VIENNA/WASHINGTON, October 20, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)
With two million residents — many of them tennis fans — the Austrian capital city of Vienna is the hub of cultural, political and business activity and it’s the biggest city along the Danube River.
Each October at this time, Vienna’s Wiener Stadthalle plays host to the Erste Bank Open, an ATP 500 indoor hard-court event that is celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year’s tournament has drawn the interest of three Top-10 players that will help fill the seats: World No. 3 Alexander Zverev of Germany, No. 9 Alex de Minaur of Australia and No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, who are the top three seeds.
The remainder of the eight seeds are all Top-25 caliber talent and crowd pleasers: No. 4 seed Tommy Paul of the United States, ranked 13th; No. 5 seed Frances Tiafoe, of the U.S., ranked 15th; No. 6 seed Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, ranked 18th; No. 7 seed Jack Draper of Great Britain, ranked 19th; and No. 8 seed Alexei Popyrin of Australia, ranked 24th.
MAIN DRAW
of #ATPVienna 2024 is out! pic.twitter.com/fQmMn6Pj1t— Erste Bank Open (@ErsteBankOpen) October 19, 2024
Last year’s champion, current World No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy, is not defending his title.
Zverev has already secured his berth in next month’s Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, while de Minaur, Dimitrov and Paul all are within range of qualifying for one of the last of the eight spots.
With Saturday’s draw ceremony at the STEFFL department store in Vienna laying out the road map for this year’s edition of the Erste Bank Open, whose main draw begins Monday and continues through October 27, the top-seeded and 2021 champion Zverev was drawn to face 18-year-old Austrian wild card Joel Schwaerzler, ranked 348th, in the first round. Schwaerzler, who earlier this season won a Challenger Tour event in Skopje, Macedonia, has played only one tour-level match — in Kitzbühel earlier this season, a 6-2, 7-6 (6) first-round loss to Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil.
A likely second-round opponent for Zverev would be one of two Americans, either Alex Michelsen or Marcos Giron, and the German could face either Musetti or Frenchman Gaël Monfils in the quarterfinals, and either Dimitrov or Draper in the semifinals.
Michelsen replaced 2022 Vienna champion and current World No. 5 Daniel Medvedev of Russia in the main draw. Medvedev, a Vienna finalist last year, cited shoulder issues in pulling out of this year’s tournament.
Heartfelt moments ahead @domithiem will bid farewell to professional tennis this week at the @ErsteBankOpen in Vienna #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/jY2eMCXXMP
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 19, 2024
Meanwhile, Dimitrov’s quarter also includes former World No. 3 and sentimental Austrian favorite Dominic Thiem. Currently ranked 289th, Thiem earlier this season announced he would retire from pro tennis at age 31 following his participation in the Erste Bank Open.
The 17-time tour-level champion Thiem was awarded a wild-card entry into the main draw, and his final opening-round opponent will be No. 44 Luciano Darderi of Italy. If Thiem wins, he would meet either Draper or wild card Kei Nishikori of Japan in the next round.
Thiem will celebrate his farewell Sunday evening during a “Super Sunday” event at Wiener Stadthalle beginning at 7 p.m. It will feature a show duel against Zverev in a replay of their 2020 US Open final, in which Thiem won his only Grand Slam title.
Around the Erste Bank Open
The prize money for this year’s Erste Bank open is €2,470,310 and total financial commitment is €2,626,045.
The singles champion will receive €461,920 in prize money plus 500 ATP Ranking points.
Qualifying for four berths in the singles main draw continues on Sunday. Nineteen-year-old No. 1 seed Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who is ranked 51st following a recent great run at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, remains in contention.
Main draw play begins Monday at 2 p.m.
