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Pascal Muller / freshfocus
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1.8
Leonie Küng can continue to clench his fist. She has streaked six wins in Thailand and is now in her first WTA final.
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fresh focus
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2.8
Küng qualified for the first time for a main field on the WTA tour. Only in Gstaad 2018 was she allowed to participate thanks to a wildcard.
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fresh focus
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3.8
Küng prevails in Hua Hin against all clearly better-ranked players. It jumps in the ranking of over 100 places.
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Keystone
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7.8
Küng is subject to the Wimbledon final in 2018. Still, she is beaming. Because there, too, she played through qualification first.
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Keystone
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8.8
After her greatest success comes a tough time. In 2019, Küng suffered from Pfeiffer’s glandular fever and from Lyme disease.
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Fantastic start to tennis career for Leonie Küng. After having had a sniff of WTA air in Gstaad in 2018 thanks to a wildcard, she is now qualifying for a WTA tournament on her own. And the Schaffhausen girl immediately shines in Hua Hin.
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Küng played successfully through the qualification, six wins in a row. And is now in her first final on the WTA tour. Madness!
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In the semi-final against the Japanese Nao Hibino, the Swiss tennis hope prevails in three sets – 7: 5, 4: 6, 6: 3. Hibino (WTA 84) is the third significantly better-ranked player that Küng eliminates.
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World number 283 is a special exclamation mark in the quarter-finals. There she prevails against China’s number 1 Qiang Wang. She is world number 27, eliminated at the Australian Open superstar Serena Williams. But it is not enough against Küng.
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Wimbledon final as highlight so far
It has long been known in the tennis scene that a strong player grows from Schaffhausen. At the age of 7 she swings the racket for the first time, follows a trial offer from the tennis club Beringen SH There she grows up on a horse breeding farm. Her parents are farmers and run a veterinary practice.
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The climb is happening rapidly. At the age of 11, she moved to the United States for the first time, where she spent three winters on her career. The highlight so far: reaching the Wimbledon final for the 2018 juniors.
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Whistling glandular fever slows down the ascent
But then the flight of heights is slowed down. Küng suffers from Pfeiffer’s glandular fever from Lyme disease. The future of tennis is uncertain.
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Much of 2019 will be lost, even if Küng can always train easily. “But with the slightest fatigue, I immediately stopped playing tennis,” Küng told BLICK.
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Above all, her fitness condition suffers. You practically had to start from scratch. But with success. Against Wang, for example, she stands in the square for over two hours and fights her way through.
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Ranking jump by over 100 ranks
With her coup, Küng makes a huge leap in the world rankings. At the moment she is still number 283. With the final participation she will rank 150th. If she wins the tournament, she may even be among the top 130 in the world. Opponent in the final ($ 21,400 prize money) on Sunday will be Magda Linette. The Polish is world number 42.
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Küng’s big goal this year? The Grand Slams. She hopes to qualify for a major tournament. With the coup in Hua Hin, she took a first big step in the right direction.
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