Erste Bank Open: Jurij Rodionov learns from Thiem, Medvedev & Co - and is on cloud nine
Jurij Rodionov caused the first big surprise of the event at the Erste Bank Open and knocked Denis Shapovalov out of the tournament. For the young Austrian it is precisely these tournaments where he can learn the most now. For Dennis Novak , however, the performance in front of a home audience did not go according to plan.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Oct 27, 2020, 11:21 am
By Michael Rothschädl from the Wiener Stadthalle
Light and shadow from an Austrian perspective on Monday at the Erste Bank Open: After Dennis Novak had to admit defeat to two-time Grand Slam finalist Kevin Anderson at the start of the day , Jurij Rodionov achieved a sensation against Denis Shapovalov. "I'm still on cloud nine, I already talked to my coach about the match, but I wasn't mentally available because I was too upset," said Rodionov in a virtual press conference minutes after his biggest career win.
Meanwhile, his trainer is an important component of his current run of success, as the Nuremberg native emphasizes. "Javier (Frana) is an excellent trainer and person. We get along great and I can learn a lot from him because he was once in the top 30. Sometimes he talks too much - but nobody's perfect" the 21-year-old jokes. Rodionov, who is also part of Wolfgang Thiem's training center, has been working with Frana since the beginning of the year - in addition to the successful Grand Slam debut in Roland Garros, the two have already recorded two Challenger titles.
Trainings with Thiem and Medvedev
But Rodionov doesn't want to tie his success story to one great change in the game: "I haven't really changed anything, at the moment a lot is just going on for me. I have a great environment that I'm really happy with at the moment. But in the last few months I have also worked particularly hard, "said the 21-year-old. The neo-Viennese saw how important this hard work is on the way to the top, especially at the Erste Bank Open: "I was allowed to train with Medvedev and Thiem and you can simply see how they sacrifice every minute of training to get better in order to get the most out of it. I have to do that even more effectively in the near future, "said Rodionov.
Of course, it is primarily the matches against the big players in the industry that should help the youngster further. He was a bit nervous against Shapovalov at the beginning and had to struggle with the Canadian's high pace. "But he couldn't quite maintain his level, I got into the match better and he got more and more negative. In the middle of the second sentence I thought to myself: Vienna would be a good place to start against the top 30 To win players ", the native of Nuremberg had said in the on-court interview.
Novak loses again very thinly
For Rodionov it is now against the winner of the first round duel between Dan Evans and Aljaz Bedene. He knows the Brit well, having already played against him twice. "I won against him once and lost once. He is a very unpleasant opponent, is very" creative "and can play very varied," said the local hero. On the other hand, he has not yet been able to gather experience against Bedene and has only seen him a few times on the fringes of Challenger events. If you know the Austrian, he will "leave his last shirt in place" in round two, as he announced before the duel with Shapovalov.
For his compatriot Dennis Novak, however, a negative run continued in Vienna, which had already originated in the qualification for the Western & Southern Open. The Lower Austrian had to accept four of his previous seven defeats in the decisive set, against Anderson in the tie-break of the third set Novak even found three match points that he could not use. "It is of course very bitter, with the second serve at match point (note: double fault) I wanted to take a lot of risks because I knew that he was going to die. Unfortunately it didn't work," said Novak after his defeat. He certainly had his chances, but could not use them again. "There are little things, from the baseline I was actually the better player today."
Thiem in action today
Meanwhile, the Lower Austrian doesn't really see that the many narrow defeats could become a problem: "It would be sadder if I always lost clearly. The more matches I play at this level, the more often I am confronted with these situations, the better I deal with it. I am at a good level when it comes to playing, and I can definitely play with such players - and win too, "explained the Austrian. "I hope that I can use my chances in the future."
After Jurij Rodionov and Dennis Novak, Dominic Thiem will be the third Austrian to kick off the main field on Tuesday. The US Open winner will face the Ukrainian Vitaliy Sachko in the first round, who stepped into the field for the injured Kei Nishikori. You can follow the game in our live ticker , and all Erste Bank Open matches are offered on ServusTV in live stream and FreeTV.