Tatjana Maria knows a thing or two about fairytales, coming from the land of the Brothers Grimm and the Pied Piper of Hamelin. But not even she can quite comprehend the impossible magic of her last seven days at Queen’s Club.
When the 37-year-old arrived in west London she had lost nine matches in a row and looked in danger of dropping out of the world’s top 100. Now, unfathomably, she has powered into a WTA 500 final after winning six matches in a row – including two in qualifying – and beaten three players in the world’s top 15.
“To be honest, I cannot believe it,” Maria said. “It’s a dream come true.”
The German’s latest scalp was arguably her best yet as she defeated the reigning Australian Open champion, Madison Keys, who many fancy to go all the way at Wimbledon, 6-3, 7-6 (3) in a semi-final high on shot-making and finesse.
But what made it extra-special for Maria was that her daughters, Charlotte, 11, and Cecilia, four, were there with her, even if Cecilia – who goes to sleep when she hears tennis balls bouncing – had nodded off in her pram.
“We are travelling all the time together,” she said. “They are at all the tournaments with us from the beginning. It’s super-special to have them around, and to live these moments with them, it’s something amazing.”
Maria’s game has long been built on chaos. She likes to fiddle and slice, to seek unorthodox angles and patterns, to leave her opponents lost in her matrix. Her one-handed backhand is unusual these days and the way she slices her forehand makes it even harder for her opponents to find their rhythm, especially on grass.
But although she reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 2022, she had never beaten Keys in three attempts and was considered to be a 9-2 outsider coming into the match. Once again, though, she did not read the script.
If Maria was nervous beforehand, it did not show. Despite the swirling wind, the World No 86 held her opening service games comfortably before breaking to go 3-1 up when Keys hit a backhand long. From then on she dropped only four points on serve for the rest of the first set.
It wasn’t that Keys was playing badly. But her power was sometimes left untamed and she had no answer to the wiles and guiles of her opponent. One example from many: early in the second set, Maria lured Keys in with a drop shot before an impeccable lob volley floated over her head.
Maria continued to press and at 2-2, Keys had to save a break point with a 118mph ace. When the American had a chance of her own in the next game it could have been a momentum changer, but she let it slip and soon the players were in a second set tie-break.
Early on, Keys missed a chance of a mini-break when she put a straightforward volley into the net. But from then on Maria was unstoppable. A backhand pass and a 116mph serve put her on the verge of victory before a mis-hit Keys smash sealed the win.
Maria seemed at a loss to explain how she had turned her game around after not winning a match between late March and early June. “You always have to keep going,” she said. “You can never stop, no matter how it goes. I’ve had my ups and downs but I love to play tennis, I love this sport, and we live for these special moments.”
This was certainly special. Having been a 159-1 outsider to win Queen’s at the start of the week, Maria has now beaten three players in the world’s top 15, including the former French Open finalist Karolina Muchova and the 2022 Wimbledon champion, Elena Rybakina.
Her reward is an extra 320 ranking points, a spot just outside the top 50 in the live WTA world rankings, and a place in Sunday’s final against Amanda Anismova, who beat the Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 in the other semi-final.
And who is to say that this magical fairytale is over yet?
