Generali Austrian Pro Series collects 5,000. Euro for the wheelchair tennis
Nico Langmann, Austria's best wheelchair tennis player, is happy to receive a donation of 5,000 euros from Generali and tennisnet for his sport. Langmann has big plans for the coming months.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 23, 2020, 02:54 pm
As if the challenges of the past few days hadn't been big enough, the Austrian professionals and managers at the Generali Austrian Pro Series also did a good job. However controlled. And for a good cause. Generali has weighed the steps taken with a little more than 3,000 euros, tennisnet has rounded up the total, which is to go entirely to Austrian wheelchair tennis, to 5,000 euros. Organizer Alexander Antonitsch put a lot of effort into it: his pedometer was used almost to capacity, showing more than 25,000 steps three days in a row.
Nico Langmann, Austria's number one, told tennisnet how the campaign went.
tennisnet : Mr. Langmann. How are you after the long corona break?
Nico Langmann : Very good, thank you. I'm currently world champion in training. It was always said, you don't know what to train for. In truth, tennis has so many construction sites that there is always something to do.
tennisnet : How did the campaign in Südstadt go in favor of Austrian wheelchair tennis?
Langmann : I have to mention Alex Antonitsch right at the start, who told me during the Corina lockdown that he would do something for wheelchair tennis if there was a series. And this is how this action came about, where every player has agreed to wear a pedometer. That doesn't sound bad at first. But the fitness tracker vibrates when you have reached a certain number of steps. And so Jürgen Melzer misplaced a few volleys because the tracker vibrated. Dominic Thiem at breakball against himself - tracker vibrates, backhand into the tarpaulin. But everyone enjoyed participating.
tennisnet : Who have you got in shape with in the past few weeks?
Langmann : The cool thing about the training center in Alt-Erlaa is that not only the top Austrian stars train there, but also a lot of young people. It's like I play U-14_player matches every other day.
tennisnet : Who surprised you at the Generali Austrian Pro Series?
Langmann : First of all Lukas Neumayer, who still plays at the ITF level with the juniors, but who beat Jürgen and then also came into the final series. He also played very well against the Domi. The most valuable player was probably David Pichler. I already knew that from South Africa, where an ITF future took place simultaneously with a tournament of ours. That's when I met David - and was impressed by his combative attitude. And David has brought us the most steps.
tennisnet : In the past few days dealing with the US Open with wheelchair players has been a big issue. How did you follow that up?
Langmann : I don't just want to focus on us wheelchair users. Many people have not been taken into account, including the juniors. And I think it's a huge cheek that the qualification is canceled. On the one hand, the ITF wants to support the players in the lower ranks, but then the players who need the money most are not invited.
tennisnet : Novak Djokovic said that he cannot travel to a major with just one coach. You just laugh at that, don't you?
Langmann : Most of our tournaments can only be reached by plane. I'm already curious how this will work. And then I'm mostly alone. People cannot imagine how I drive around at the airport with my two wheelchairs and my huge tennis bags as a walking pile of luggage.
tennisnet : So you want to travel alone?
Langmann : Sometimes someone from the family comes along. And when the tournaments are nearby, Wolfgang Thiem or Ricardo Belotti also stop by from time to time. However, coaching during the match is not allowed with us.
tennisnet : Would something like that help you?
Langmann : Definitely. I am a player who is very focused on himself. I always try to play my game. And when my opponent has a backhand branch over there, I often don't notice it.