ATP: Oliver Marach is looking forward to the “best tournament in the world”.

After Dominic Thiem’s surprising quarter-final finish in the singles, Austria’s hopes for a tournament victory at the German Open in Hamburg rested on Oliver Marach. At the side of Croatian Mate Pavic, however, the number 1 seeded duo lost to Julio Peralta from Chile and the Argentinian Horacio Zeballos 1:6, 6:4, 6:10.

“These two played very well today. However, we made a lot of mistakes, not our best tennis,” Marach said after the final.

Nevertheless, the Austrian-Croatian combination can be very satisfied with the past seven days in Hamburg. “It was a very positive week. I just got out of a two-week rehab after back problems and didn’t know exactly where I was going to stand. “Entering the final under these circumstances is unbelievable.”

Despite the missed tournament victory at Rothenbaum, the pairing Marach/Pavic is the most successful of the season so far. The team has already clinched three victories this season, including the Australian Open triumph. As a reward, they qualified early for the ATP World Tour finals in London.

“We’re playing an incredible season. No team could win as many matches as we did. It will be my fourth participation,” Marach is full of anticipation for the end of the season in the O2 Arena.

“For me it’s the best tournament in the world and I’m really looking forward to it. Last year we went to London as Alternates, but finally we got to work. But now there will be more big tournaments and of course we will try to play each of them as good as possible”.

Are there any other goals for the 38-year-old from Graz? “I would like to be number one. Even if Mike Bryan clearly leads the world rankings with his Wimbledon victory, it can still be achieved with a good season”.

However, Marach will miss the home tournament in Kitzbühel due to different tournament planning. “We will fly to Washington tomorrow morning, where we will probably play our first match on Wednesday. I would have loved to have come to Kitzbühel. Unfortunately, however, it does not fit into the plan at all. We are then seeded at the Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati, where the altitude on sand as preparation is simply not appropriate”.