Austrian Tennis Association

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Austrian Tennis Association
ÖTV Logo.png
Founded 1902
Place of foundation Vienna
President Christina Toth
Members 171,049 (as of 2017)
Homepage www.oetv.at

The Austrian Tennis Association (ÖTV) was founded in 1902 and is the umbrella organization of the Austrian state tennis associations and their clubs. The head office is in Vösendorf near Vienna.

organization

With just under 171,049 (as of 2017), the Austrian Tennis Association is the second largest sports association in Austria after the ÖFB (football) and ahead of the ÖSV (Alpine and Nordic skiing) and consists of nine regional associations. Each federal state has a state association, which in turn is divided into clubs. Each regional association has its own ranking lists, just like the ÖTV for the whole of Austria.

History of the ÖTV

Until it was founded in 1902

The Austrian Tennis Association was founded in 1902, although the history of tennis in Austria has older roots. As early as the 16th century, games were played in ball houses in Vienna , Graz , Linz , Salzburg and Innsbruck . At that time, however, the forerunner of "modern" tennis ", the Jeu de Paume , in which you hit the ball with the palm of your hand. 200 years were played in a wing of the Vienna Hofburg , until 1741 the rededication of the ballroom to the Vienna Burgtheater by Empress Maria Theresa took place. Instead, a new home was created at Vienna's Ballhausplatz (the seat of today's Federal Chancellery). With some innovations (rubber balls, wooden rackets and net) the game approached modern tennis. The counting method of that time has also remained almost unchanged to this day.

Reports testify to exhibition fights that have been held regularly since 1877 with the participation of top British players. These contributed to the popularization of the sport. In 1884 the first Austrian championship was held on a private initiative, with the first winners from England and Kurt von Wessely not until 1909 who managed to win the Austrian championship title. Now clubs were founded in the rest of the federal states: in 1892 the "Grazer Athletiksport-Klubs" (GAK) with a tennis section from 1902, 1897 the "Wiener Athletiksport Club" (WAC), 1899 in Baden , 1900 the tennis section of the "Wiener Bicycleclub" "(the later" Wiener Parkclub "). The "Lawn Tennis Tournament Committee Pörtschach " was set up in Carinthia . In order to unite these individual clubs, the "Austrian Lawn Tennis Association" was founded in Hütteldorf (Vienna) in 1902. This had its headquarters in Vienna Infantry - cadet school . This amalgamation of the clubs to form the ÖTV allowed official international matches to be played for the first time. The first opponent was Germany and was defeated 8: 7 in Vienna.

1902 to 1945

Arthur Zborzil (WAC) and the Prague Felix Pipes won silver in tennis doubles at the Olympic Games in Stockholm ( Sweden ) in 1912, which meant the only Olympic medal in tennis. Austria was also represented on March 1, 1913 when the International Tennis Federation (ITF) was founded. Nevertheless, in the First Republic after 1918, the importance of tennis in Austrian sports events fell. The Davis Cup successes failed to materialize. Here are a few statistics: In the first half of the 20th century, Austrian tennis players made it into the third round only six times.

Franz Matejka was the absolute number 1 in Austria between 1926 and 1934 with six national championship titles. He proved his ability in an exhibition match against the US ten-time Grand Slam winner William Tilden in Vienna. Matejka lost in three sets with 2: 6, 5: 7 and 5: 7. At the beginning of the 1930s Adam Baworowski and Georg von Metaxa advanced to the top of the national league. In 1935, the then 20-year-old Hans Redl joined the company. After Austria was annexed to Germany, Baworowski had to flee to Poland. Redl and Metaxa, on the other hand, were together in the Greater German Davis Cup team, winning in the European zone in 1938, but losing in the final against the USA . The Second World War ended tragically for some tennis players: Metaxa died in an artillery attack on the Western Front in December 1944, Baworowski is a missing person from the Battle of Stalingrad .

1946 to 1985

Hans Redl celebrated an international comeback after the rehabilitation of an amputation of the left arm, which was caused by a bullet. In 1947 he was the first Austrian since 1937 to be invited to the Wimbledon Championships . He failed in the second round against the American Bob Falkenburg and six years later (1953) in the quarterfinals of the double competition. Redl was also president of ÖTV and died in 1976.

Fred Huber († 1972) defeated Australian Lew Hoad in England , but failed against other Austrians, such as Franz Saiko, who advanced to the round of 16 at Wimbledon with Hans Redl in 1954. Saiko played very rarely abroad, but remained almost unbeaten in Austria. In the Davis Cup he celebrated victories against the British Mike Sangster and Bobby Wilson. At the time, Sonja Pachta was very successful at the national level for women and won 52 championship titles from 1956 to 1975 (19 of them in tennis singles). In 1962 she reached the round of 16 in the singles competition and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in mixed doubles with Peter Pokorny.

In Kitzbühel , Walter Föger, the then general secretary of the ÖTV, organized the “Alpine Country Cup”, in which world-class players competed for victory from 1960 onwards. Since then there have been international tournaments in Vienna for men’s tennis and in Pörtschach for women’s tennis, which have continued to the present day.

After the introduction of the Federation Cup ( Fed Cup ) for the ITF's 50th anniversary for women's tennis, Austria has been there from the start. In 1973 the performance center was built in the southern part of the city ( Maria Enzersdorf ). This served as a model for regional centers in the federal states. From 1974 the tournament in the Wiener Stadthalle (today BA-CA Tennis Trophy ) was on the program, whereby the ÖTV refused to participate. The Austrian Tennis Association had around 50,000 members at that time.

The Carinthian Hans Kary was able to celebrate successes against world-class players such as Ilie Năstase , Rod Laver , Manuel Orantes , Ken Rosewall and Ivan Lendl from 1967 . Kary helped Austrian tennis to break through. His rival at the time was Peter Feigl , who was only two years his junior and who later became the tournament director of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy. Feigl reached 40th place in the world rankings in his active career and in 1980 was the first Austrian to win a Grand Prix tournament, the tournament in Cleveland .

1985 to 1999: The Thomas Muster era

The biggest tennis boom in Austria was triggered by the Davis Cup successes of Thomas Muster , Alexander Antonitsch and Horst Skoff († 2008). The entry into the world group succeeded with the smooth 5-0 victory against Great Britain in 1988. This was followed by another 5-0 against Australia in Vienna. After Muster's failure due to his serious injury in Key Biscayne in 1989, Austria lost 3-2 to Sweden in the quarter-finals. Horst Skoff needed 6 hours and 4 minutes to win against Mats Wilander (9-7 in the 5th set). After Thomas Muster's comeback in 1990, the series of successes continued: 3-2 against Spain in Barcelona, ​​5-0 against Italy in Vienna. This was followed by the first entry into the Davis Cup semifinals against the USA, which Austria lost 3-2 in front of about 17,000 spectators in Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium . The Leibnitzer Thomas Muster reached after his triumph at the French Open in Paris in 1995 against Michael Chang the first and so far only Grand Slam -Titel in tennis singles and the number was from 12 February 1996, a total of six weeks 1 of the tennis world rankings .

1999 to 2004

Other Davis Cup highlights: Stefan Koubek and Markus Hipfl achieved promotion to the world group in Pörtschach in 1999 with a 3-2 win against Sweden; In 2002, Koubek, Jürgen Melzer , Julian Knowle and Alexander Peya managed to return to the world group again against Belgium, in 2004 they remained - with Thomas Muster's debut as Davis Cup captain - among the top 16 in the world after another 3-2 thriller against Great Britain.

Austria's women were much more successful as a team in this phase than at WTA tournaments. From 1983 Judith Wiesner reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon twice and played 40 times in the Federationcup, with victories a. a. about Mandliková, Jana Novotná , Sanchez, Jennifer Capriati and Iva Majoli . In doing so, she surpassed Petra Huber. Only Barbara Paulus was similarly successful with victories over these and other players. When she had to end her career due to an injury, she was the first Austrian to achieve a top ten position in the course of her career (WTA 10; November 8, 1996). Paulus was only surpassed by Barbara Schett, who even advanced to 7th place (September 13, 1999) and also celebrated successes in the Fed Cup from 2002: In 2002 the ÖTV team even reached the Final Four after a 3-2 victory over the USA . Austria had already reached the semi-finals of the Fed Cup in 1990, and in 2004 the Final Four was reached again with victories over Slovakia and again over the USA.

2005 until today

In the recent past, Jürgen Melzer stood out in particular. In 2009 Melzer celebrated his greatest success to date at the home tournament in the Wiener Stadthalle: He defeated the Croatian Marin Čilić in the final and won his second ATP tournament after Bucharest (2006). In addition, a few months later, with Philipp Petzschner , Melzer became the first Austrian to win the title in the doubles competition at Wimbledon (2010). With the move into the semi-finals in Paris in June 2010 - he was defeated by the eventual tournament winner Rafael Nadal in three sets - he celebrated his greatest success so far in a Grand Slam. At the end of October 2010 he was able to defend his title in the Wiener Stadthalle when he defeated his compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer . The fourth title followed in 2012 in Memphis. In 2011 Melzer won his second Grand Slam title in mixed at Wimbledon alongside his future wife Iveta Benešová . His third followed at the side of Philipp Petzschner in the double competition of the US Open (2011).

In the Davis Cup in 2011, Melzer secured the ÖTV team together with Haider-Maurer, Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya with the 4-1 win against Belgium to stay in the world group. In the 2012 season , for the first time since 1995, an Austrian Davis Cup team reached the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup. With the 3-2 victory over Russia, Jürgen Melzer, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Alexander Peya and Oliver Marach - who made their debut as Davis Cup captain at Clemens Trimmel's - qualified for the round of the world's best eight nations. There came against the later Davis Cup winner Spain, however, the end.

Yvonne Meusburger and Sandra Klemenschits won their first WTA tournament in Bad Gastein in 2013: Meusburger in singles, Klemenschits in doubles. Meusburger also overtook Austria's undisputed number one, Tamira Paszek . The Vorarlberg native attracted international attention for the first time on July 2, 2005 when she reached the finals in the Wimbledon junior competition. Paszek has been able to record three tournament victories so far: 2012 in Eastbourne, 2010 in Quebec City and 2006 in Portoroz.

Austria as a double nation

In doubles, Alexander Peya successfully made the transition from a single to a double career. With Bruno Soares he has won seven ATP titles since the 2012 season and has made it to four other finals. Their greatest mutual success so far was winning the Masters in Canada . They defeated the British duo Colin Fleming and Andy Murray in Montreal 6: 4 and 7: 6 4 . Through these successes, Peya reached third place in the double world rankings, which was the highest ranking ever achieved by an Austrian. Julian Knowle had already won the US Open 2007 in previous years , and in 2004 he was also in the finals of Wimbledon and the Masters in Shanghai.

ÖTV Presidium

Christina Toth has been President of the Austrian Tennis Association since March 24, 2019. She followed Werner Klausner. The other current ÖTV presidium members (2019): Barbara Muhr (responsible for marketing and sponsoring), Elke Romauch (responsible for law, women and personnel), Walter Seidenbusch (responsible for internal communication, finances (cashier), grassroots and school sports) , Günter Kurz (responsible for sports (centers, funding), tournaments and Bundesliga) and Raimund Stefanits (responsible for sports).

ÖTV presidents in recent years

Period Surname
since March 24, 2019: Christina Toth
2018-2019: Werner Klausner
2015-2018: Robert Gross
2012–2015: Ronnie Leitgeb
1997–2012: Ernst Wolner
1995-1997: Gerd Purner
1992–1995: Rudolf Mader
1971-1992: Theodor Zeh

The ÖTV general secretaries in recent years

Period Surname
since January 2, 2017 Thomas Schweda (Managing Director)
2013-2017: Thomas Hammerl (Managing Director)
2004–2013: Peter Teuschl
1999-2004: Martin Reiter
1979–1999: Peter Nader

Competitions

Austrian Bundesliga

The Austrian Tennis Association organizes the national and 2nd national leagues for women and men. The 1st ÖTV Bundesliga Men is played in two ways and the Austrian team champions are determined in a play-off and final .

Austrian championships

The Austrian champion is determined annually from the youth to the seniors in different age groups in singles, doubles and mixed. Championships are held indoors in winter and outdoors in summer.

Davis Cup

Austria played for the first time in the Davis Cup in 1905 and for 74 years with a few interruptions. The overall balance (as of August 20, 2013) stands at 146 appearances (68 wins - 78 defeats). The player with the most games (45-18) and single successes (36-8) is Thomas Muster . The player with the most double victories ( 13-14 ) is Alexander Antonitsch , who together with Muster was able to win the most doubles (9-7). Antonitsch played the most Davis Cup matches (27) and Hans Kary most of the years (14). The best result in Austria's long Davis Cup history was reaching the semi-finals in 1990.

Fed Cup

Austria played in the Fed Cup for the first time in 1963 and for 38 years without interruption. The total balance stands at 89 appearances (38 wins - 51 defeats). The player with the most appearances (39-27) and individual successes (28-16) is Judith Wiesner . The players with the most double successes are Judith Wiesner ( 11-11 ) and Barbara Schett (11-5).
Wiesner also played the most Fed Cup matches (40) and most years (14). The best results in Austria's Fed Cup history were three times in the semi-finals in 1990, 2002 and 2004.

literature

  • Hans Buzik (edit.): Tennis in Austria then and now. A cross-section through 90 years of tennis . Postsportverein, Vienna 1975.
  • Dieter Pink: The Austrian Tennis Association - ideality and reality of a modern sports association . Vienna 1994. Diploma thesis.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Statutes of the ÖTV. P.1 ( Memento from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Membership statistics 2009 ( Memento from August 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed March 20, 2012)
  3. ^ ÖTV profile ( memento of September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ ÖTV ranking lists ( Memento from August 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Contribution to the 104 YEARS OF ÖTV anniversary ( Memento from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Bundesliga 2016 women / men (bundesliga-austria.liga.nu, accessed on May 30, 2016)
  7. ↑ Austrian Championships ( Memento from February 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (oetv.at, accessed on May 30, 2016)