Generali Open: Oliver Marach and Jürgen Melzer - “logical” decision to compete together
Oliver Marach and Jürgen Melzer actually wanted to go to the Generali Open in Kitzbühel with their regular tour partners. The special circumstances in 2020 brought the two Austrian double legends together again.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Sep 08, 2020, 12:44 am
Jürgen Melzer set out by car in the direction of Kitzbühel on Sunday, with the urgent wish that the sun should show itself over the Hahnenkamm. The forecasts for the coming days for the Tyrolean lowlands suggest that the two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles can actually prepare for summer temperatures, on Wednesday it should be up to 25 degrees. Melzer was used to nothing else in New York City, as was Oliver Marach, with whom he is going to the Bütt for the first time since the ATP Cup in Sydney.
This fact is due to the South African passport of Marach's regular tour partner Raven Klaasen. And the “travel group Paire”, which everyone directly involved might be able to laugh about in a few years' time, but are currently suffering from being locked in the Long Island Marriott Hotel until Friday. One of them is Edouard Roger-Vasselin, with whom Melzer competes in his tour matches.
No visa for Klaasen
"My partner is still stuck in New York," Melzer told tennisnet. “Olli and I spoke to each other before we left the US Open that this eventuality existed. And when it was fixed, we said that it was actually logical that we should play together. "
"For me it is the case that the Raven does not have a Schengen visa," said Oliver Marach. “That expired in April, all embassies in South Africa were closed. Now he has applied for his visa at the French embassy in Washington. the problem was simply that the invitation letter took so long because the French Open didn't know if and how they wanted to do it. I then flew to Austria and no one had reported to Raven by Friday. I hope that he at least gets it to Rome. "
Victory for Melzer and Marach in Hamburg 2019
For Jürgen Melzer and Oliver Marach, the yield from the USA trip was exactly the same: At the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, both won a match with their partner, then were eliminated. At the US Open it was already over in round one, for Melzer / Roger-Vasselin against the top seeded duo Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, for Marach / Klaasen against Philipp Oswald and Marcus Daniell.
At the ATP Cup in Sydney, Marach / Melzer actually went well at the beginning of 2020, the two won their matches against Gonzalez / Molteni and against Hurkacz / Kubot, only lost against the Croatian pairing Dodig / Mektic. Incidentally, the two Austrians celebrated their last tournament victory together: in 2019 in Hamburg at the ATP Tour 500 tournament there.
In Kitzbühel, Melzer and Marach are in third place, starting against Juan-Ignacio Londero and Albert Ramos-Vinolas.