Jan-Lennard Struff: Getting better with age and an Australian Open dark horse
Jan-Lennard Struff is playing an aggressive, old-school style of tennis that is reaping rewards for him late in his career, as he approaches his 31st birthday.
Jan-Lennard Struff, or Struffi as he is affectionately known by peers, is not a household name to the casual tennis fan.
The German has a career-high ranking of #29 in the world and his deepest run at a Grand Slam was his run to the fourth round at last year’s French Open. Otherwise, his Slam record is average with 18 wins to 28 losses. Currently ranked #37, he has never reached an ATP-level final - every other member of the top 50 holds bragging rights over him on this front.
Yet, watching Struff play, it’s not a question of if he will reach an ATP final, it’s a matter of when.
We take a look at what the 30-year-old has done to find his best tennis late in his career and why the veteran should not be underestimated going into the Australian Open.
Ageing like a fine wine
Given he is relatively unknown, you'd be forgiven for mistaking Struff for a next-gen player. He turned pro way back in 2009, however. He remained under the radar for a long time, compiling a 37-63 record in his first eight years on tour.
From 2017-2021 he has nearly tripled his amount of wins, sporting a 104-100 record. In 2017 and 2018, he was starting to piece his game together. He won against the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Kevin Anderson and Marin Cilic, among others.
From 2019 onwards, however, Struff has been at his most successful. His solid brand of tennis has gained him a positive win-loss record since 2019, with a 53-46 record. This is perhaps an unremarkable record at first glance but delving a bit deeper shows just dangerous Struff has been of late.
The “Giant-Slaying” Giant
In the last two years, Struff has beaten the joint eighth-most top-10 opponents on the tour.
Struff has the same number of top 10 wins in the last two years as Zverev - take a moment to process that one.
Everybody on the list is a top 10 player except Shapovalov, Kyrgios and Wawrinka, and it’s hardly surprising to see those names. Struff is the exception to the rule. Since 2019, he’s beaten Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Karen Khachanov, David Goffin and Stefanos Tsitsipas (twice), all while they were ranked within the top 10.
Struff doesn’t stop punching above his weight outside the top 10 either.
Since 2019, he’s joint first for most wins against players ranked above him.
This includes wins against, but not limited to, Denis Shapovalov (four times), Milos Raonic (twice), Alex De Minaur, Roberto Bautista Agut, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Diego Schwartzman and Nick Kyrgios.
Old-school tactics
It could be argued Struff’s success against better players goes hand in hand with his success on the doubles tour.
Following semifinal showings at the Australian Open and the Miami Masters in 2018, Struff showed he could carry himself at the net. By incorporating deft touch and serve and volleying into his singles game, Struff is able to throw his opponents off of their rhythm.
His recent matches at the 2021 ATP Cup are perfect displays of how his confidence as a volleyer has developed. Taking his match against Milos Raonic as an example, Struff serve-and-volleyed 61.5% of the time off of his first serve, resulting in a 78% first serve win-percentage.
Throughout the ATP Cup 2021, he made the most ventures to the net per points played per singles match.
He backs up this style of play with a booming first serve. Against Raonic, his first serve averaged 123.9mph, only 2mph short of one of the game’s best serves, Raonic’s 125.8mph gun.
Craig O’Shannessy is one of the top strategy coaches for the ATP Tour and has worked with Struff in the past. Though the intricacies of their work together have not been publicised, O’Shannessy may be the catalyst behind Struff’s net approaching as he is an advocate for coming forward in the modern men’s game.
How can Struff make the next step in his career?
Struff has got the potential to defeat big players so why is he yet to reach an ATP Tour final yet?
Struff will have to find a way to capitalise on his wins. It’s hard enough beating a top 10 player but when Struff has found the strength to take one down, he has gone 1-7 in his following matches. Also, he has made a run of four ATP-level singles matches only once in his career (Winston-Salem in 2017). This has resulted in him going 0-7 in ATP semi-finals.
This suggests the peaks that Struff can reach in his game have not been consistently channelled enough for him to carry his momentum forward in any given tournament.
Struff’s level at the ATP Cup may be indicative of the start of a new chapter for him, however.
His belligerent determination to play his own game at the ATP Cup, even when things were not going his way, e.g. his match against Dusan Lajovic, may allow Struff to play at a higher level more consistently. He stuck with the serve-and-volley throughout the match and his incredible execution of the tactic at the tournament is encouraging for him moving forward.
Struff went 4-2 at the ATP Cup, winning two singles matches against higher-ranked opponents and winning two doubles matches, one match in particular against Novak Djokovic and his compatriot, Nikola Cacic.
A dark horse at the Australian Open?
Jan-Lennard Struff’s confident and aggressive game style could see him pull off a few upsets to get to the fourth round. He would potentially have to beat Roberto Bautista Agut and Casper Ruud to get there, Bautista Agut an opponent he has beaten in the past and Ruud more comfortable on clay. As we know too, Struff can more than hold his own against higher-ranked players than himself so it’s not out of the question.
If he got to the fourth round, the opponent lying in wait would likely be Andrey Rublev. Struff would surely savour the opportunity for an ATP Cup rematch as he was in control for the first set of their encounter last week.
Can Struff win four consecutive matches for the second time in his career? Whatever happens, we’d love to see Struff living or dying by the sword, taking matters into his own hands with old-school tactics.
Struff is a pleasure to watch so make sure to catch one of his matches over the coming weeks at the Australian Open.
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