Marx Halle becomes part of the city hall tournament – diepresse.com
With two match and a training court, the Marx Hall is integrated into the Stadthallen tournament, it is also a symbolic act towards the new arena in Neu Marx from 2030. Tournament director Herwig Straka: « Everything is lifted to a new level. »
The Viennese city hall tennis tournament is expanding its tournament site to Neu Marx. The ATP-500 event, which takes place this year from October 18 to 26, has already offered a second scene with the tent on the hayarkt in the past four years. The relocation to the Marx Halle also makes sense for another reason, because by 2030 the new arena is to be completed in the immediate vicinity. Then you will be moved from the 15th in the 3rd district.
« With the new second venue we continue the further development of Erste Bank Open and thus symbolically take the first step towards Vienna’s holding arena, » said tournament director Herwig Straka at the presentation of the project on Wednesday evening. The Marx Halle offers both the players and visitors many new opportunities. There will be a wheelchair tennis tournament and a youth tournament. « The tournament is lifted to a new level in its entirety, » believes the Styrian.
Longer training sessions
Three tennis courts are installed in the Marx Halle, two as match courts and one as a training court. In total, the tennis stars have seven places during the tournament (two each in the town hall and in the La Ville tennis center). With the enlargement of the tournament area, an international trend is followed.
The two match courts in the Marx Halle will have a total capacity of 2,000 seats. Since the players can be offered far longer training spots in New Marx, one or the other top star will also prefer to train at the secondary location. An opportunity for the fans to watch the stars up close during training in addition to the matches. For 25 euros you are at all events in the Marx Halle all day, with the « GroundTicket ». If you bought a city hall ticket, you can either visit the new location on the same or another day.
New audience record
Of course, the audience record is driven further up, because the hall offers space for far more people than the 2,000 seats. And ultimately it is also an investment in the future when the new arena is completed. Because even then, Straka plans to use the Marx Halle in the immediate vicinity for training courts and other hands-on activities.
For tournament ambassadors Thomas Musters, the second setting is a real added value. « The tournament has to develop constantly to keep up with its excellent reputation. The Marx Halle opens up new opportunities, especially when it comes to the training offer for the players, » says the former world ranking first. In addition, the new tournaments are a sign of inclusion and promoting young talent.
Wheelchair tennis ace Nico Langmann sees the wheelchair tennis tournament as part of the Erste Bank Open as « pioneer for other sporting events-both in Austria and internationally. » With Alfie Hewett, who has already won all four Grand Slam tournaments, the number two of the wheelchair tennis world rankings has already promised.
