Wildcard! Joel Schwärzler opens in the town hall

Thanks to a wildcard, Joel Schwärzler will make his debut in the main competition of the Erste Bank Open!

Austria’s young hopeful receives the third wildcard for the main competition worth 2,626,045 euros. Tournament director Herwig Straka told the 18-year-old on Thursday evening during a training session in the Wiener Stadthalle.

Schwärzler couldn’t believe his luck at first: “No, no, no! That’s not true – is it?”

For the Vorarlberg native, it will be his debut at the Erste Bank Open, and at the same time it will also be his first tournament at the ATP 500 level.

In addition to Schwärzler, Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori also received wildcards for his farewell performance.

“This is a dream come true”

“I couldn’t believe it at first, it’s a dream come true for me. I actually assumed a qualifying wildcard, which would have been great. After all, the last few weeks haven’t been like that, that’s what you can say.” “I’m extremely grateful to Herwig for trusting me and for having this wild card,” said Schwärzler happily.

He “not only wants to play, but I also want to win my first match in the town hall. I know that I have to play very well and do my things very well, but the chance is definitely there,” emphasized Schwärzler.

“We want to offer Joel Schwärzler the opportunity to present himself on the biggest domestic tennis stage. We are convinced that he will be able to gain very important experience that will be very valuable to him and give him an impulse for his future career,” said tournament director Herwig Straka, explaining his decision.

The three wild cards for the qualification that begins on Saturday are the Lower Austrian Jurij Rodionov, the Frenchman Richard Gasquet and the Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta.

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