Andreas Stodte owns several guitars. A tennis racket also fits between his favorite instrument. (Björn Hake)
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Andreas Stodte smiles. That one match is still following the Achimer. In May 1995 – almost 26 years ago – the tennis talent met one of the greats of the time. With Anke Huber, one of the best tennis players in Germany introduced herself in Achim. The then number two in German tennis, which was mostly in the shadow of Steffi Graf, had come to the Grün-Weiß Achim club for an exhibition match. In our section “Local sport 25 years ago” we remembered this extraordinary match last year. “It was fun to read that in the newspaper again,” says Stodte, who is asked about the trial of strength from time to time.
The fact that people still remember the exhibition match initiated by Achimer and then President of the Lower Saxony Tennis Association Joachim Stadtlander is also related to the performance of Andreas Stodte on that day. The number one in the city of Achim stood up to the German number two. However, this was not yet apparent in the first sentence. In front of around 500 spectators, Stodte had to hand over sentence number one to Huber (3: 6). “I was nervous with so many people,” admits the 50-year-old.
Oxygen tent and praise from Huber
In the second set, however, Stodte fought more and more into the match and made up for it with a clear 6-1 win. Sentence number three also went to Achimer. After a good hour and a half, Stodte transformed the match point to 7: 5 and thus to victory. “It was a nice thing. The fact that I won rounds the whole thing off, of course, “says Stodte, who was impressed by Huber’s appearance next to the square:” She was totally sociable. “
Physically, the match had left its mark on Stodte. “I hung in the oxygen tent while Anke Huber continued training for two hours,” he says with a laugh. The German number two still had plenty of praise ready. “Andreas played brilliantly. For me it was the first time that I played against a man and therefore unfamiliar. Unfortunately, I made too many mistakes in the second and third sets. But it was a lot of fun, ”said Huber after the match.
Anke Huber and Andreas Stodte fought a thrilling exhibition match in May 1995. The German number two at the time came to Achim especially for this purpose. (Florian Cordes)
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Andreas Stodte started playing tennis at an early age. In 1976 he moved with his family to the Weser city. At that time the TG Uesen was founded, in which Stodte hit his first balls. But Achimer quickly moved to Green-White Achim. In the 500-member club, which had to file for bankruptcy in 2007, he wanted to play more performance-oriented tennis. Stodte matured into a top player who made it into the 2nd Bundesliga. With Bremerhaven TV, he barely missed the German tennis upper house in the Bundesliga promotion relegation. “That was already very appealing back then,” says Stodte. In addition to tennis, Achimer discovered another passion early on: music. At the age of twelve, Stodte began playing the guitar. “That grew more and more,” he says.
Achimer later studied music and sport to become a teacher and decided to make music his profession. Stodte quickly made a name for himself as a guitarist and worked with several bands. Appearances on the weekend now shaped the life of Andreas Stodte. That was at the expense of tennis. “It was getting too much for me. I stopped playing tennis because of the music, but also because of the family and my age, ”Stodte explains his motives at the time.
The 50-year-old didn’t pick up a tennis racket for ten years. But the love for tennis did not completely die out. Five years ago, Stodte returned to the court at TV Bierden. There he met his former teammates with Markus Meyer and Lars Aßmann. With the former top player Stodte, Bierden managed to move up from the district to the association league. Achimer is happy that he has decided to return. “I have fun in Bierden. It’s a family club, ”said Stodte, who made the right decision.
Duels against Kiefer and Larsson
In addition to Anke Huber, Andreas Stodte has also played against other former tennis grandees. Since playing tennis again, he has been helping out in the winter round at Winterhude-Eppendorfer TV in the regional league. In the men’s 40s there have already been duels against Nicolas Kiefer, Magnus Larsson and Thomas Enqvist, all of whom are now playing for SSC Berlin. It’s a list to be proud of.
Stodte has also been giving private guitar lessons for 25 years. From flamenco, classical, latin jazz to rock, pop, blues and heavy metal – the 50-year-old is at home in almost all types of music. “I’m very versatile when it comes to the guitar,” says Stodte. He currently has a few gaps in the timetable due to the corona. Before the pandemic, his lessons were more than in demand. The Achimer therefore hopes that the situation will change soon.
The corona pandemic also ensured that TV Bierden withdrew its message for last year’s summer round. Since it is not foreseeable whether it will be possible to play again this summer, Andreas Stodte has to wait and see. But the 50-year-old can distract himself with music. And when everything has returned to normal, Stodte will pick up the bat again. Because he doesn’t want to take another ten years off. “I don’t want to miss tennis anymore,” he says.
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