Five top 100 players

Tennis youngster Schwärzler also takes part in Salzburg

Joel Schwärzler is considered a great hope for the future.

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

In July, the felt balls will once again be chased in the Volksgarten. Numerous top players are once again registered for this year's Tennis Challenger in Salzburg. Among them are two red-white-red youngsters.

The red clay and the yellow felt balls will once again dominate the action in Salzburg's Volksgarten from July 7 to 14. The ATP Challenger 125 tournament is currently working on the preparations and is pleased to receive more and more entries. "There are some interesting names among them," says organizer Gerald Mandl. In addition to five top 100 players such as the Serb Dusan Lajovic, Alexander Shevchenko (Kas), Daniel Evans (Gb), Thiago Monteiro (Bra) and Daniel Taro (Jp), there are also local tennis aces.

Lukas Neumayer (ATP rank 235) has been playing at his home tournament for some time. Before that, the Radstadt native will play the qualifier at Wimbledon - his debut on grass.

Number one junior in the tournament
However, he is not the only red-white-red talent in the Volksgarten. Austria's possible future tennis star Joel Schwärzler is also in the main competition of the Salzburg Open. The 18-year-old recently competed in the juniors at the French Open and lost in the singles semi-finals. However, he was able to celebrate winning the doubles title together with his Norwegian partner Nicolai Budkov Kjaer. The Vorarlberg native played his last tournament as a junior in Paris and, like Thomas Muster 39 years ago and Dominic Thiem 13 years ago, wanted to reach the final there. Schwärzler has still been number one in the junior world rankings since January.

The ÖTV talent has now also arrived at Challenger level. This was underlined by his victory in Skopje in North Macedonia in May. Schwärzler is now ranked 390th in the ATP world rankings. Many experts have described the South African-born youngster as Austria's future number one. Many believe he is capable of achieving a top 50 ranking in the world.

Previous entries

Lukas Neumayer (ATP rank 235)
Joel Schwärzler (ATP rank 390)
Dusan Lajovic (ATP rank 57)
Alexander Shevchenko (ATP rank 59)
Daniel Evans (ATP rank 62)
Thiago Monteiro (ATP rank 76)
Daniel Taro (ATP ranking 84)
Gregoire Barrere (ATP rank 103)
Cristian Garin (ATP rank 115)
Vit Kopriva (ATP rank 121)
Facundo Bagnis (ATP rank 122)
Titouan Droguet (ATP rank 130)
Leandro Riedi (ATP rank 138)
Gustavo Heide (ATP rank 159)
Alejandro Moro Canas (ATP rank 174)

Last year's winner Sebastian Ofner (won in 2023 against local hero Lukas Neumayer) is still uncertain. The tournament begins on Sunday, July 7, with the qualifiers and ends a week later with the final.