KITZBÜHEL, March 3, 2017

Organizers of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel announced Friday that Austria’s local hero Dominic Thiem will not compete at this year’s ATP 250 event, held from 29 July to 5 August 2017. For reasons of sporting performance, the 23-year-old will play on hard courts at the ATP 500 Citi Open in Washington, held the same week.

“Of course we are disappointed that Dominic will not be part of our tournament this year for the first time. He has a special relation with the event here. However, we have to respect his decision,” tournament director Alexander Antonitsch stated.

Antonitsch receivd a personal message from Günter Bresnik, Thiem’s coach, where he also explained the difficult situation of the ATP calendar. “Our tournament is the last clay court event of the season and is taking place one week ahead of the Masters 1000 in Canada. Players like Dominic are commited to play there. Over the last three years, he had lost in the opening round, so it is understandable that he wanted to try something new,” Antonitsch explained.

The organizers even tried to switch the week with the ATP event in Umag, which takes place in the middle of July. “We developed a proposal that has been well received and understood by all but has unfortunately not been accepted by the ATP, as no changes are planned in the tournament calendar before 2019,” Kitzbühel organizer Herbert Günther told.

Now the talks for 2018 are going in all directions: “We still have a great relationship with Dominic and the whole team. That is why we will do everything we can to see Dominic again in Kitzbühel. He has not won the tournament yet and always told that he wants to lift the trophy one day,” organizer Markus Bodner added.

“We will try to get other interesting players to Kitzbühel. We will invest even more in the fans and put together an attractive player field,” says Antonitsch.