Will Niemeier flash her skills again?

The year 2022 will definitely always be a good memory for Dortmund-born Jule Niemeier. At the French Open a few weeks ago, the 22-year-old qualified for the main draw of a Grand Slam for the first time. On Monday, she was able to celebrate her first Grand Slam match success in Wimbledon. Her reward is a second-round match against number two seed Anett Kontaveit.

Although the Estonian is ranked around 90 places higher than the young German hope in the world rankings, a surprise in the run-up to this match does not seem out of the question. The bookmakers have also obviously taken into account that the supposed favourite is not a real grass court specialist and that she is not in the best of shape when she travels to London.

Nevertheless, before the duel Niemeier vs. Kontaveit, lower odds are naturally offered on the success of the lady, who has recently been coached by Torben Beltz. The German coach was once responsible for Angelique Kerber and led her to two Grand Slam victories as well as to the top of the world rankings. But it remains to be seen whether he has already made the right adjustments to lead Kontaveit back to her old strength. Maybe we will get a first answer on Wednesday.

Jule Niemeier – statistics & current form

Jule Niemeier can undoubtedly be described as one of the most promising talents in German women’s tennis. Although the right-hander, who is quite tall at 1.78 metres, only made the leap into the top 100 for the first time this season, it can definitely be seen that the Dortmund native has plenty of potential and, above all, hard-hitting baseline strokes.

Her record in 2022 is also very good so far. 26 victories compared to 13 defeats. In Zagreb and Makarska, she even managed to win two tournaments on clay, although in both cases there were no really well-known competitors. It was more impressive that Niemeier made it to the main draw for the first time at the French Open thanks to three wins in the qualifying rounds, but then lost to Sloane Stephens in three sets in the first round.

Does Jule follow up first GS-level success with another

The German youngster finally followed up her first GS match success on the hallowed turf of Wimbledon on Monday. Niemeier didn’t let anything go against China’s Xiyu Wang, didn’t concede a single break (only three break points) and deserved to win 6:1 and 6:4. 80% of the points won on the first serve and 75% on the second serve underline that the service works well and that the outsider will have a chance to cause problems for her better-seeded opponent on Wednesday.

That the 22-year-old, who is coached by Christopher Kas, should not be underestimated is also underlined by her recent results in the preparatory tournaments on grass. Although she failed in the first round in Berlin and in the second round in Bad Homburg, she was able to take a set off the world-class players Bencic and Kasatkina. With this in mind, we are not averse to betting that the match between Niemeier and Kontaveit will go the full distance or at least that two sets with many games will be played.

Anett Kontaveit – Statistics & current form

Silently, Anett Kontaveit has worked her way up the world rankings in recent months. In the meantime, the Estonian is already ranked third. At this year’s Wimbledon tournament, the 26-year-old is even seeded number two, although she has hardly been convincing on the sacred green at the All England Tennis Club in London so far in her career.

Kontaveit has competed at Wimbledon seven times. She has never made it past the third round. On four occasions, the 1.74-metre right-hander was knocked out in the first main round, including last year when she even reached the final at the preparatory tournament in Eastbourne in the run-up to the Grand Slam, but was surprisingly defeated by Marketa Vondrosouva a few days later in the English capital.

How strong is Kontaveit really on grass?

The hard-hitting Baltin’s favourite surface is the hard courts of the world, especially indoors. Looking back at the past five seasons, she has never won more than four matches in a grass season. For this reason, among others, one should be cautious about making a prediction on Torben Beltz’s protégé in the second-round duel Niemeier versus Kontaveit on Wednesday.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that the 26-year-old is not really in good shape at the moment. In 2022, the Estonian had to struggle with injury problems again and again, so that she was only able to play a total of 25 matches. Although she won 17 of those matches, she failed to reach the opening hurdle in three of the last four tournaments. At the French Open a few weeks ago, she was also eliminated in the first main round.

From her point of view, it was all the more important that she won her first match in Wimbledon against Bernarda Pera. But because the world number three allowed herself six double faults and her second service in particular seemed too harmless (a total of ten break points), she will definitely need to improve her performance if the odds on the favourite between Niemeier and Kontaveit are to prove true.

Jule Niemeier – Anett Kontaveit Direct comparison / H2H balance

These two ladies are meeting for the first time on the WTA Tour. However, the strengths of the other will not be completely unknown, after all, it comes equally to the German coach duel Kas against Beltz. There will therefore be no lack of information and a well-prepared match plan for both.

Jule Niemeier – Anett Kontaveit Tip

We can look forward to an interesting and exciting match from a German perspective on Wednesday. In the second round of Wimbledon it comes to the match Jule Niemeier vs Anett Kontaveit. Although the betting odds tend to be in favour of the world number three from Estonia, one should by no means make the mistake of underestimating the young German hope.

The 22-year-old has shown her talent again and again this season. On clay, she even won two tournaments and on the big WTA stage, too, she hinted at what she is capable of. The path of the Dortmund player, who is now ranked 97th, is far from over. It is possible that her first Grand Slam match success will now be followed by her second.
The fact is that the supposed favourite is not in good shape and has only played seven matches since mid-March, losing five of them. The grass court also does not suit the 26-year-old very well. In all seven of her Wimbledon appearances, the third round was the last stop at the latest. The impressions from the first match were also far from exclusively positive. Especially her serve seemed a bit shaky.

We can therefore well imagine that between Niemeier and Kontaveit a tip will pay off with a lot of games being played. An even match with possibly even three sets should definitely be within the realm of possibility.

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