Generali Race to Kitzbühel: Absolute record - hobby tennis final with 6000 spectators
The Generali Open tournament director Alex Antonitsch was also enthusiastic about the great success of the Generali Race to Kitzbühel. Especially the final with 6000 spectators had it all.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Aug 03, 2022, 10:02 am
It was an absolute highlight of this year's Generali Open in Kitzbühel: The hobby tennis final of the sixth edition of the Generali Race to Kitzbühel has gone down in Austrian tennis history as a unique event to date. A total of 6,000 spectators attended the singles and doubles finals at Center Court in Gamsstadt. With a brand new Cupra Born, there was also an exquisite main prize for the single winner - the two double winners were each able to look forward to a state-of-the-art e-scooter.
The quality of the finals may have had potential because of the overwhelming backdrop, but the 13 minutes of the champion tie-break final still had it all. The tension in the packed stadium was palpable. And so the two Upper Austrians Moritz Gruber and Jakob Spiesmayer made a brilliant quick decision, even if Gruber admitted to stadium announcer Lukas Schweighofer after the 10:8 win: "I just kicked the ball in."
2023 in Kitz not fixed yet
The doubles final was even tighter at 11:9 and went to the two Tyroleans Frederic Ancey and Harald Eigner, who had already won the title last year. In any case, tournament director Alex Antonitsch was enthusiastic: "It's amazing! Two amateur tennis players in front of 6000 spectators in a full stadium, that was definitely the best final we've ever had."
And what about a seventh edition of the Generali Race to Kitzbühel? "It's not fixed yet, but we will do everything in our power to have this popular and largest amateur tennis tournament in Europe take place in Kitzbühel again in 2023," promises Antonitsch.