The announced retirement of Dominic Thiem at the end of the season caused a media earthquake in the domestic sports landscape and especially in the red-white-red tennis circus.
In just a few months, the 30-year-old from Lower Austria will be one of the best Austrian tennis players, or for many even the best ÖTV player of all time, hanging up his racket.
This leaves enough time to search for suitable candidates for Austria’s tennis future.
There is no question that Thiem’s shoes are huge and it would be somewhat unfair to measure every upcoming young talent against the successes of the former third-placed player in the world rankings.
Schwärzler played himself into the limelight
Nevertheless, there are some talented players who can be expected to at least make it into the top 100 in the coming years. So far, the name Joel Schwärzler in particular has become known beyond tennis insider circles.
At the beginning of the year, the 18-year-old from Vorarlberg became only the third Austrian ever to reach the top of the junior world rankings.
After that, the protégé of ÖTV sports director Jürgen Melzer was already successful at Challenger level. In Tallahassee, he made it to the quarterfinals, shortly after which he beat JJ Wolf, number 102 in the world.
After reaching the quarter-finals in Mauthausen, he secured his first Challenger tournament victory in the Macedonian capital Skopje. It is no wonder that Austrian tennis is already hoping for a Thiem successor.
Age colleague Sorger already in the top 700 in the ATP ranking
But fortunately, Schwärzler is not the only entertainer in the red-white-red junior team. Sebastian Sorger, a player just five weeks older than him, is ranked 686th in the ATP rankings, at least not too far behind Schwärzler (390th).
“Sebastian and Schwärzler are definitely among Austria’s greatest hopes. They both certainly have great chances,” says Sorger’s coach in an interview with LAOLA1 convinced.
And this coach is no stranger: Gilbert Schaller, former number 17 in the world, also coach of Jurij Rodionov and also a former junior world number one (in case anyone is wondering: the third junior world number one from Austria was of course Thomas Muster).
“Sebastian ist there constantly”
How should Sorger be assessed in comparison to Schwärzler? “Joel is certainly the more dangerous player who has more weapons,” says Schaller, but “for me Sebastian is the one who should be more consistent.”
What sets the young man from Graz apart is his hard work and athleticism. “Physically, he is a real hard worker. There are few players of his age worldwide who can hold a candle to him in this regard. So he is truly world class in terms of fitness.”
This also allows him to develop a certain compactness on the court. “He has no real weaknesses, he has really stable, clean shots from both sides of the baseline with which he can apply pressure,” Schaller analyzes.
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However, the serve “still has room for improvement”. It also lacks the necessary aggressiveness. The opening of the game also leaves a lot of room for improvement. The ball always has to be in play for some time before it finds its rhythm. “Then he can play really, really well.”
Not a classic weapon
What Sorger lacks, however, is the classic “weapon, such as a super fast forehand.” He has to compensate for this with his fitness and the corresponding footwork. “Our goal is for him to improve through active, aggressive positions on the court.”
According to Schaller, his protégé also needs to be able to recognise certain situations on the pitch more quickly, as well as the opponent’s weaknesses. “Sometimes he’s a bit too narrow-minded or too one-sided. You just need to broaden your horizons.”
Gilbert Schaller is confident about his protégé
According to Schaller, 2024 will be a “path of orientation” for Sorger. Unlike Schwärzler, the Styrian has already had his first year on the ATP Tour. He entered the Future events in 2022 as a 16-year-old and can point to some respectable successes, especially last year.
A Future final and four semi-finals are quite impressive for a 17-year-old. This year he has already made it to three semi-finals at this tournament level.
But why did Schaller dare to take his protégé to the adult tour so early?
“When we started working together, he actually had nothing in the junior rankings. That’s why we said: There are two options now: Either we concentrate on the junior tour and of course we would have to invest a lot of time in that. Because it’s not like you can play your way to the top in a few weeks and then you should make it into the top 50. In addition, this rule with the Challenger wild cards didn’t exist yet,” says Schaller.
Older vintage than Schwärzler
Sorger is only a few weeks older than Schwärzler, but unlike Schwärzler he was born in December 2005. The top 10 in the year-end junior rankings now receive eight wild cards for Challenger tournaments in the following year.
“If it had been there before, it might have been worth considering – that would have made the whole thing even more attractive. But we also said: OK, you just have to be good enough to make it on the Future Tour. Then you’ll be in the main draw anyway and you won’t need the ITF Junior.”
It was also very practical, as Schaller has a few older players in his tennis academy who are in a similar performance spectrum. “It was smart for him to integrate and learn from the older players. That worked well.”
In his first year, Sorger made it into the top 1000 at the age of 16. Last year, he missed Schaller’s target of placing around 500, but at least worked his way into the top 700.
There are no special requirements for this year: “I wouldn’t be incredibly depressed or surprised if he doesn’t improve in the rankings this year, because we have simply set our priorities elsewhere now, which means we expect a bigger jump later on. This has also been discussed with his family.”
Sorger should “develop his personality further” and be given “more freedom”. “So that he is pushed to make his own decisions. Up until now he was someone who did his things very well. But as a result his own initiative has taken a bit of a back seat.”
“He has to become braver”
Sorger needs to learn that he should take matters into his own hands more often. “Make better decisions, stay aggressive. He sometimes becomes too passive in important situations. He needs to become braver and you get that confidence when you are stronger yourself.”
Sorger is currently in this development. “He is discovering many new things for himself and trying them out.” Of course, he will also make wrong decisions, but he will ultimately learn from them.
Sebastian Sorger trains more often with Schwärzler
Photo: © GEPA
“The most important thing is to keep getting up. This year has also brought some disappointments. But for me that is also a sign of strength. That you don’t give up, but learn from it, get up again, keep training, improve step by step and, above all, grow as a person. That is the central theme for me.”
It is definitely helpful that there is another ÖTV athlete in the same age group, Schwärzler.
Good contact with Schwärzler and Melzer
Since the former ÖTV sports director Schaller, who held this position from 2007 to 2011, and the current ÖTV sports director Jürgen Melzer “get along well”, they often train together.
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“Either Jürgen and Joel come to us in the third district. Now and then we also drive out to the southern part of the city. The exchange works really well. And we get on well. We were also together at the Futures in Monastir. So we spent some time together there and trained together again and again,” says the Styrian, pleased with the good cooperation with the Austrian Tennis Association.
Melzer also praises attitude
Melzer sees Sorger when asked by LAOLA1 on the right track and, like Schaller, emphasizes his commitment and strength of will: “He is a hard worker who subordinates everything to his sport. He has a game that is based less on weapons and more on consistency. And you have to reach a certain level to prevail.”
It is not impossible to get into the top 100 without a real weapon, but it is much more difficult: “I hope that at some point this step from Future to Challenger tournaments will come. We have to see how that develops. I think it will be a long process for him to get close to that Challenger level. Unfortunately, he does not have a weapon like Joel with his forehand – he has to fight extremely hard for everything. That means the path is usually a little longer.”
As different as the circumstances are for Schwärzler and Sorger, the two players get on well with each other. Schaller: “There is a good atmosphere and it is very important that the players exchange ideas and encourage each other. You can learn a lot from each other.”
As the saying goes, long journeys are easier with a partner at your side.
Where will Sorger’s journey take him? “It’s always difficult to say. The top 100 is certainly our minimum goal. With the current density, that’s not easy anyway. After that, we just have to keep our sights on things. But the top 100 is now the first goal.”
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2024-06-28 08:32:13
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