ATP: Wien-Blog #6 – By the French Beard

Richard Gasquet bid farewell to Dominic Thiem, Lucas Pouille then Richard Gasquet. The blog for Day 6 of the ATP World Tour 500 Tournament in Vienna.

When wishes helped: In Vienna the fans are invited to tell their opinion before a challenge whether a ball was good or out of action. So the following scenario, on Thursday evening: Dominic Thiem is crouching behind his baseline, because he knows exactly that he has put a difficult, but not impossible passing ball right next to the line. Nevertheless, he takes the challenge, knowing well about its outcome. the voting of the audience? For 77 percent of the ball had the line. After all, it’s true: 99 percent of is 100 percent in.

Nowhere else is the field more open than at the US Open. Especially with regard to the age structure of the ball staff. From the schoolchild to the emerged Harvard professor, Vienna feels like the band width is enough – and has at least one young man in the raffle, who not only captivates with a large overview of places, but also with enviable dense beard growth.

Richard Gasquet, too, lately. It is astonishing that the Frenchman remembered shaving almost exclusively smooth, while the Swiss Grand Master, for example, more and more often treats himself to a three-day shadow. Perhaps the influence of Sergi Bruguera, who also cultivates his facial hair in Vienna – and walks untroubledly through the Vienna Stadthalle.

Gasquet, at any rate, indulges in an interesting tic: the Frenchman would prefer to play his serve games with one and the same ball – if the faggot qualified for it by winning a point. This works so well until Gasquet misses a first serve. The superstition doesn’t go so far as to play the second ball, too.

Lucas Pouille doesn’t give a damn. He is the only player of his outfitter to wear royal blue, but the cap is the other way round. And after the victory against Gasquet on Saturday in the semi-finals against Kyle Edmund, he is now in the semi-finals.