2023-10-21 10:14:02
The two Austrians received a hammer ticket in the main field of the Erste Bank Open on Saturday in the public draw at Heumarkt. Ex-Vienna winner Dominic Thiem will meet number four seeded Greek Stefanos Tsitipas in the first round of the ATP 500 tennis tournament worth 2.559 million euros in the Stadthalle. The Styrian Sebastian Ofner will face the German Alexander Zverev, who is ranked fifth.
Ofner, who was present at the “draw” in front of almost 80 spectators, is playing in the main field of the largest tennis tournament in Austria for only the second time and for the first time in six years (!). “I think there would have been very few good draws in the tournament. I’ve played against him twice already. Maybe the third time it’s time for me to win a match like that. But I’m not putting any pressure on myself,” said the 27-year-old Styrian from the APA – Austria Press Agency on the second match court of the tournament.
The two previous duels with the German Olympic champion and current ninth in the world rankings were both at Grand Slam level: in the third round of Wimbledon in 2017 and in the first round of the French Open last year; he has not won a set so far. But Ofner has of course improved tremendously since then. His blonde hair is evidence of this: after a bet with touring coach Stefan Rettl, he recently dyed his hair to make it into the top 50. “We joked at the beginning of the year because my goal was the top 100. The top ten would then be pink,” he joked when asked.
“In any case,” he is a different Sebastian Ofner since last year’s duel with Zverev. “A lot has progressed for me. I’m sure he has too, but I think I’ve made a bigger leap.” Ofner is grateful for the “free ticket” to the tournament. “Incredible, I was really happy when I heard that I got the wildcard. It’s the biggest tournament in Austria, the last time was in 2017 – that was a very long time ago. I’m really excited.”
In any case, Ofner gives his stablemate Dominic Thiem a good chance against Tsitsipas. “I think that Tsitsipas might suit him a bit in terms of the game, because the games this year were always on a knife’s edge. I certainly trust him to be able to win the match.” Thiem completes the dozen in the main competition in the town hall; for the 2019 champion, it will be the eleventh duel with the seventh in the world rankings from Greece. Thanks to two very close victories in Madrid and Wimbledon, 7:6 in the third and fifth sets respectively, Tsitsipas has equalized at 5:5 in the head-to-head.
Tournament director Herwig Straka sees the draw with “a laughing and crying eye”. “You have top matches from day one. The draw is rather uneven, there are a few players against each other where you say you would rather see an Austrian against them in the first round. There are hammerless ones, that’s that Beautiful or not beautiful in a draw.”
Straka also believes that both Austrians can pull off a surprise, even with the home crowd behind them. “Dominic against Stefanos is a duel of equals for me, even if Stef is better again now. It’s far from the case that he’s the big favorite,” believes the 57-year-old Styrian. It is more difficult for Ofner to get into rallies. “It’s more about the serve, where the audience is usually less supportive.”
Whether Thiem will actually be able to play on Tuesday depends on many factors. If Tsitsipas reaches the Antwerp final on Saturday evening, a Tuesday start would not be ideal for the Greek. According to the regulations, explains Straka, he should play on the same continent on Tuesday. “Shelton-Sinner is definitely on Wednesday,” says Straka, because Shelton plays the final in Tokyo on Sunday. The game hurts me the most, to be honest. The two players are really in good shape, I would have seen them far away.”
The overall summary of the field for the tournament boss, who has been in this position since 2008: “It’s good for the tournament and will probably also mean that we have a very prominent winner. With a seeding list in which the best eight players are in the top 14 in the world, that is to be expected.”
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