When a talented young athlete at HTT for a longer period of time really good tennis…
If a talented young athlete plays really good tennis at the HTT for a long time, and also competes successfully in tournaments, then it is not a great skill to predict that he will sooner or later make it to the top of the rankings. In the case of seasonal dominator Lukas Prüger, however, the exact date of the long-deserved accession to the throne can be dated since last night. The 19-year-old HTT French Open winner won the Monday night’s session in the semi-finals of the November Masters Series 1000 Tournament against October HTT 500 champion Alexander Schager not only 6:1,6:4, but also the 31st HTT French Open winner. In the second singles victory in series, he also managed to reach the top position of the Hobby Tennis Tour. However, the HTT will not take office as number 1 until Tuesday next week. The ranking arithmetic makes it possible again! A report by C. L.
On Monday evening, Lukas Prüger won the semi-final of the 22. November-Masters-Series-1000-Tournament against the Styrian ranking-fourth Alexander Schager with 6:1,6:4 and his 31. The seventh consecutive victory in a row fixed the seventh final draw, and for the first time he managed to reach the top of the highly jazzed HTT-Entry-List for the first time. However, the high-flyer of the 2017 tennis season will have to wait another week before he can cheer for the accession to the throne and taking office as HTT’s new number 1. Regardless of the outcome of today’s HTT-Erste Bank Open 500 finals in the final of the last Masters Series 1000 season against Kevin Köck, Prüger will continue to rank second in tomorrow’s latest edition of the HTT Entry List after three times Serbia’s HTT Wimbledon winner Vladimir Vukicevic. Despite his quarter-final defeat against HTT Olympic champion Anton Würflingsdobler, the 14-time Sombor title holder still holds the “one” position in the 1,416th edition of the HTT Computer Rankings Era, but has to face the 21st place in the final on Tuesday with his change of guard. November 2017. On this day, the exceptional Serbian racer will not only lose the final points of last year’s November HTTT 500 season, but also the points of victory for his triumph in the HTT Tour finals 2016. Vuicevic will lose 1800 points altogether, and in the best case – if the 36-year-old wins the November HTT 500 tournament – Vukicevic can defend 500 of the 1800 points falling out of the score.
However, Vladimir Vukicevic can comfort himself with a small jubilee tomorrow, Wednesday. The current issue of the HTT-Entry-List will list the Serbian HTT superstar as number 1 for the 80th time in his HTT career. Before “Vladi” will be inherited by Lukas Prüger on Tuesday next week, he will have been number one in Austria’s largest and most important amateur tennis series for a total of 81 weeks. In the open era of HTT since 1990, Claus Lippert (339 weeks), Andreas Harbarth (202), Klaus Hofer (145), Franz Mayrhuber (104) and Martin Kova (91 weeks) were all in all only 5 players longer on the “one” than the 3-fold HTT Wimbledon champion from Serbia, who has not yet been beaten in the fight for the number 1 position at the end of the year. A similar great Masters show as last year, and Vukicevic could be the first player since Andreas Harbarth (2009/2010) to finish a tennis year twice in a row on the Hobby Tennis Tour as number one.