Service: RADO Day in Vienna – “I could have run in there with the pendulum clock”

RADO is one of the main sponsors of the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Vienna. Brand Manager Peter Gauss in conversation with Alexander Antonitsch, the tournament director in Kitzbühel.

tennisnet: Mr. Gauss. RADO is one of the most traditional sponsors in tennis. How long has this connection existed with tennis?

Peter Gauss: Actually almost since the beginning of the ATP tour, as title sponsor of the RADO Swiss Open in Gstaad. We’ve been doing this for 20 years, for the last time ten years ago.

tennisnet: why did RADO choose tennis? Then and now?

Gauss: Tennis is one of the few sports that is both male and female. Then it’s still an elitist sport, at the same time a sport for young people, but also for older players. So we have a broad target group. And it’s not a brutal sport. And it is not a “sweaty” sport, which means that the professionals are rarely dirty or sweaty.

Alexander Antonitsch: In short, it’s not rugby.

tennisnet: How important are testimonials for RADO? A few years ago you brought Andy Murray here to Vienna.

Gauss: In this respect, we have changed our concept, now promote the young players. We’re trying to help the kid get into professional sports. And when they succeed, we let them go. In my opinion, this is also the better system. Because gamblers need the money when they are young.

Antonitsch: At the moment this is Hyeon Chung, for example, who was already supported by RADO as a teenager.

tennisnet: Also Karen Khachanov …

Gauss: Exactly. He then believed he would get another watch partner. And is now watchless.

Antonitsch: In our time not only the players had watches, there was also an ATP chronograph, with different colors and with the tennis player on top. They still do now. The perfect Christmas present. Of course there was a good price for us, and I wasn’t the only player who bought a chronograph for his father. RADO was the official ATP watch at that time.

Gauss: There have also been many players who have worn the badge, such as Tommy Haas.

Antonitsch: And then you started to think about where you actually need a watch for tennis. The time, the playing time. There has been a Swiss, now a legend in the tennis circus, Herbert Breitenmoser, who can still be seen today at events on the ATP tour. I can also remember that RADO was the first to make serve measurements at tournaments.

Gauss: We see ourselves not only as sponsors of tournaments, but also as partners. And then we drove with the Smash-Corners through the whole country, in Austria from one jeweller to the next. It has always been important for us to accompany the tournament outside the tournament as well.

Antonitsch: And this year you came up with something very special for the winner.

Gauss: Exactly. Together with our designer we have redesigned the winner’s cup. Below like the handle of a tennis racket, above reflections of Viennese coffee house culture. And above all: The last ball the winner of Vienna plays, we stick it in there. And with the trophy we toured all the way through.

Antonitsch: One possibility to take the people with you is of course the ProAm tournament, as we do every year in Kitzbühel. RADO was always in charge here as well. Like the professionalization of the Shot Clock at the #NextGen final. But RADO, on the other hand, never asked the players to play with the clock.

Gauss: No, that must always be the voluntary decision of the players. There are very, very few who feel comfortable there. You, Alex, played with it on the senior tour.

Antonitsch: Well, I could have had the pendulum clock with me …

Gauss: Some feel well, they play with it, especially with the ladies like Julia Görges or Agnieszka Radwanska. But of course they also wear watches that weigh less.

tennisnet: Today is RADO-Day in the Wiener Stadthalle. What does he look like?

Gauss: The concept was that anyone who is a RADO owner can come to our boutique and get two tickets from us. And people waited from seven in the morning to ten until the shops opened. And so we will be able to welcome more than 1,000 visitors to the Stadthalle.