Generali Race to Kitzbühel: Matthias Mayer serves - when an Olympic champion enters the race...
With Matthias Mayer, a three-time gold medalist at the Olympic Games has entered the Generali Race to Kitzbühel. With an amazing technique.
by Claus Lippert
last edit: May 02, 2023, 04:30 pm
Whoever you talked to about the Generali Race to Kitzbühel edition in Carinthian Annenheim the day after the long weekend: Enthusiasm and great praise remained as a summary of the third tournament of the tournament series that ended at the beginning of August at the ATP 250 tournament in Kitzbühel, at which On August 5th, a hobby player and the winner of the tie-break shootout will step into the limelight of Austrian tennis with a whopping 10,000 euros on the center court of the Generali Open.
The Generali Race to Kitzbühel brought the sun to Annenheim
70 motivated and also "prominent" amateur tennis players flocked to the northern shore of Lake Ossiach last weekend to contest the start of the Central region in this year's Generali Race to Kitzbühel in the beautifully situated Annenheim tennis club, and in addition to a turquoise shimmering crystal trophy, also important ones Points in the fight to secure a final starting place in the Gamsstadt. The TC Panaceo Annenheim had dressed up for a three-day tennis festival, which was refined with the appearance of the three-time Olympic ski champion Matthias Mayer. "That's exactly what I imagined when I left Vienna for Carinthia. The atmosphere is special and creates a holiday feeling," said a happy Constantin Messinger, the winner of the ITN 8 competition who traveled from the federal capital.
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Just as happy as host and tournament director Andi Antonitsch summed up the past tennis weekend at his facility. "I am very happy with the way the event went. It was a great story. We had quite a lot of participants at the start, and the weather forecast was rather unfavorable. We had bad weather before the tournament, and today, the day after, it's raining again So you can say that the Generali Race to Kitzbühel brought the sun to Annenheim," smiled the careful tournament director of the start of the Central Region in the Generali Race to Kitzbühel, who was also a real superstar and star guest at his felt ball festival at Ossiacher See welcomed.
Elias Forcher's preference for the Generali Race tournament in Annenheim and Marco Gatterer ensured a celebrated home win
With the three-time downhill and Super-G Olympic champion Matthias Mayer, the tournament on the Lindenhofweg not only had a prominent Austrian sports superstar to offer as a figurehead, but also a quite respectable level of sport in the six ITN categories held. In the strongest ITN competition, Elias Forcher from Lienz underlined his preference for the Generali Race Qualification Tournament in Annenheim, and after last year's success in the ITN 4.0 competition he clawed the crystal in the 3-Draw after the 15-year-old defeated his opponent without Lost a set and with only thirteen games left behind quite clearly. Marco Gatterer and Lorenz Weber, two local heroes from TC Panaceo Annenheim, applied to succeed last year's winner Elias Forcher in the ITN 4.0 competition on this last weekend in April, and they won the title in an exciting final. In the end, veteran Gatterer kept the upper hand over youngster Weber 6:3, 4:6, 10:7, and at least one of the six titles played at home in Annenheim's tennis courts.
Thomas Günther also seems to have a soft spot for the smart tennis tournament at Lake Ossiach and turquoise crystal. The 17-year-old was already extremely successful on the Lindenhofweg last year and emerged as the winner of the 7-person competition. 52 weeks later, the young man repeated his feat from 2022, this time of course in the ITN 6.0 grid and with a similar dominance as in last year's premiere success. After the youngster eliminated Lucas Mayer, the brother of Olympic champion Matthias Mayer, in the round of 16, and benefited 5:1 in the semifinals from the surrender of 12-year-old local hero Elias Krappinger, who was seeded No. 2, Günther had to put up with a tough fight in the final , before the experienced Serb Mladen Tesic from TV Velden was forced to his knees with 6: 4, 0: 6, 10: 8. This means that Thomas Günther has been unbeaten for 9 matches at the Generali Race to Kitzbübel in Annenheim.
Three-time Olympic ski champion inspires with his own technique
The eyes of all players and spectators at the tennis facility in Annenheim were of course on skiing ace Matthias Mayer, who, as an enthusiastic tennis player, picks up his racket once a week at Andi Antonitsch in Annenheim, and thus also enjoyed something like home advantage this weekend. And the "Mothl" almost used this home advantage. Instead of mousetrap courage, steep slope cutting, and local mountain edge acrobatics, the 32-year-old winner of eleven World Cup races on the red ashes of Annenheim shone with strong performances, reaching the quarter-finals and a curious technique. After he serves with his right hand, the rallies then continue with the "left". "I've never seen anything like it," said the on-site Servus TV expert and Generali Open tournament director Alexander Antonitsch, enthusiastic about Mayer's technology.
"And the Mothl also has a serious chance of qualifying for the final tournament at the Generali Race to Kitzbühel," said Antonitsch. The red-white-red ski superstar got Mayer's first four points in the race with two-set successes over Harun Habibovic and Martin Preishuber from Klagenfurt, before in the quarter-finals Nikolas Velikogne, number 1 seeded, a friend and former teammate of Mayer, of all people, became a stumbling block became. Mayer's first Generali Race to Kitzbühel adventure ended with 10:12 in the match tiebreak, which hopefully will not have been his last.
Christopher completes the Günthers' total family triumph
From a strong 7.0 grid, Christopher Günther completed the total family triumph of the "Günthers" at Ossiacher See with an outstandingly played tournament. The 21-year-old brother of 6.0 champ Thomas Günther only had a hard time in the quarter-finals against No. 2 on the seed list Michael Koffu from TC Wernberg and with 10:8 in the match tie-break he also had a little bit of luck on his side, which was achieved on the way to a title win. After that, he ensured with two sovereign successes - including his 6:4, 6:0 final victory over Marcel Emler - for clear conditions and the fifth Carinthian tournament victory this weekend, after Bernhard Kramer from Ferlacher Turnverein in the ITN 5.0 competition the Carinthians held up flags. By the way: Mladen Tesic from TV Velden secured the annual requirement for tennis balls after winning the tie-break shootout.
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Messinger kidnaps a title to Vienna, and the positive summary of tournament director Andi Antonitsch
Unfortunately, Constantin Messinger missed this tie-break shootout. At the time, he was already on the train to the German capital, but on the way home he was able to reminisce about a highly successful tournament. The 18-year-old "Weaner" snatched the title in the 8-man competition from the Carinthian competition, and that too without losing a set. With the 6:4, 6:2 final victory over Raphael Piskernik from Wolfsberg, Messinger also secured 10 points in the race, which takes a lot of pressure off the Viennese for his upcoming tasks in the native eastern region. "With 10 points here in Annenheim, things are looking good for Kitzbühel. Now I can start the next tournaments relaxed and free," analyzed "Consti", who raved about the three days in Annenheim.
"I've been planning my start here for a long time. It's great fun to play a tournament outside of Vienna. The area here is beautiful, I've met a lot of new, nice and especially young tennis players. The organization was great, and the The number of celebrities was also great. I was able to talk to Alexander Antonitsch and take a picture with him," beamed the ITN 8.0 champion from Vienna. Robert Groß from Generali Kärntner & Osttirol, who was present at the award ceremony and saw a great final day, was also satisfied. The last word, however, belongs to tournament director Andi Antonitsch: "We had a lot of participants, great performances and the corresponding luck with the weather. The players were happy, the tie-break shootout format was hugely popular and we can look back on a great tournament overall. The anticipation for 2024 is already huge," says Antonitsch.