ATP: Wien-Blog #3:”Thiemsche Enthusiasm”

Dominic Thiem’s performance was the spectacular one he hoped for – in the daily Wien-Blog we present you with impressions from the Wiener Stadthalle around the tournament, the stars and the happenings.

Maximilian Kisanyik reports from the Vienna City Hall

Behind closed doors, wonderful scenes take place in the Wiener Stadthalle. Two hours before the first match, prominent faces were cavorting in the catacombs. Andy Murray’s brother Jamie – a well-established double specialist and comfortable contemporary – was one of the first on the court, preparing for his doubles. The British return movement is clearly in the clean hitting category.

Discrepancies with the indicated training times are also part of the daily business of the professionals. A good-tempered US open-finalist Kevin Anderson waited in the corridors until his booked seat was released. Lucas Pouille and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez had torn it to shreds. No problem for the South African, who simply did the stretching exercises in front of the hall. The hustle and bustle is wonderfully relaxed and casual.

Of course, countless balls are consumed during the many training sessions. For each training session, the pros get two new ball boxes. After half an hour on the pitch, the yellow felt balls are returned as old and no longer usable – every hobby player would classify them as completely new. The tournament consumes a total of 5760 balls during the week. These include game and training balls, some of which are given to the fans with autographs of the stars.

A sufferer of the praise attempts,”miss hits” and fun strokes of Zverev, Thiem and Co. is the roof construction of the town hall. Again and again, balls bounce against the apparently too low sky. It is even more extreme in place B – also known as NextGen Court. The roof of the actual sports hall is only twelve to 14 metres high. The Australian Bernard Tomic failed to win a praise last Monday, for example, at this height – his ball still hung on the ceiling on his half of the game. With a little smile and a cheerful nod, he accepted the somewhat unusual mistake calmly.

The most important thing on this Tuesday, however, was that this day of the week was baptized THIEMstag. A number of WhatsApp groups were named after it and the local hero’s game against Russian youngster Andrey Rublev kept her promise.

As a neutral observer, you have to admit that this Rublev from Moscow is a greedy and talented beast on the court. The “Dominator” knew how to tame this, however, and caused the Viennese town hall to shake. In general it was a good day for the red-white-red fans: Dennis Novak also fought his way into the last sixteen, Sebastian Ofner had to admit defeat.

For all fans of the well-groomed volley game, the doubles of the legendary Bryan brothers at the Center Court were a source of joy. Seeing the best doubles of all time in action is an absolutely enriching experience. When it comes to tuning, space control and blind understanding, Bob and Mike are top of the line. A feast for the eyes!

The single panel in Vienna