Erste Bank Open: Melzer on the “rebel” court for the last hurray?
Jürgen Melzer will join the Erste Bank Open today, Wednesday, with Alexander Zverev. The match between the two takes place in the small hall on Heumarkt.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Oct 27, 2021, 06:03 am
Stefanos Tsitsipas was n't incredibly talkative after his narrow success against Grigor Dimitrov. When asked about the scheduling of his second round match in doubles at the side of Feliciano Lopez in the tennis tent on Heumarkt, the Greek only said: "This is the rebel court". Good. Now, at the age of 23, Stefanos Tsitsipas has almost outgrown the classic rebel age, and the most prominent player who really peddled this label was Andre Agassi. That was long ago.
Agassi won the individual in Vienna in 1994, in four sets against Michael Stich. At that time there was no talk of a court near the center of the Austrian capital, in 2021 tournament director Herwig Straka threw himself on a pack with the Vienna Ice Skating Club and provided an innovation not only in Vienna, but also on the tour. The conditions on the #glaubandich Court differ from those in the town hall, especially with regard to the temperatures: It is much fresher.
Zverev at Melzer's side
Alexander Zverev doesn't know anything about it yet. The German should sweeten Jürgen Melzer's final farewell to the ATP tour. However, Zverev has not yet trained in the small hall. The task for the German-Austrian pairing is monstrous, however: John Peers and Filip Polasek are two proven specialists who last won the title in Indian Wells.
And the task for Tsitsipas and Lopez (there will also be a farewell soon) will not be easy. The Colombians are waiting, Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who no longer exude the dominance of two years ago, but are always good for a tournament victory. If you want to play the matches live in the tent, you should open up near the city park in the middle of the afternoon: Melzer and Zverev are scheduled for the third game after 1 p.m., Tsitsipas and Lopez follow immediately afterwards. Alternatively, ServusTV broadcasts both matches live in the stream.
Here the double tableau in Vienna
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