Berlin mayor criticized for playing tennis during blackout

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner drew criticism after admitting to journalists he played tennis on the first day of the city's largest blackout in decades, as tens of thousands were left without power, heating and phone service in the German capital.

The outage that began last Saturday was caused by an arson attack on a cable bridge in the city's southwest. It initially cut electricity to 45,000 households and 2,200 businesses, with some 100,000 residents left without heat as temperatures hovered below freezing.

Power was fully restored over five days, making it the longest blackout in Berlin's postwar history.

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Wegner, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said he played tennis for an hour Saturday with his partner, Berlin Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch, around five hours after the blackout began.

He said he needed time to "clear his head" after taking phone calls dealing with the blackout, and remained reachable.

Social Democrat (SPD) Walter Momper, who was Berlin's mayor from March 1989 to January 1991, told Germany's DPA news agency that Wegner's actions on Saturday as the blackout began deserve an "explanation."

"He knew that thousands of households had lost power, and I assume he also knew how long it would last. And he didn't respond appropriately," 80-year-old Momper said.

Momper also criticized Wegner for initially leaving out that he had played tennis when speaking with journalists about his schedule on the first day of the blackout.

"It wasn't entirely true that he had been working all day; you can't say that," Momper said, adding he suspects Wegner was trying to protect himself from criticism.

Steffen Krach, the SPD's leading candidate for the 2026 Berlin state election in September, said Wegner's actions on Saturday were unworthy of a mayor.

"My understanding of the role of a governing mayor is that he is the chief crisis manager, pulls all the strings, and sets the direction," Krach told the Spiegel weekly.

"Why doesn't Kai Wegner offer the people who are suffering the most a hotel and ensure that his finance senator has an emergency fund available for these and other measures?" he said.

Wegner was also criticized for not visiting affected neighborhoods on Saturday and coming by only on Sunday.

While admitting he could have been more forthcoming about his schedule on Saturday, Wegner rejected criticism about not visiting the blackout-affected area right away, saying poor connectivity made on-site coordination difficult and that he continued working from home and his office.

Wegner, the CDU's candidate for the 2026 election in the city state, took part in a special conference call with the CDU parliamentary group in the Berlin House of Representatives on Thursday to discuss the response to the blackout.

The mayor was reported to have received praise during the conference call for his handling of the blackout, with the lights coming back on a day earlier than initially expected.

However, according to participants in the call cited by AFP news agency, Wegner admitted at Thursday's parliamentary group meeting that he was "not happy with his own communication." Wegner is reported to have said that it would have been better to be transparent.