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Updated Oct. 26, 2020, 6:28 p.m.
A very important Austrian tennis player hangs up his racket. Jürgen Melzer has announced the end of his active career in January 2021.
Jürgen Melzer from Lower Austria will leave the sports scene as a tennis professional in 2021. The 39-year-old was introduced on Monday at the Vienna Erste Bank Open as the new sports director of the Austrian Tennis Association (ÖTV), as was the Secretary of State Magnus Brunner as the new president of ÖTV. The 48-year-old from Vorarlberg and his team had been unanimously elected on the national holiday for three years. Melzer will start the new job in February.
“That means I will play my last Grand Slam tournament in Australia in January,” said Melzer. “Perhaps there is still a pleasure project in Paris (May / June note) and Wimbledon (June, July), if that works out somehow. That has nothing to do with professional tennis. That would be about the two Tournaments that They are very special to say goodbye to. But my professional career will end in 2020. “
Melzer did not want to completely rule out his fourth Olympic Games appearance, Tokyo 2021 (July / August), so to speak, as the latest pleasure project. “That’s a long way off and it’s not at the top of my priority list. But if Alex (Peya, note) gets in shape and we have three doubles, one of them wouldn’t be able to play, and my ranking would still be enough, such Maybe you can talk about it. At the moment, with Oli (Oliver Marach) and Ossi (Philipp Oswald), a team is in shape. “
Melzer is happy for a new job
The two-time Vienna winner is already thinking much more about his future role as sports director. “It is a great honor to work for the association since 2021,” said Melzer, who was practically connected to the “bubble”. “I believe that through my past, playing the Davis Cup, my closeness to the association has shown that they can trust me. I want to show it.” There is no exclusion, a common path must be sought.
“We have open arms. We want to find a common way to improve people or talents and also to get new talents for tennis,” said the former eighth in the individual world ranking. “It is very important to me that we attract more talent, and it will also be one of my main tasks. I want to be there a lot. It would be a shame if I could use the know-how that I have accumulated over the last 30 years., It could not happen in your place “.
Like Melzer, Brunner also wants to have a good relationship with Wolfgang Thiem’s Austrian Tennis Committee (ATC). His academy was only presented on Thursday in Traiskirchen, where the six best Austrian players have their training base. “We are starting to build bridges. We are all people who put what connects before what separates them,” said Brunner, who has been the ÖVP Secretary of State in the Infrastructure Ministry of Leonore Gewessler (Greens) since January 2020.
Brunner and his team were elected in the presence of Sports Minister and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler (Greens) in the early afternoon at the ÖTV General Assembly in a Vienna hotel. Many discussions have taken place since the summer. “Only together can we advance the sport of Austrian tennis,” said the father-of-three, a former national league player and now an active senior player.
His team is small but powerful. “He’s full of passion and heart and soul, everyone comes from tennis.” Elke Romauch will remain in office as vice president and will remain responsible for legal matters. Other vice-presidents are businessman Martin Ohneberg, responsible for economics and finance, and Georg Blumauer. The former short-term professional is a lawyer and will deal with sports. (br / apa)
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