Red-white-red tennis sensation in Japan – 17-year-old Joel Schwärzler (ITF 13) wins the prestigious Osaka Mayor’s Cup.
The success of the Vorarlberger is the biggest youth success in Austria since 2011. Back then, Dominic Thiem won the Orange Bowl.
In the final on Sunday morning (CEST), the second-ranked Schwärzler prevailed against number four in the tournament, the Norwegian Nicolai Budkov Kjaer (ITF 23), after being 3:5 behind in two sets with 7:6(6), 7:5.
Tournament with high status
The Osaka Mayor’s Cup has a high status in the tennis world. It can be classified among the Youth Grand Slams, the Youth Olympic Games or the ITF Junior Finals.
The 17-year-old will be competing for the first time at the ITF Junior Finals next week.
With his magnificent triumph, he will also be the first Austrian since Jurij Rodionov in 2017 to move into the top ten of the ITF youth world rankings.
Melzer part of the positive development
The ÖTV talent has been training under Jürgen Melzer for around two years and has since been crowned U16 European champion, among other things. Schwärzler also has numerous other successes such as bronze at the U18 European Championships in July 2023.
ÖTV sports director Melzer was very proud of his protégé’s success and emphasized that the Vorarlberg player had not played optimally and was still chosen as the winner, which was a step forward.
Schwärzler: “It wasn’t anywhere near what I can do”
However, the 17-year-old was quite self-critical after his coup: “I’ve always held my serves well – and at 5:4 I give it up to zero, with a double fault, double fault, backhand into the net, double fault.”
The ÖTV talent also reports: “Especially in the last two rounds, it wasn’t even close to what I can do. I served very badly, didn’t return well, but always fought my way through.”
The Vorarlberger was also pleased about the four-digit number of visitors, which is not usual at junior tournaments.
Getting into the top ten means a lot to Schwärzler. Now he wants to continue to move forward so that he can remain in the top ten at the end of the year.
Associated with Thiem: “Means a lot to me”
Schwärzler, who is celebrating the Austrians’ first major youth success since Dominic Thiem, is pleased about the comparison with the US Open winner: “It’s pressure, but it was also a sense of achievement and something positive.”
Now the ÖTV hope is off to the Junior Tour Finals in Chengdu. His goal is clear: “I would of course love to win the tournament, but my goal first is to get through the group phase, that would be nice.”
The win would bring a travel grant of $17,000.
2023-10-15 14:04:39
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