October Recap

Oct 28, 2023

Starting in the fall, most major tournaments take place indoors, and that brings back good memories from the beginning of the year. I was able to win my first two Challengers on indoor hard courts. I see myself as more of an all-round player when it comes to surfaces, but the statistics suggest that I have been able to win the most on indoor hard courts so far. After the 2 consecutive 125cc titles in Bad Waltersdorf and Orleans, we continued in Mouilleron le Captif (Challenger 100). The back to back titles were an emotional highlight, but we still went to Mouilleron hungry. Unfortunately we couldn't generate the intensity and ultimate consistency to play successfully there, we were eliminated in the match tiebreak in the first round. The drive home from Mouilleron takes over 10 hours, of which Constantin unfortunately had to complete 7 hours because I had to hand in my driving license in France before Orleans. After a few days at home we continued in Bratislava at the Challenger 125, where we were able to reach the semi-finals, where the final stop was against the eventual tournament winners Begemann/Balaji. The week in Bratislava was very cool, the weather was great and we had time to see the city center. Very good impressions that make up life on the tour, the bigger tournaments are often in bigger cities. I like to take the time to be a bit of a tourist, some players find it distracting or damaging to their recovery. But I wouldn't be able to handle just the tennis facility and hotel.

Like in September Recap We then continued on the ATP Tour in Antwerp at the ATP 250 and the ATP 500 in Basel. In Antwerp we unfortunately lost in the match tiebreak against 2 top 30 players Glasspool/Nys, but it was still a good week. The training conditions were optimal and we were able to gain further experience on the ATP Tour. On Friday of the same week we qualified for the ATP 500 in Basel. Basel is the third largest indoor tennis tournament in the world, here you are among all the top stars of the tennis scene. It is played in the St.Jakobshalle and the event is very well organized. As a player you have access to the VIP area and get very good food all day long in the Players Lounge. The training conditions and hospitality are also excellent - Swiss top quality. Constantin and I were able to qualify for the main draw with two wins before we lost to the currently 2th best doubles pair in the world, Vasselin/Gonzales, with 6-57. We were also able to collect world ranking points at an ATP tournament for the first time, and another match against top opponents will help us in the future.

If you're wondering whether we'll take a break, no, we're still playing in Ismaning and then in Metz/Sofia or Helsinki. Depending on how these tournaments go, we will adjust the rest of our tournament calendar. We are still on track to qualify directly as a team for the Australian Open, if that is achieved we may end the season a little earlier. I'm currently writing the article on the train to Bolzano, where I'm playing a club match in Serie A tomorrow and then I'm off to Ismaning. I wish you a nice weekend and, if necessary, have fun celebrating Halloween.