Former top-50 German opens his Paris qualifying campaign on the right foot
©André Ferreira / FFTYannick Hanfmann can only imagine how a broom sweeping the red clay from the lines on the courts of Roland-Garros, or the ball brushing off an opponent’s sliced drop shot sounds to most others on tour.
Born with a hearing impairment, the German does not consider it to have greatly impeded his tennis career though.
Growing up, he was supposed to wear his hearing device at school and after years rebelling against it, he has come round to wearing it more often again – just not on a tennis court.
“It's tough for me to explain because I've been with this my whole life, so I don't actually really know how it is for the other guys,” said the 33-year-old, who beat Ignacio Buse in three sets on Monday in his first qualifying match in Paris.
“I've played tennis with listening devices, it was really strange. I couldn't really keep playing with it because when the sweat comes in the devices were not functioning anymore.
“It was a completely different sound, different sound of the ball. I deal with it because it's been my whole life like that, but it would be interesting to know how it actually is for other people.”
©André Ferreira / FFTA win over the on-fire Miami Open champion, Jakub Mensik, on clay in Munich in April was his best win of the year.
“For sure, this year it was a little bit unfortunate that my level was there but the matches were not there,” he said.
“I lost to (world No.18 Francisco) Cerundolo 7-6 in the third (in Chile), lost a tough second round in Munich. In Rome I played an in-form (Sebastian) Ofner, who played well there, so tennis often depends a little bit on the draws, but I know that I'm capable.”
He lived up to that promise most in 2023 when he reached an ATP Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Madrid only two months before he cracked the top 50.
Hanfmann said it often boiled down to momentum.
“I was able to have a run where I just played a lot of matches, gained a lot of confidence and right now I feel like I have the level but I may not have that match rhythm, that confidence that goes with it, so I'm glad to pull it out today,” he said ahead of a second-round match against Frenchman Matteo Martineau.
“I don't think it's a huge difference in level (to now). It's just about winning matches,” he said.
“Sometimes it is like that and I think when you crack the top 50 you have a bit more of a target on your back and I had to mentally kind of get used to that in the tournaments I was playing with a lot of matches behind me, like no pressure.
“Then the things shift a little bit, but I'm right now, my ranking is not where it was, but I do believe I can come back there.”
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ROLAND-GARROS
19 May - 8 June 2025
