personal

My family

I would like to introduce my family to you. They play a very important role in my life. Even though I don't meet my sisters Sabine and Karin all that often any more, we are always in close contact via phone and email. Since my parents' bad accident in the summer of 2002, my family has moved together even more closely. No matter how far apart we live. Above all, I have noticed once again how closely attached I am to my family.

The world's best cook

My mom, Brigitte, was born in Graz, Austria on March 13, 1948. She is the steady pole in our family and a brilliant cook. I love her cooking which is better than anywhere else in the world. She makes all my favourite dishes so well: Viennese Schnitzel, meatballs with mashed potatoes, and, most importantly: fried onions! My mom has never been an enthusiastic tennis player but she is definitely a huge tennis fan. She not only watches my games but also lots of others, too. She was very important for my career, too. When we were younger, my mom took my sister Sabine and me to training sessions all the time.

Judo: nice try, dad!

My dad, Peter, was born on February 14, 1948 in Graz, too. Peter is absolutely crazy about sports, in the most positive sense of course. He has mobilized so much for my career and is still doing it today. I owe him a lot. Peter not only played first class tennis in the German Tennis League, he also became Vize-European Champion in judo in 1970. In the beginning he tried to make us interested in judo but absolutely failed. Martial arts was nothing for the three of us.

My dad was my coach for the first 13 years of my life. Since 1973, he had been a tennis coach, in different clubs in Hamburg first and later in the Munich area. It was his idea to send me and later Sabine to Bolletieri's Academy. Together with my mom he noticed that such a huge distance to our parents was not easy but definitely bearable for us. When he realized that I might become a pro one day, he hoped that through Nick Bollettieri's good contacts I might get some wild cards at important tournaments. He wanted to save me from having to play lots of small challenger tournaments all over the world. As it turned out, he was right. I managed to make it to the top 50 in the world pretty fast.

Peter is a total motor sports enthusiast. Not only a motor-bike but also a car freak. Sports cars are his absolute passion. I guess I inherited my own love for speed and fast cars from him.

No one has beaten me more often

Sabine is 3 years older than I am. She has been and still is a very good tennis player. However, she retired as a tennis pro at the age of 23. Until I was 12 I did not beat her one single time on the tennis court. Unbelievable. Together with me, Sabine was in Nick Bollettieri's Tennis Academy in Florida for 5 years. Since June 19th 2004 she is married and lives with her husband close to the Starnberger See, a beautiful lake close to Munich. Sabine works for a German Sports-TV channel. She is an assistant in the editorial department and responsible for all kinds of sports including tennis.

My younger sister Karin

Karin is one year younger than me. In contrast to Sabine and me she was born in Graz, Austria. Since she is not much younger than I am we used to play together a lot when we were kids. However, not on the tennis court. As a kid, she played tennis for a while but never really enjoyed the sport all that much. Even though she was by all means a real talent. After graduating from a German high school, Karin worked in a casting agency for two years. She is very interested in the movie business and is concentrating on this sector since 2003. Similar to Sabine, Karin lives in Munich.