ATP: Vienna Blog #2: Cool “Sascha”, Dimitrov-Tristesse

The first main field day at the ATP-500-Tournament in Vienna was a complete success; with a small drop of bitterness – in the daily Wien-Blog we present to you impressions from the Wiener Stadthalle around the tournament, the stars and the happening.

Maximilian Kisanyik reports from the Vienna City Hall

Finally the time had finally come: The main round in Vienna started – but what do you actually do in the time before the first serve? A walk through Vienna, for example. Exit at Stephansplatz you are already in the heart of the city. After a traditional cult visit to Café Hawelka, where it is difficult to get around a warm apple strudel with a small brown one, a walk down the Kärtnerstraße to the Kärtner Ring could lead.

Far away from the Vienna City Hall and the tennis stars, passers-by notice the black limousines in front of the Viennese Grand Hotel, lined up on a bumper. A discreet lettering with ATP Tour Vienna gives the impression that Zverev and Co. have settled here. There are truly more unpleasant places for board and lodging.

At 13:00 o’ clock the tennis fans should have arrived at the Center Court near the Westbahnhof – the starting signal for an exciting tournament week has been given.

The training offered a great insight into the tennis circus in the morning. At first, US Open Finalist Kevin Anderson fought with Pablo Cuevas on the NextGen Court. However, there was a much higher level of activity on the Center Court: Feliciano Lopez trained with first-round opponent Richard Gasquet and Marc Lopez was also on the court.

The last balls had not yet been beaten, John Isner showed up, had a chat with buddy Feliciano and joined him. When double legend Mike Bryan joined in, the illustrious round was perfect.

In the meantime, the Austrians Dennis Novak and Sebastian Ofner had settled down in comfortable armchairs for a press talk and had a little chat from the sewing box. Especially Ofner was refreshingly honest. With the prize money from the third round in Wimbledon, he had given himself new headphones and a laptop – this 21-year-old boy was wonderfully carefree!

The closer you get to the stars, the more noticeable the respective quirks are. The Frenchman Richard Gasquet, for example, can’t play a return without first running his feet down the triangle that forms the single-sided outline with the baseline.

A curious spectacle that deserves more than just a glimpse – disregarding the scenery before the return is – first of all noticed – impossible. An enormous club at the grip end of his stick is not that obvious any more.

Another curious detail can be found on the racquet of John Isner, a giant serve. The grip band of the US-American is wrapped far above the grip on the club heart. The reason for this could be the enormously large hands of a man over two meters tall. The appearance of the eternal talent Bernard Tomic was less of a quirk than much more of an attitude. He was listless, snorting and with little dedication in the game, he accepted the defeat against Pierre-Hugues Herbert.

Philipp Kohlschreiber’s triumph against Isner was to be a foretaste of Alexander Zverev’s game. The Center Court in the Vienna Stadthalle was well filled and filled with a positive atmosphere.

Tomorrow Dominic Thiem will top the atmosphere, however: Tuesday is THIEMstag and the local hero will take on youngster Andrey Rublev. However, the tennis fans had to put up with a small drop of bitterness. The Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov cancelled his start at short notice. Tomorrow, the audience will be presented with Thiem, Dennis Novak and Sebastian Ofner, a tasty Austrian three-way meal.