By Scoop Malinowski
Status: Former ATP no. 2 ranked player. Won Wimbledon in 1991 and 1992 Olympic gold medal in doubles with Boris Becker.
DOB: October 18, 1968 In: Elmshorn, Germany
First Tennis Memory: My parents always took me to the tennis courts at Lawn Tennis Club Elmshorn, our local club, and one of the oldest clubs in Germany. They were members there, who had taken up the sport late in life. I would have been six or seven. They gave me a racquet, and I would play against the wall for hours. After I’d got a bit bigger, I started running around the club asking all the adults to play against me. I was always hassling them. My earliest memories are of watching Wimbledon with Connors, Borg and McEnroe, and in particular the Borg-McEnroe final. In those days in Germany, they only televised the semis and the finals.
Childhood Tennis Heroes: Jimmy Connors was a hero when I was coming up, but after playing him (four times, winning three of those four matches) and seeing his behavior on court I lost a lot of respect for him.
Greatest Career Moment: The most important win in my career was the singles title at Wimbledon. Winning it changed my life, but with winning, the expectation level from everyone grows. The most emotional win in my career was at the Rotherbaum, Hamburg. I had visited it as a child, I had been playing there in qualifiers, and winning there was like a dream come true. Wimbledon is still the most important tournament in the world with the players, it has the most history, it is played on grass, it is the toughest one to win. It is just the biggest. Winning it changes your life, and can change your personality. Thankfully, I did not lose contact with who I am.
Most Painful Career Moment: Losing in the French Open final to Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996, and losing the last rubber in a Davis Cup semi-final for Germany in which I had nine match points. If we’d won, Germany would have played the United States in the final, in Germany, against Pete Sampras, Agassi and company.
Favorite Tournaments: London, Queen’s Club is wonderful, as is Wimbledon. I also used to like playing in Stockholm, which is a beautiful city, and New York, which is amazingly international.
Toughest Competitor Encountered: Andre Agassi. I played him nine times, and never beat him. I got close, but close is not winning. I never liked his game, but he was the most outstanding, the most talented player in my time in the game. He also had the guts to come back out of nowhere.
Pre-Match Feeling: Have fun. A game is supposed to be played, not worked.
Career Accomplishments: Competed on ATP World Tour from 1988-1997; Winner of 18 career ATP singles titles; Wimbledon champion 1991; 1992 Olympic gold medalist in doubles with Boris Becker and 1992 Wimbledon doubles with John McEnroe; Career high ranking no. 2 in 1993; Won 1993 ATP Tour World Championship and 1992 Grand Slam Cup; 5-4 career record vs Pete Sampras; inducted into International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2018.
Andre Agassi · Germany · Jimmy Connors · Michael Stich · Olympic Games · Reebok · Wimbledon
Sam · October 14, 2025 at 5:19 am
Scoop, it seems you’ve aged the poor guy by ten years. Stich was actually born in 1968, not 1958. 😏
By the way, is this a recent interview?
Scoop Malinowski · October 14, 2025 at 8:38 am
Whoa another unforced error, thank you. Not it’s old interview.
Sam · October 23, 2025 at 4:43 am
Well, Scoop, you made enough winners that the unforced error hardly even came into play. But I bet Michael was pretty relieved to know that he just turned 57 instead of 67. 😄
Scoop Malinowski · October 23, 2025 at 8:31 am
Thank you 🙂
Sam · November 2, 2025 at 5:06 am
No problem, Scoop. Now when Michael visits here and reads this piece, he should feel totally at ease. 😏
Scoop Malinowski · November 2, 2025 at 8:03 am
Michael Stich is welcome here any time and I’d love to see him coach Fritz.