Jan-Lennard Struff is a German right-hander whose best tennis has come in his thirties. He reached an ATP Masters 1000 final as a lucky loser at 33, won his first tour title in Munich a year later and, at 36, became the oldest man in the Open Era to reach a first Grand Slam quarterfinal, at Wimbledon in 2026. This week he is in the semifinals of the European Open in Brussels.
Early Years
Struff was born on 25 April 1990 in Warstein, Germany. Both of his parents, Dieter and Martina, are tennis coaches, and he started playing with them at six. He turned professional in 2009. His idol growing up was Pete Sampras, and the influence shows in the way he plays.
“He served so well and played so aggressive and volleyed. I liked that style,” Struff said of Sampras at Roland Garros in 2019.
Playing Style
Struff plays first-strike tennis: a big serve, an explosive forehand and a willingness to finish points at the net. At Roland Garros in 2019 he had come forward 129 times by the fourth round and won 86 of those points. Against Stefanos Tsitsipas in Madrid in 2023 it was his backhand down the line that did the damage. When the serve is landing, the power can overwhelm good opponents, as it did in a 6-2, 6-0 win over two-time defending champion Holger Rune in the 2024 Munich semifinals, winning 24 of 25 first-serve points.
The Long Climb
For most of his twenties Struff was a dangerous floater rather than a contender. He reached the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2019, losing to Novak Djokovic, and again in 2021, when Diego Schwartzman beat him 7-6(9), 6-4, 7-5. In March 2019, ranked 55th, he beat world No. 3 Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 at Indian Wells. In June 2021 he beat top seed Daniil Medvedev 7-6(6), 6-3 in the first round in Halle.
His first tour-level final came at home in Munich in 2021, where Nikoloz Basilashvili beat him 6-4, 7-6(5). [UNVERIFIED: 2021 Munich final score is single-source (AFP via Gulf Times, 2 May 2021); confirm against the ATP results archive before publishing.]
Madrid 2023: From Lucky Loser to the Final
The run that changed his career began with a defeat. Struff lost to Aslan Karatsev in the final round of qualifying at the 2023 Mutua Madrid Open and got into the main draw as a lucky loser. He beat fourth seed Tsitsipas 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and then Karatsev, the man who had knocked him out of qualifying, in the semifinals. He was the first lucky loser to reach an ATP Masters 1000 final since the series began in 1990, and he got there through six three-set matches. Carlos Alcaraz beat him 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the final.
“It’s been an incredible journey from lucky loser to be in the final [and] runner-up here,” Struff said. “I hope that it gives me a lot of push for in the next weeks and months. It was a best-career achievement so far.”
It did. Six weeks later he reached the final on the grass in Stuttgart, where Frances Tiafoe beat him 4-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(8), and the run took him to a career-high ranking of No. 21 in June 2023.
Munich 2024: A First Title at 33
Struff came into the 2024 BMW Open final 0-3 in tour-level finals. He left it a champion, beating Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3 in 79 minutes without having dropped a set all week. At 33 years and 11 months, he was the third-oldest first-time ATP Tour champion since 1990, and he won it in front of a German crowd.
“I waited so long. I’m 33 years old and played so long on Tour,” he said. “It’s just an amazing feeling to do it here in Germany.”
The Late Peak: New York and Wimbledon
Struff came through qualifying at the 2025 US Open and reached the fourth round in New York for the first time, where Djokovic beat him 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. “I know I can play good tennis,” he said during that run. “And I know I can beat a lot of good guys.”
Wimbledon in 2026 went further. Ranked 74th, he won five-set matches against Sebastian Baez and Brandon Nakashima, then beat eighth seed Medvedev 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-5 in the third round. In the fourth round Hubert Hurkacz led him by two sets before Struff won the next two; Hurkacz retired at 4-2 down in the fifth. It was his first major quarterfinal, at his 47th Grand Slam event, and it made him the oldest first-time men’s major quarterfinalist of the Open Era.
“You should never give up,” he said afterwards. Jannik Sinner ended the run with a 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3 win in the quarterfinals, but the fortnight lifted Struff from 74th to 40th in the live rankings.
Davis Cup and the Olympics
Struff made his Davis Cup debut for Germany in 2015 and had a 21-12 record in the competition by the summer of 2026. At the 2024 Finals in Malaga he beat Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) as Germany beat Canada to reach the semifinals. “It was very close. Just happy to get it over the line,” he said.
He has played three Olympic Games. In Rio in 2016 he lost in the first round to Evgeny Donskoy. In Tokyo he beat Thiago Monteiro before losing to Djokovic in the second round, and he also played doubles with Zverev, reaching the quarterfinals. In Paris in 2024 he gave Corentin Moutet a walkover in the second round.
Career Finals
- 2024 BMW Open, Munich (clay) — won, d. Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-3
- 2023 Stuttgart (grass) — runner-up, l. Frances Tiafoe 6-4, 6-7(1), 6-7(8)
- 2023 Mutua Madrid Open (clay, Masters 1000) — runner-up as a lucky loser, l. Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-3, 3-6
- 2021 BMW Open, Munich (clay) — runner-up, l. Nikoloz Basilashvili 4-6, 6-7(5)
Grand Slam Best Results
- Australian Open: second round (2018) [UNVERIFIED: 2018 second round confirmed on ausopen.com; whether he has gone further has not been confirmed on an approved source]
- Roland Garros: fourth round (2019, 2021)
- Wimbledon: quarterfinals (2026)
- US Open: fourth round (2025)
Season Snapshot — 24 October 2026
- Ranking: No. 58 (PIF ATP Rankings, 19 October 2026). Career high No. 21 (June 2023).
- 2026 majors: Australian Open first round; Roland Garros second round; Wimbledon quarterfinals.
- This week: European Open, Brussels. Beat Marcos Giron 7-6(3), 7-6(3), lucky loser Gauthier Onclin 6-4, 6-2 and sixth seed Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6(6). Plays top seed Arthur Fils in Saturday’s semifinals. Event details are in our European Open guide.
- Career titles: one (Munich 2024), from four tour-level finals.
This snapshot is dated and will change. The career record above does not.
