‘I am Mahatma Gandhi from Munich’: the veteran German tennis photographer on India, Bur Dubai and Steffi Graf – News

As Jürgen Hasenkopf picked up his heavy bag from the trunk of his car, in the middle of the night the streets of Bur Dubai were bustling with life. Wearing his trademark sweatshirt and shorts, and without an ounce of fat, the 73-year-old began walking at the speed of an Olympic walker. “Oh, don’t worry, I’m just a few minutes walk from my hotel,” Hasenkopf said when I asked if he needed a ride to his hotel in Al Fahidi.

Hasenkopf loves to walk. He effortlessly climbs the stairs of the world’s most iconic tennis stadiums while carrying the heavy lens of his camera and his tripod, the beating heart of his life as a globe-trotting sports photographer. It is a journey that began in 1968, 18 years after his birth in a nondescript German town near Dusseldorf, when an apprenticeship with a German photographer inspired him to board a ship bound for Australia.

“When I was learning the German photographer’s trade, I saw on his walls the black and white photographs of Australia he had taken. He traveled extensively around Australia. Those photos fascinated me; so I thought I should go there to escape the boredom of my hometown,” he said.

He landed in Australia after a six-week trip only to discover that life was not a bed of roses in a new country. “It was hard, I was alone and they put me in a camp with other immigrants,” she recalled. But the teenager heroically fought the whims and worked in factories and a darkroom at Melbourne police forensics before getting the chance to become a sports photographer.

Carlos Alcaraz performs a tweener (shot between the legs with his back to the net) against Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Wimbledon final. — Tennis and travel photographs courtesy of Juergen Hasenkopf

Nadal returns to the Dubai Tennis Championships in 2006

Wimbledon and the rains

In full flight: Karolina Muchova at the US Open 2023

Hasenkopf poses in front of a photograph at the French Open. In the image, he is in the front row with other photographers, photographing the awards ceremony after the final.

He made his debut as a photojournalist covering Grand Slam at the 1973 Australian Open and hasn’t looked back since. In these five decades, Hasenkopf has rarely missed any of the four Grand Slams and has covered every edition of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships since 1994.

Now, Hasenkopf has a digital database of exclusive and priceless photographs of iconic tennis players. But what is even more notable is his eagerness to continue traveling at 70 years old, carrying all the heavy equipment to take tennis photographs. “Oh, I can do this for another 10 years, no problem,” he smiled before revealing the secret to his longevity.

“I walk a lot, I am the Mahatma Gandhi of Munich. Like Gandhi did with the Salt March, I can walk everywhere. I also do yoga. The first yoga retreat I did was in 2010 at Varkala Beach in Kerala (India). I had a fantastic two weeks of yoga. I felt like a new person. That’s why I still go to India every year.”

old is gold

For a man who has covered all the epic battles with Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, it is the quiet stars of earlier eras that make him smile. “I once took a photo of all the ATP players who were here at Dubai Tennis. In one photo, I had Boris Becker, Tim Henman, Goran Ivanisevic, Richard Krajicek, Thomas Muster, Carlos Moya, Pat Cash. At that time, photographers had great opportunities to photograph the players. Now it is very hard, the rules are very strict,” he stated.

Seeded players at the 1997 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with officials.

“But in the past, you would just go up to the players and do an outdoor photo shoot if the player agreed. I remember I once did a photoshoot with Nicolas Kiefer (former world number four from Germany) and his then-girlfriend at the Gold Souq (in Dubai). We had a great time. It was very easy to approach the players in those days.”

“Becker knows me”

Boris Becker at an event

Hasenkopf has not only created a digital library of exclusive images, but she also has stories that can make tennis fans drool. He watched John McEnroe implode several times from the court and had an “I was there” moment when the volatile American was disqualified from the 1990 Australian Open for an expletive-laced rant against the match officials. As he is German, Hasenkopf also had the pleasure of meeting Boris Becker. “I once took photos of him with his then-girlfriend, Barbara, by the pool, those photos were exclusive. I sent them by courier to a German agency and the money was great,” he smiled.

“When Becker was at his peak, the tennis business was fantastic in Germany. Everyone wanted to dedicate themselves to tennis, everyone wanted a piece of the pie. I’ve done things with him, he knows me, but I don’t try to be friends with people like him because I’m a professional. It’s a job for me.”

An angry icon in New York

But his passion for his work also got him into trouble at times. She recalled that her presence in New York once brought out the worst in Steffi Graf. “One time Bunte magazine asked me to go to Long Island (New York). She was practicing there before the US Open, so I went to the place. She knew she wouldn’t get anything there, but she went anyway. When her mother saw us, she said: “Steffi doesn’t want to talk to the German press.” We could see it playing in the background,” she said.

Steffi Graf poses with the 1988 Australian Open trophy

“And then after the US Open started, a German journalist and I went to China Town to do some shopping and I found out where his penthouse was in New York. So we just walked around, carrying our shopping bags and saw some people coming out (from the attic), it was his brother and his then boyfriend, the racing driver (Michael Bartels).

“And all hell broke loose when Steffi came out and saw us. She started yelling at us. I was like ‘What’s wrong with you? “We’re just here, we don’t have cameras.” She was having some problems with her father during that time and she was always worried that journalists would ask about her personal life. Many of them actually did.

And later, at the US Open press conference, she talked about us and said that the German press was after her. I thought she was trash, we just walked by her house with shopping bags in her hands!

The charm of traveling

Long after Becker and Graff ride off into the sunset, Hasenkopf continues his march to iconic stadiums to capture stunning tennis photos. But tennis is not the only reason he travels the world. “I now live in Munich, but every January I travel to Australia for the Australian Open, it is a country that prepares me for the year,” he said. “Then I will come to Dubai in February. I live in Bur Dubai. I love that place, I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the place. It puts me in the mood for India.”

Hasenkopf with a group of students in India

There are no elite tennis tournaments in India, but he loves visiting the country every year. “It is one of my favorite countries as a traveler. I also do travel photography, and India is a great place for that because it has it all, landscapes, culture and people, there is never a dull moment. You’re always on the edge,” he said.

“Then one year I arrived early (to Dubai) and took a trip to Iran. I traveled from Tehran to Tabriz (in the north) and back. I loved the cities, Isfahan, Yazd and Shiraz. “A fantastic country and fantastic people.”

It seems this septuagenarian will never get tired of traveling and walking through busy streets. “He had a talent for traveling even when he was a little boy,” he said. “When other children cried during a trip, I always looked forward to them. I always loved traveling. “It’s something I can never stop.”

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