While his brother Jürgen will play the last match on the ATP tour in doubles at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna this week, Gerald Melzer is fighting his way back. Melzer, nine years younger than him, who climbed to 68th place in 2016, won the Challenger title in Colombia’s capital Bogota on Sunday.
With a 6: 2 3: 6 7: 6 (7/5) in the final against the Argentinean Facundo Mena, he won $ 7,200 in prize money and 80 ATP points. In the ATP ranking, Gerald Melzer now appears in 297th place, a week ago it was 421st, at the beginning of August 1,150. ÖTV sports director Jürgen Melzer was not only happy in his role, but even more so for his little brother.
“As the sporting director, I am very happy with this win, but I have to take my hat off for a moment. I’ve seen you suffer mentally and physically over the past two years, “wrote Melzer on Instagram.
It took a lot of courage not to just throw in the towel. “Maybe you love the sport more than you want to admit. What a victory, I’m so proud of you, ”wrote the former world number one.
Next stop Peru
Gerald Melzer, who, thanks to his upward trend, was accepted into the Davis Cup team for Innsbruck, will stay in South America and continue playing in Lima (Peru) this week.
A torn ankle ligament had thrown him completely off track in 2018, and several operations had not really helped him. It was not until May 2021 that Gerald Melzer made his comeback after two years without a match, when he had already dropped out of the top 1,000.
