Generali Race to Kitzbühel: Visiting the sunny side of Austria
After the impressively unusual kick-off to the Generali Race to Kitzbühel 2023 a week ago in Vienna, Austria's most popular amateur tennis project, endowed with 10,000 euros, was a guest in Burgenland last weekend. In the market town of Neudörfl in northern Burgenland, Austria's most ambitious amateur tennis players were trying to get important race points for a possible and dreamed appearance in the full Kitzbühel tennis stadium in the fashionable tennis and leisure facility Habeler & Knotzer. A report by CL
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Apr 24, 2023, 10:13 am
With 300 days of sunshine a year, Burgenland advertises on its website on the Internet and claims to be the sunny side of Austria. The participants spent three of these 300 proclaimed days of sunshine at the second station of the Generali Race to Kitzbühel qualification in Neudörfl last weekend, and thus also enjoyed perfect preparation for the team championship that is about to begin in eastern Austria.
Logically, however, the interest of the participants focused on the important and long-coveted points that are needed for a place in the top 4 in the Race to Kitzbühel and for participation in the 10,000 euro showdown in the Tyrolean mountains at the beginning of August.
Remo Wagner - in one week from the tragic hero to the big winner of the Neudörfl weekend
The big winner and sweeper of the second Generali Race to Kitzbühel qualifying tournament in 2023 is Remo Wagner. And that was just five days after the 14-year-old from the Better Tennis Club Traiskirchen became the sadly tragic hero at the opening event of the Generali Race at UTC La Ville. After a bombastic tournament phase with four confidently won victories, Wagner had to admit defeat in the semi-finals to the eventual winner Stefan Timofeev with 8:10 in the match tiebreak.
As a result, the youngster not only missed out on the final, but also missed out on participating in the tie-break shootout with a chance to grab a year's worth of tennis balls. Remo made up for that in an impressive manner this weekend. Started the tournament as number 2, Wagner actually only had to go over three sets in the quarter-finals against local hero Christoph Kukla. In the final, the 14-year-old prevailed in a duel of generations against the 41-year-old Kuffner conqueror Thomas Kretzer 6:1, 6:2, and thus also stormed to the top of the ITN 8 race ranking, which he is superior to leads with 16 points.
As the crowning glory, Wagner then cracked the Neudörfl jackpot on Sunday evening and, with his triumph in the tie-break shootout, secured the supply of tennis balls for the Wagner tennis family for this year's season. "I didn't set myself any big goals for the tie-break shootout, and suddenly everything went by itself. For the first time ever, I won a first prize," beamed Remo Wagner.
Confusion about Maxi Wally and Jonah Modlik is looking forward to a huge weekend at the Generali Race to Kitzbühel in Neudörfl
The confusion was only resolved late in the evening and Maximilian Wally's title win in the 7-man competition of the Neudörfler Generali Race to Kitzbühel was official. What happened? Papa Roman, under stress, sent the results department an incorrect result, which meant that his son Laurentiu Florea's Romanian opponent was the winner for a few hours. And with 11:9 in the all-important match tie-break, it was also a really tight story in the final of the ITN 7 competition between the two top-ranked players, who also lead the race ranking to Kitzbühel after two competitions.
In the meantime, Jonah Modlik has traveled to northern Burgenland with the motivation to play a few more matches before the upcoming championship. Without great expectations, the 19-year-old from TC Strebersdorf advanced to become the big and surprising winner of the ITN 4 competition for many insiders. He also took 10 points for the race to Vienna, which means that the chance to reach for the main prize of 10,000 euros in Kitzbühel in August lives on. "It's huge and crazy for me that things went so well this weekend," said Modlik.
Erik Rakhmatulin from Kyrgyzstan is now the record winner of the Generali Race to Kitzbühel qualifying series with 4 titles
The international participants in the Generali Race to Kitzbüehl in Neudörfl also made a very strong impression on this penultimate weekend in April 2023. A week ago in Vienna there were two "international tournament victories" to be celebrated, in Burgenland the foreign hobby players conquered three shimmering turquoise crystal trophies.
First and foremost Erik Rakhmatulin from Kyrgyzstan, who made the previous week's final defeat against Italy's young star Giuliano Wagner forgotten in the 6-man competition and was able to celebrate a very special victory on Sunday evening. The 27-year-old Asian expanded his crystal collection in Neudörfl and, after his three successes last year, won his fourth tournament in the Generali Race to Kitzbühel. He caught up with Tom Bader and is now the record winner of the Generali Race together with the Viennese, who was absent this time. "The conditions were perfect for me. I felt like I was at home in Kyrgyzstan today on sand under the strong sun," said Rakhmatulin, who was particularly interested in the quarter-final duel with Andreas Schauer.
"I really wanted to win this match because it was Andreas who ended my great winning streak in the Generali Race last year in Baden". In the final, Rakhmatulin was victorious against Elias Siegmund 6:1, 6:4. No problem for the 21-year-old from the WAC. "Those are big points from the provinces," Siegmund commented on his entry into the final, which allowed him to advance to second place in the race.
At the weekend it goes to Annenheim and thus in the beautiful Carinthian Land
For the international guard of amateur players, Mike Juritsch (USA) and Srdja Nikolic (Hungary) in the ITN 5-man tournament, both without a club and playing for the Hobby-Tennis-Tour, were also successful. A total of four of the six titles went to the federal capital and two to Lower Austria this time, while the local hobby tennis players from the land of castles went away empty-handed, as they did last year.
There will be a chance to make amends in the Generali Race to Kitzbühel in the east region from May 19, when the third station is on the program at UTC La Ville. The hobby tennis players can already look forward to the start in the central region and a great opening tournament in the beautiful Carinthian region over the next long weekend. Then Andi Antonitsch will welcome the elite of amateur players at Lake Ossiach in Annenheim.