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VIEW: 2021 Wimbledon Final, Zverev vs. Federer. Who does Toni Kroos cross his fingers for?
Toni Kroos: Roger, of course.
Isn’t that bordering on treason?
No I dont think so. Roger also speaks German … (laughs) I’ve seen Roger more often than Sascha. And I’ve been following it for a long time. For me, no one can keep up. I will always be there for Roger.
You met him at Wimbledon in 2015.
Yes, my wife and I went on a city break to London.
Childless, she said on her podcast that she had promised to go shopping. Instead, you went to tennis with her. That almost sounds like a planned suicide.
I’m still with my wife, so everything is fine … (laughs) She also likes tennis. Maybe not as much as me. But she knew how great it was to watch the tennis match and meet Roger afterward. Then she accepted it.
What makes Federer human?
That with all the success he has and had, he has remained completely normal and does not believe that it is any better. She is a nice and totally relaxed person. I can relate very well to that. And he is a family man, that also connects us.
Do you exchange information regularly?
We have met two or three times since 2015. In the ATP final in London and the last in the tournament in Madrid. If there is someone, we use it, but I think Sunday will be more difficult because of the Corona regulations and because the game is also without spectators.
“He didn’t win the jackpot with FC Basel,” he once joked.
But at least he’s very attached to his homeland.
What do you associate with Basel?
Little. There we played with Real in 2014.
They won 1-0. He also played the Champions League round of 16 with Bayern at St. Jakob-Park in 2012.
That’s right, we lost 0: 1 and then we won the second leg, say 6: 1 or 6: 0.
7: 0.
Look, they are better informed than I am.
What do you expect from a game on Sunday?
Switzerland has a pretty good team, it’s going to be a tough game. Especially because there are some missing like Manuel Neuer, Serge Gnabry or Joshua Kimmich. We play in a formation that we haven’t played with often.
How much do you miss Thomas Müller and Jerome Boateng?
They still show how good they are. But the federal coach made a decision a year and a half ago and it must be accepted. It is not for me to judge. In my opinion, we have developed well, with a younger face and a slightly different style of play. But of course the final resume can be drawn up after the EM
Xherdan Shaqiri is not in Switzerland. You were still in Munich with him.
A madman, but also a nice person. He always had fun at the store. At Bayern he did not have the game that he would have liked. Then he moved a little. Still in Liverpool?
Yes, but it often hurts.
I read once that a change was under discussion. But when you landed in Liverpool, you really made a good path.
Toni Kroos was born in Greifswald, East Germany, in 1990. In his third year he played for Greifswalder SC with his father Roland. His mother Birgit Kämmerer was a ten-time GDR badminton champion in the 1980s.
With Ottmar Hitzfeld, he made his debut for Bayern Munich at the age of 17. Except for one year on loan at Bayer Leverkusen, he will remain until 2014. Then he will move to Real Madrid. Kroos is playing Switzerland for the 98th time for Germany and has been a world champion since 2014. He was also the only German player to win the Champions League four times, with two different clubs. 2013 with Bayern, then three times with Real Madrid.
Kroos is married to Jessica and is the father of Leon (7), Amelie (4) and Fin (1). With his brother Felix (29), who played for Union Berlin last season and is now moving to second division club Eintracht Braunschweig, he has been publishing a podcast every two weeks under the name “Einfach bad Luppen” since May.
And what does Kroos hear from his brother about Swiss Union coach Urs Fischer? «I always spoke very positively of him, although he rarely played. If even a substitute player speaks well of the coach, that speaks twice for him. ”
He made his Bayern debut at age 17 with Ottmar Hitzfeld.
I will always be grateful to him for being the first to join Bayern. It is not easy to bring a 17-year-old to Bayern with the strength of his team. It’s a lot of fun – he actually wanted to bring me a lot earlier, when I was 16 years old. But there was still no permit, that was still a problem in Germany back then. But when he was there, he brought me right away. Because he saw in training that he didn’t have to worry. I remember him as a quiet trainer, a Jupp Heynckes-like guy. They both knew how to deal with such a star-studded team.
How does your real coach Zinedine Zidane compare?
It helps that he was a great player himself. He knows exactly what motivates them and what it is to be a Real Madrid player. Apply this knowledge in an excellent way. And he’s also incredibly good at managing this group of stars. He meets all the players at eye level, brings everyone on board and has everything around the Royal under control. And it is also very good technically. He is the best coach you could ask for.
Real always wants to have the best players. Should we worry about Lionel Messi?
(laughs) I don’t think so. I don’t think the player is willing to come to Real Madrid. But it’s probably mutual. So I don’t think that can happen.
You are an atypical German. A typical German would have stayed in the comfort zone with Bavaria. You moved in and became a world star. Were you always clear that you wanted to go abroad?
Honestly no I am a spontaneous person. We couldn’t reach an agreement with Bayern in 2014 and then Real came along. I was lucky enough to come to Madrid as a newly crowned world champion. Then the companions knew that no blind man would come. But having been here for six years and winning the Champions League three times in a row, it was more than I bargained for.
How difficult was it for you in Spain at the beginning, with the language, with life?
You have to differentiate between sports and private. The sports things went very fast because they welcomed me very openly and I was able to back it up quickly with performance. As for the language, I was lucky that coach Carlo Ancelotti and some players like Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo spoke English. So learning the language was not so easy. Even if I have to admit that I wasn’t the most motivated. And besides, he only wanted to talk when he could do it reasonably well. I didn’t speak regularly until the second or third year. My wife also needed a little time.
You are a father of a family of three. It’s faster with kids, right?
Going abroad with your family at the age of 24 was a big step. But today is great. For example, the older ones go to an American school where they speak English and also have Spanish lessons. If I stay a few more years, they will be lucky enough to grow up trilingual. It would be a great gift for life, what would I have given for him?
Children are your passion. With your foundation you support seriously ill children. What are the most impressive pivotal cases you’ve experienced?
I always find it difficult to choose individual ones. We have helped about 150 families in the last five years. Each case is special, all are emotional. When you meet the families, it affects you a lot. Because you know the parents, you can see the dedication with which they take care of their sick child.
What are you doing specifically?
For example, we make wishes come true. More recently, my brother Felix, who plays for Union Berlin, met a girl who was seriously ill. They really wanted to do a helicopter flight, which we organized. Unfortunately, she passed away a few months later.
Sad.
These are difficult times. You are very sad, yes. And at the same time proud to have been able to give you some more enjoyable hours. You take something like that home with you. And then you are incredibly grateful to have three healthy children.
