The European indoor tournaments on the ATP tour have magnificent center courts to offer. In the smaller places it usually doesn’t look so exciting anymore.
by Jens Huiber
last edited: October 31, 2023, 10:25 a.m
© GEPA Pictures
The tennis tent at the Vienna Heumarkt
On Monday evening there was a shot on Sky that captured the action on all three courts in Paris-Bercy. And what must say? Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Baez won the main prize because they were allowed to take part in the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year on Center Court. At the same time, Grigor Dimitrov, Lorenzo Musetti, Jordan Thompson and Yoshihito Nishioka struggled on the two smaller places. And that’s no joy in Paris-Bercy. Simply because the discrepancy between the largest and the next largest stadium is enormous.
A “problem” that was also observed in a somewhat weaker form at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. The Wiener Stadthalle is too small for a second casual court, so the organizers have set up a tent at Heumarkt for the third time, where most of the doubles matches and also some singles games were held. Not ideal in this respect, because it can also happen to prominent players like Tommy Paul not being allowed to hit a single competition ball in the town hall.
Grandstands in Vienna are always full
Vienna boss Herwig Straka addressed this problem at the final PK and said they would try to make the tennis events at Heumarkt even more attractive, for example by adding an additional training ground where fans can get close to the players. Only one indoor event is currently able to offer two comparable venues, and that is Rotterdam.
On the other hand, the constellation like in Vienna also means that the stands for the matches on the center court are usually full. Unless the fans are eating. Where Vienna certainly doesn’t need to hide in international comparison.
2023-10-31 11:05:00
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