While Jan-Lennard Struff’s 2024 campaign didn’t contain a highlight like the ATP 1000 final he made in Madrid the year before, there was one event that completely overshadowed anything else he did all season. By claiming his maiden ATP Tour title in Munich, he became the third-oldest first-time champion in the history of the circuit (after Victor Estrella Burgos and Paolo Lorenzi).
Jan-Lennard Struff 2024 in review
Strong clay swing, Munich glory
Struff began his season with a series of entertaining matches, ending his first four encounters in deciding set tiebreaks. It was the classic tennis style of sometimes you’re the choker and sometimes you’re the clutch player with the German suffering a couple of disappointing exits, but also fending off nine match points against Marin Cilic in the opening round in Hong Kong. The 34-year-old was going to have to plenty to defend in the clay swing and failed to make much of an impact at any event until then.
While not as successful at the big tournaments on the dirt as in 2023 (Monte-Carlo quarterfinal, Madrid final), Struff was playing solid tennis and only lost to Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, and Stefanos Tsitsipas at the three ATP 1000s on clay. But it was the BMW Open in Munich that once again granted him the most joy. Back in 2021, the German reached his maiden ATP Tour final at that venue. With three finals overall, he was long in the conversation of best players without a title on the main tour. Not for long.
Seeded 4th, Struff didn’t have an easy path to the title with two-time runner-up Botic van de Zandschulp (2022, 2023) facing him in the opening match already. But the German didn’t lose his cool and was pushing through his opponents without dropping a set. Wins over fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, second seed Holger Rune, and third seed Taylor Fritz allowed him to finally grab that long-awaited maiden title. It was just days before his 34th birthday with only Victor Estrella Burgos (Quito 2015) and Paolo Lorenzi (Kitzbuhel 2016) picking up their first trophies later in their careers.
Good form on grass, hip issue
He continued playing solidly towards the grass swing, reaching the quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Halle before a third-round exit at Wimbledon. As it was the Olympic season, the 34-year-old chose to return to clay once more and made the semifinals in the high altitude conditions in Gstaad. Overall, from Monte Carlo to the Paris Olympics that was already four months of very consistent strong play from Struff – 21-7 record, no opening-round losses. But as we were about to find out, that was pretty much it from the German in 2024.
After being forced to withdraw ahead of his second-round clash at the Olympics, Struff never found his form again and was struggling with a hip problem as the season drew to a close. He took a few sets off quality opposition (Alex de Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas), but was unable to get into that groove from the spring/summer. Nonetheless, that amazing four-month patch still had him finish the season at world #42.
Where does that leave Struff ahead of his 2025 campaign? Even if he’s definitely over the hill in terms of his tennis career, it doesn’t seem like physical decline is affecting him yet. If he can get the hip issue sorted out, his big-hitting style should continue to be a nightmare to face going forward. One area he’d surely like to improve upon is his ability to beat the top guys as he went 0-9 against the top 10 this year. Some of these encounters were quite winnable too – Hubert Hurkacz in Dubai, Carlos Alcaraz in Madrid, Jannik Sinner in Halle.
Main photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
