Berlin mayor faces backlash for tennis game during city power blackout

Berlin's Governing Mayor, Kai Wegner, is confronting severe political fallout following reports that he played a game of tennis during the early hours of a devastating city-wide blackout. The revelation has sparked accusations of poor judgment and dishonesty from both political opponents and members of his own governing coalition.

Criticism from Across the Political Spectrum

The controversy intensified after German public broadcaster RBB reported Wegner was on the tennis court between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on January 3, the first day of the outage that left 45,000 households without power or heat. Werner Graf, leader of the Green Party faction, publicly questioned the mayor's priorities during the emergency. Even Wegner's coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), issued sharp criticism. Steffen Krach, the designated SPD state chairman, called the mayor's actions "unacceptable and unworthy," questioning whether Wegner had misled Berliners about his whereabouts.

Contradictory Accounts and Public Anger

The mayor's confirmed tennis outing contradicted his own previous statement. At a January 4 news conference, Wegner had said he spent the entire first day of the crisis at home and in his office, coordinating the response by phone. In a later defense to media, he explained the tennis session was brief, intended to "clear his head," and that he remained reachable by phone. This discrepancy has significantly fueled public and political anger, with opposition parties accusing him of a failure in transparent leadership during a major terrorist-infrastructure attack.

Political Repercussions and Next Steps

The scandal has dominated political discourse in the German capital, overshadowing the ongoing response to the five-day blackout triggered by an arson attack. Wegner's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party faction held a scheduled crisis call to discuss the blackout, with the mayor's personal conduct now a central topic. The incident has raised serious questions about his credibility and capacity to manage prolonged crises in the eyes of both the public and his governing partners.