Over the past two weeks, the top stars of the Erste Bank Open from October 21st to 29th, 2023 have offered a foretaste of what awaits the fans in the Wiener Stadthalle and at Erste Bank Open 2 Go with fantastic performances at the US Open! With Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Alexander Zverev and Frances Tiafoe, four Vienna starters reached the quarter-finals at the last Grand Slam tournament of the year in New York.
by PM
last edited: September 11, 2023, 2:57 p.m
© Erste Bank Open
Vienna defending champion Daniil Medvedev even made it to the final in Flushing Meadows, building on his brilliant performances in the current season with tournament victories in Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami and Rome. The world number three leads an extremely strong field of participants at the Erste Bank Open: With Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE/ATP rank 5), Andrey Rublev (6), Jannik Sinner (ITA/7), Alexander Zverev (GER/10 ), Frances Tiafoe (USA/11), Alex de Minaur (AUS/12) and Karen Khachanov (15), the current seeding list consists exclusively of stars who are currently in the top 15 in the world rankings.
“This line-up underlines once again that the Erste Bank Open has become a strong brand in recent years, which is a guarantee for tennis at the highest level and top entertainment – from the first rally in the qualification to the last point in the final “, explains tournament director Herwig Straka.
The fact that this development is also being honored by tennis fans is reflected in the very good advance ticket sales. While tickets for the second half of the tournament are already becoming scarce, there are still enough tickets available for the initial phase. After the qualifying weekend (October 21st and 22nd), all first round games of the main competition will be played from Monday to Wednesday, October 23rd to 25th – including those of the crowd favorite Dominic Thiem!
With Thiem (2019), Rublev (2020), Zverev (2021) and Medvedev (2022), the winners of the last four tournaments will be in Vienna again this year. This quartet alone has so far won 71 tournaments on the ATP tour. “Respect for this incredibly strong field – every match will be a big challenge. But the audience in the Wiener Stadthalle is a huge support for me. That’s how it was when I won the tournament in 2019, that’s how it was last year when I won my first round against Tommy Paul, and that’s how it will be this year – I’m sure of that,” said Dominic Thiem, whose opening match is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023 is.
Since the entry deadline for the Erste Bank Open does not take place until September 27th, it is quite possible that even more “high-caliber” starters will be added to the already outstanding field of starters. Straka: “I assume that the cut-off will be as low as last year.” At that time, world ranking position 28 was necessary to have a permanent place in the main field.
Neues “Look and Feel”
At the beginning of this year, Erste Bank started the process for a new brand identity. As a logical consequence, the organizers of the Erste Bank Open, which has a prize money of 2,559,790 euros, have also developed a new “look and feel” that runs through all areas of the tournament. A stronger shade of blue will be used on the match courts in the Wiener Stadthalle and at Erste Bank Open 2 Go compared to the previous color combination.
Erste Bank Open 2 Go: Free entry to the stars’ training
The second tournament venue on the grounds of the Vienna Ice Skating Club at Heumarkt has proven to be a real hit. This year the “Erste Bank Open 2 Go” once again offers tennis in the middle of the city. Fans can follow the stars’ training for free, and two-hour tickets are available for the matches for 10 euros.
“With this format we want to open up new target groups and offer everyone the opportunity to experience world-class tennis live,” said tournament director Herwig Straka. This year too, the top stars’ training sessions can be attended free of charge in the 1,500-capacity tennis tent on the WEV site at Heumarkt. In order to provide everyone who is interested with even better information about who has booked which unit and when, the training times are constantly updated on the Erste Bank Open homepage and are also published in cooperation with the tournament partner Infoscreen in subway stations, trams and Wiener Linien buses.
Last year, Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler started their winning streak in doubles on the #glaubandich court, which the red-white-red duo achieved in the Wiener Stadthalle with a 6:3, 7:6 final triumph against the Mexican-Argentinian pairing Santiago Gonzalez/Andres Molteni did it perfectly. This year, ErsteBank Open 2 Go will once again feature thrilling singles and doubles matches until Friday, October 27, 2023.
First serve with the third edition of Red Bull BassLine
The action at Heumarkt opens on Friday, October 20, 2023, from 5 p.m. with the third edition of Red Bull BassLine! At the same time, this revolutionary tiebreak tournament, in which six tennis aces will serve, is also the opening event of this year’s Erste Bank Open.
At Red Bull BassLine, tennis is presented in a completely new way! The tournament is interactive and there are no referees. For this purpose, the linesman’s task is taken over by “Electronic Line Calling”. Between the points, a moderator collects votes from the other participants who are preparing for their next assignments on ergometers in the athletes’ zone. In order to appeal to many young fans, a DJ also heats up the atmosphere during the rally.
So far, Carlos Alcaraz (2021) and Karen Khachanov (2022) have entered the Red Bull BassLine winners list in Vienna. “This format has quickly become established among both the players and the audience. That’s why all the top stars want to be there again this year. What the field at Red Bull BassLine will look like in the end will only be decided in the weeks before,” explains Herwig Straka.
2023-09-11 12:55:15
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