Davis Cup: Corona! Philipp Oswald is absent from Austria in South Korea
For Austria's tennis men, the mission final tournament begins in the Davis Cup. For a short time, however, without Philipp Oswald .
by p.m
last edit: Feb 24, 2022, 10:57 am
The countdown is on: next week, Austria's Davis Cup team will be fighting in the qualifying round in South Korea on March 4th and 5th for the hoped-for place in the group phase of the final tournament, which will take place from September 14th to 18th this year. This Thursday morning, the ÖTV gentlemen left for Asia. The flight departed from Vienna-Schwechat Airport at 10:10 a.m., initially in the direction of Frankfurt am Main (Germany), from where it will then continue at 5:00 p.m. directly to Seoul. Arrival: not until Friday at 11:55 local time, after a long total flight time of 12:25 hours (1:30 plus 10:55 hours).
Four players from the local squad sit on board the two planes, Dennis Novak, Jurij Rodionov, Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler. Of course, the red-white-red support team is also there: ÖTV sports secretary Tamara Schandl, team doctor Dr. Ulrich Lanz, stringer Gerald Laposa, the physiotherapist Dominik Jessenk and masseur Werner Farmer. Austria's team captain Jürgen Melzer will take a later flight on Friday, understandably to attend the funeral of his longtime manager and companion Ronnie Leitgeb beforehand. The first team training sessions will be held in South Korea from Saturday afternoon.
Unfortunately, Philipp Oswald was unable to make the trip at short notice: The Vorarlberg double specialist unfortunately tested positive for Corona late Wednesday evening and has to be in quarantine at home. "It is extremely bitter that he is canceled because he tested positive at the last possible time before departure," regretted Captain Melzer. "The team will miss him." Despite the absence of their top doubles, the red-white-red selection can rely on a strong, well-rehearsed duo with the reigning Kitzbühel winners Erler/Miedler.
A replacement for Oswald could no longer be found because of the entry regulations, since an exemption would not be available at such short notice and a latecomer would not be on the plane until Monday at the earliest and would not come out of quarantine in South Korea until Wednesday. Targeted preparation, including overcoming jetlag in good time, would be impossible with this. Melzer therefore put himself on the team list as the fifth ÖTV man, in order to be able to step in in an extreme emergency. However, the local veteran does not plan to actually play as a playing captain unless it is absolutely necessary.
“Massive problem”: Fighting jet lag
With eight days before the first serve for the international match, the ÖTV team arrived unusually early this time. But with good reason, because immediately after landing in Seoul, the first thing to do is to do the corona test and then to the quarantine hotel until the (hoped for) negative test result arrives. Only then can you move to the player hotel. In addition, the jetlag (which is to be feared) needs to be shaken off in good time before next Friday and of course you want to have enough time before this enormously important international match for tennis in Austria to adjust to the conditions on site.
"It's a combination of all of the above, which is why we're arriving so early this time," said Melzer, "but the main reason is jet lag. It's very important that the boys are ready to perform on the court next Friday if we want to make it into the group stage of the final tournament. They'll be there at 11am local time - that's 3am in Austria so everyone should be jetlagged by then. It just takes a few days. On the other hand, you can easily get used to the playing conditions on site within three or four days, that’s less of a problem.”
Incidentally, you cannot get rid of corona measures when the quarantine ends after arrival. As part of the international match, all team members in Seoul can expect a severe corona bubble. "We're only allowed to move between the hotel and the facility," said the 40-year-old from Lower Austria, "the only fresh air area is an outdoor training court, where we'll have a bit of exercise. It's all the more important for the first few days to find your feet, get to know the place and fight jet lag. We will also train well and hard, but in terms of training time, probably not too much at first. There's no point playing yourself to death the first few days when you're still exhausted from jet lag."
Melzer sees 50:50 game
Unsurprisingly, Melzer is not looking forward to the Corona Bubble – of course, to his first international match as Austria’s team captain: “I love this competition! I'm looking forward to preparing the guys, to pushing them on the competition weekend, letting the sparks fly off the bench and stepping on the gas, being able to pass on my experience from the competition one-to-one and starting from the bench to really be able to influence our players," said the local Davis Cup record player. "It's going to be a new situation for me too, and I'm excited to see how I'll deal with it. The anticipation definitely prevails.”
Austria will expect a fast hard court, "the bounce of the ball should be quite flat," says Melzer. "But that will also suit our players, I'm absolutely convinced of it." He sees the chances at 50:50: "I expect a very, very tight box" - in which not least the doubles tip the scales and could ultimately be decisive. The quite appealing form of the up-and-coming number one of the hosts, Soonwoo Kwon (ATP 60), who seems about to jump into the top 50 in the world, does not cause him any concern: "We are certainly not the favorites in the games against him, but he's also beatable and has a lot of pressure. He leads his team and probably has to win both individual matches.”
Melzer is cautious about this: "You have to see how Kwon will deal with this role. I have no idea myself whether he'll stand over it and take it easy or not. Anything is possible in the Davis Cup. Anyway, Dennis Novak has a positive head-to-head against him, Jurij Rodionov is in good shape - he can easily beat Kwon on the first day too. So he has to get the two points first.” And even if Kwon should succeed, you can flirt with two points against South Korea's number two. According to the ranking, Yunseong Chung (ATP 372) would be expected here. "I do not know him. I'll watch it in person and try to find videos and use the time there to fine tune our players. We will be prepared for all eventualities," Melzer announced. Also those that Jisung Nam (ATP 436) or Seong Chan Hong (ATP 576) could just as well enter for South Korea individually.
Novak and Rodionov "burn it"
Melzer assesses the form of his own players in advance as pretty good: "I think Dennis has coped well with his corona disease and survived it. He has beaten some good people in his tournament appearances and will probably get in better shape every day after the illness. He always presented himself positively in the Davis Cup - he's absolutely dying for it," said the confident Deutsch-Wagramer. “And Jurij has presented himself really well in the last few weeks. I saw some of his games myself, like when he beat Maxime Cressy and almost Vasek Pospisil in Dallas. This time he has geared his entire tournament schedule towards the Davis Cup, which makes me very happy, and he is also really excited about this international match. I'm looking forward to seeing them both individually and I'm very excited."
Overcoming the hurdle in South Korea and being able to take part in the final tournament again, like in 2021, would be “extremely important” for Melzer. That's a huge event in September then that we can qualify for. To be among the top 16 nations in the world again would be of enormous importance for Austria's tennis sport. Our players would also have a great platform to present themselves and their own country. It would be extremely cool if we could do it” – and at the same time a perfect debut for Melzer as a red-white-red captain.