpatsch lost her serve five times, committed six double faults, scored 30 points less and did not even get half of her first serves into the court. With a similarly weak performance, especially in her own service games, she will have problems, especially as the 1.70m tall right-hander is not known as a return specialist and will certainly have difficulties to win break points on Lisicki’s serves.

Lisicki – Korpatsch Direct comparison / H2H-balance

This is actually the first time the two ladies have faced each other on the WTA Tour. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that the countrywomen know each other well and can read the game of their respective opponents well. Should the greater wealth of experience at the highest level ultimately be the deciding factor, our prediction between Lisicki and Korpatsch would go more in the direction of the former Wimbledon finalist.

Sabine Lisicki – Tamara Korpatsch Tip

If we go by the numbers, the starting position for the German-German duel on Tuesday is relatively clear. Sabine Lisicki, who once reached the final of the world’s biggest grass-court tournament in Wimbledon and has also won a WTA tournament on grass, will meet Tamara Korpatsch, who has never been higher than 104th in the rankings and is more at home on clay. She has 50 wins on grass compared to eight on the fastest surface of all.

The fact that the betting odds in the duel between Lisicki and Korpatsch are still in favour of the younger of the two is solely due to the fact that “Bum-Bum-Bine” is coming out of a one-and-a-half-year injury break and is only ranked 804. On Tuesday, however, the Troisdorf player will play her eleventh match after her comeback, so that an improvement in form compared to her last appearances is likely.

Lisicki reached the semi-finals in the doubles in Berlin the previous week and showed some signs of what she is still capable of in the singles. Especially her strong first serve could become the X-factor in the duel between the Germans. Especially because Korpatsch doesn’t serve particularly well and will therefore get fewer free points.