Austria will play its first-round game in the Europa/Africa Zone I in St. Gallen. Pölten. The hosts will receive Belarus on the 2nd day. and 3. February 2018 on a sand court in the hall.
The Austrian Tennis Davis Cup Team will be hosting the 1. The first round of the European/African Zone I will see the national team from Belarus. The game will be played on 2. and 3. February 2018, venue is St. Stephen for the first time. Pölten, sand was chosen as the flooring in the VAZ, the hall offers space for 2,600 spectators, the organiser is the agency e|motion. Ticket sales will start on 1. December 2017 via Ö-Ticket, but reservations are already being accepted at ticketing@emotion.at now.
Last played in Lower Austria in 2012, Austria defeated Russia 3:2 in Wiener Neustadt. If captain Stefan Koubek’s team wins against Belarus, they would face the Russians on their way into the world group. For the first time the new mode is used: The Davis Cup lasts only two days, the matches will be played best-of-three. Our gentlemen will be in St.. Pölten can be seen for the first time in the exclusive collection of the new ÖTV supplier Bidi Badu.
Sports Councillor Dr. Petra Bohuslav is looking forward to the international match:”I am happy that we were able to bring a prestigious event back to Lower Austria with the Davis Cup, giving local tennis fans the opportunity to experience our tennis flagships around Dominic Thiem up close.”
ÖTV President Robert Groß responded to the wish of the players to play on clay at his first Davis Cup Indoor home game as ÖTV President. In April of this year, the Belarussians had won hardcourt in Minsk with a smooth 3-1 win,”On this surface the chance of revenge is very high. For St. Pölten has said that we are very well supported by the state and the city. The catchment area is large, I expect many spectators from Lower, Upper Austria and Vienna on the two days. After some very good discussions with coach Günter Bresnik, I assume that Dominic Thiem will play and help us to go into the next round against Russia. In the medium term, our goal remains to advance into the world group.”
Mayor Mag. Matthias Stadler and the city St. Pölten have set themselves an ambitious goal:”We want to become the Fittest City of Austria. In this context, the city is trying to attract major sporting events such as the Davis Cup, to St. Gallen. Pölten, to actively support them and to provide optimal framework conditions. We are particularly pleased that, after the departure of the ATP tournament 12 years ago, we are once again able to host a major tennis event with a very prominent participation from Lower Austria.”.
Davis Cup captain Stefan Koubek has developed a special relationship with St. Paul. Pölten:”I was allowed to be Thomas Muster’s penultimate match here, my idol,” says the Carinthian, who defeated the former world number one in 1999 in the stadium, which was almost sold out. This will hopefully change after the Davis Cup” The new mode – only two matchdays, only best-of-three, five instead of four players in the squad – Koubek can win a lot of money “. Players can better dispose of their tickets and continue their journey to tournaments on Sunday. Plus, you can always take a whole double now and three singles, that’s great.”
Gerald Melzer, mighty on sand, has already confirmed. Beside Dominic Thiem, Koubek the Styrian Sebastian Ofner comes to mind for the singles, in the doubles it is important to choose from the triumvirate Marach/Peya/Oswald, Marach is by far the best at the moment. Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer are injured, Andreas Haider-Maurer must recommend himself until February. If he’s planning with Thiem?”For me it’s an appointment that could fit Dominic. We play on sand, he has a week break and then plays on sand. He would have to play a maximum of two sets of three and could sleep at home. I see little reason not to.” I’ll announce the squad by Christmas.”
ÖTV Managing Director Thomas Schweda sees the Davis Cup in St. Gallen as a great success. With the agency e|motion we have an ideal partner and organizer. Herwig Straka is a professional, as you can see every year at the Erste Bank Open in the Stadthalle. The performances of Dominic Thiem, who has been in the top ten of the world ranking for more than a year, and also the good performances of the other players like Gerald Melzer (top 100) and Sebastian Ofner make me confident and show that our sport has reached the heads of the Austrians and possible sponsors again. This of course makes it easier to have discussions with potential sponsors for the ÖTV. With Bidi Badu we have succeeded in finding a new sports outfitter for the ÖTV.
In the next two years, the Davis and Fed Cup teams as well as all junior teams will wear Bidi Badu sportswear. Bidi Badu is a young and trendy brand in tennis, which is also very intensively distributed by our existing partner Tennispoint. This brand will certainly help us to position the ÖTV more youthfully and trendier in the years to come and thus bring many? many bright colours? into the white tennis sport. I am very much looking forward to working with Bidi Badu. In addition, we are in many discussions with potential partners and I am very confident that we will successfully market the product ÖTV again in the coming years. For the Davis Cup in St.. Pölten, we will try to organize fan trips from all over Germany and put together perfect card packages with a good price-performance ratio”.
Organizer Mag. Herwig Straka from the agency “e|motion”loves tennis. For ten years now, the Styrian has been hosting the Erste Bank Open in Vienna’s Stadthalle, the 500cc tournament enjoys a worldwide reputation among the players:”This is not so much about the commercial component as it is about organizing one of the most important and high-quality team competitions in the country and giving impetus to our sport”. The challenge, however, is to inform and inspire visitors and sponsors in the coming weeks “Tickets can be purchased from 1 January 2009. Reservations will be accepted immediately at ticketing@emotion.at from now on. The day tickets cost between 45 and 70 euros. There is a Christmas bonus until Christmas – only season tickets are sold, with a 15% discount. Afterwards, there are only day tickets.
Bidi Badu was founded in March 2016 and, according to brand manager Christian Korte, stands for a special attitude to life. We want to bring a new lifestyle to tennis and be different. We would like to use our textiles to illustrate the joy of living and playing”. The cooperation with the national teams of the ÖTV (men, women, youth) is expected to lead to a further increase in awareness and sales figures in the relevant market “The Austrian market will play a very important role for us in the coming years. We want to take this standing into account in our partnership with ÖTV,”says Korte.
The VAZ St. Pölten in Kelsengasse 9 was founded on 25. Opened September 1992. The event centre extends over 10,000 m² of hall space, while the outdoor area covers approx. 38,000 m². Since 2002, the area owned by the city has been managed by St. Stephen’s St. Gallen branch since 2002. Pöltener NXP Veranstaltungsbetriebs GmbH. 550,000 visitors per year are counted. The VAZ is home to the largest congresses, conferences and meetings in Lower Austria. The record has so far been set by a three-day trade congress with more than 7500 participants.