Tennis in Tyrol – stories
Innsbruck as the venue
Innsbruck was chosen as the venue, among other things because of the optimal altitude of almost 575 meters above sea level: Because the ball has a bounce behavior depending on the altitude, a location with a similar altitude to Madrid was chosen. The semi-finals and the Davis Cup final will take place in the Spanish capital following the Innsbruck tournament.
In addition, Innsbruck can boast an ideal infrastructure for the Davis Cup with the Olympiaworld. Originally built as an ice rink for the Olympic Winter Games in 1964, the Olympic Hall is now a modern sports and multi-purpose hall. Depending on the event, there is space for up to 12,000 visitors.
The Olympiahalle Innsbruck offers the perfect setting for sports events. (c) GEPA
Tennis in Tyrol: review
Tyrol has a long history of tennis. Around the turn of the century (1900), tennis was already being played in noble health resorts such as Merano – guests from abroad had introduced the sport in these places. The trend also reached Innsbruck: tennis was a popular sporty pastime among high military circles. That is why there was the first tennis court in Innsbruck in front of the Kaiserjäger casino on Bergisel at the turn of the century.
1904 Founding of the IEV – the Innsbrucker Eislaufverein – a tennis section in Innsbruck. The main aim was to bridge the ice-free time. In the same year, four tennis courts were built in Falkstrasse in Innsbruck and the IEV was the first home for tennis enthusiasts in the Tyrolean capital.
Also at the turn of the century with hotels or guest houses across the country and the 50 tennis courts, which are primarily available to house guests. Tourist and beautification associations also set up a good dozen tennis courts.
The Tyrolean Tennis Association was founded in May 1951: The traditional Tyrolean tennis clubs IEV, TSV Hall, TC Kitzbühel, TC Wörgl, TC Mayrhofen and TC Kufstein were particularly involved. They were united since 1950 by the desire for a common league, for competitions between the clubs registered at the time.
In the decades that followed, tennis in Tyrol developed from the first elitist to a popular sport, and tennis courts were set up in practically all Tyrolean communities. In 2021, the Tyrolean Tennis Association can look forward to a new record of over 21,000 registered members.
First international Alpine Cup in Kitzbühel.
One of the first tennis tournaments in Tyrol took place in Kitzbühel as early as 1904. 41 years later, in 1945, Gamsstadt was the venue for the “Alpenländer Pokal”, the country’s first international tournament.
It has been 77 years since these beginnings – and in the meantime everyone who has a reputation in men’s tennis has already made a guest appearance at the Kitzbühel tennis stadium: in 1971, the Alpenländer Pokal became the Head Cup Kitzbühel with prize money of 25,000 US dollars . The Head Cup (also called Philips Head Cup in the following) established itself as a fixed event in the “Grand Prix” circus.
Kitzbühel has been there with its own license since 1990, when ATP was founded as a professional player and organizer and the ATP Tour replaced the “Grand Prix” in 1991. From this time the Tyrolean town rose to the tennis Olympus: At the tournament in 2002 (now known as the “Generali Open”) the prize money was one million US dollars and the tournament was held for the second time since 1997 by the ATP professionals Voted the best organized tournament in the International Series Gold.
The ATP tournament in this category was held in Kitzbühel until 2008, followed by a reorientation and the one-off hosting of the “Austrian Open” Challenger tournament. 2011 ATP World Tour back to Kitzbühel: We look forward to numerous visitors.
Dominik Thiem lets the corks pop for his victory in Kitzbühel 2019. (c) GEPA
The big tennis moments will not be forgotten: The appearance of the Wimbledon winners Boris Becker and Pete Sampras in Kitzbühel as well as the great Austrian victories of Thomas Muster in 1993 and Dominic Thiem in 2019.
Thomas Muster with the 1993 winner’s cup in Kitzbühel. (c) Generali Open Kitzbühel
Not only in Kitzbühel, but also in St. Anton am Arlberg, big names of the tennis scene have already been guests: an invitation tournament was held 21 times in the famous ski resort from 1988 – superstars like Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic have also played here in the course of the tournament’s history like the Austrian tennis ace Thomas Muster, Alex Antonitsch, Jürgen Melzer, Stefan Koubek or Barbara Schett. Two of these players, the current number 1 in the tennis world rankings, Novak Djokovic and Stefan Koubek as captain of the Austrian Davis Cup team, will meet again at the Davis Cup in Innsbruck-Tyrol in 2021.
Stefan Koubek at the Davis Cup in St. Anton. (c) TVB St. Anton am Arlberg
The Davis Cup has already made a guest appearance in Tyrol five times: once in Mayrhofen, once in Kitzbühel, and twice in St. Anton am Arlberg. And the men’s tennis international competition has already been held in Innsbruck. In 2007 Austria and Brazil met in the Tyrolean capital, the match ended 4: 1 for Austria.
In 2021, the Davis Cup finals, which were only created in 2019, and a quarter-final game will take place. This time, Group C (France, Great Britain, Czech Republic) and Group F (Serbia, Austria, Germany) meet in Innsbruck. For Austrian tennis fans, memories of the Davis Cup 1994 in Unterpremstätten are awakened: Thomas Muster and the German Michael Stich then exchanged blows that lasted over 5:24 hours. Thomas Muster finally triumphed after five sets with 12:10, but the guests from Germany left the field victorious in the end.
With its great expertise and long tradition in relation to sporting events, Tyrol can rightly call itself a “sporting land”. The wide range of sports opportunities – whether it’s tennis, mountain biking, climbing, hiking or, of course, skiing – is appreciated by people from all over the world.
The superstars of the scene also show that skiing and tennis are a good combination: Novak Djokovic is an avid skier and the German Davis Cup player Dominik Köpfer was mainly focused on skiing until he was 15. The Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner was also successful on skis, becoming Italian champion in giant slalom in 2008 and vice Italian champion in 2012.