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The people of Vienna have the option of a unique backdrop for their lunchtime sandwiches this week, thanks to the Erste Bank Open.

Since 2021, the ATP 500 in Vienna has been the home to one of the most unique second courts on the ATP Tour. While the main stadium court is located in the city’s west inside the Wiener Stadthalle, the tournament’s second arena, the #glaubandich (German for ‘Believe In Yourself’) Court, is nestled right in the middle of the Austrian capital’s historic city centre.

The temporary stadium is erected on one half of the ice rink at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Its location not only gives the tented court an interesting backdrop outside, but also ensures that top-level tennis is as accessible as possible for busy Viennese going about their days.

“I had in mind to activate tennis in the city centre,” tournament director Herwig Straka told ATPTour.com. “Vienna is a pretty big city, and the Stadthalle is not in the city centre. The feeling was that inside the tennis community, everybody knows about the event, but outside not. Positioning a second match court in the city centre attracted a lot of new fans, young fans, a new audience. This was the basic idea.”

The #glaubandich Court is located at the Vienna Ice Skating Club. Photo Credit: Andy West/ATP Tour.

Andrey Rublev has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. The 26-year-old guaranteed his spot at the season finale on Thursday when he defeated Matteo Arnaldi to reach the Vienna quarter-finals.

Rublev is the fifth player to earn his place in Turin from 12-19 November. Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner have also qualified for the year-end championships.

"It feels great," Rublev said. "It's great news. After the match I didn't know that if I would win the match I would qualify for sure, so I didn't know that and it's a great feeling, great news. Looking forward [to it] and happy to be part of the Nitto ATP Finals for one more year."

See you in Turin, @AndreyRublev97 ?

Rublev has sealed his spot at the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year! ?#NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/hoFuCTy4Yk

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 26, 2023

It has been a consistent season for Rublev, who reached the 50-wins mark for the third straight season. He has also broken new ground in 2023, claiming his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte-Carlo.

The unseeded duo of Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul upset top seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open, where the all-French pair clinched a Match Tie-break opening-round.victory.

Despite not creating a break chance in the match, the Frenchmen pulled out a 2-6, 7-6(5), 10-4 win by owning the crucial moments of the one-hour, 47-minute match. Doumbia and Reboul stayed within touching distance by saving nine of 11 break points they faced, and made their move late to earn the upset.

Fourth-seeded Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen were also knocked out at the ATP 500, with Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow scoring a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

Lammons/Withrow face a crucial week in their quest to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals. They are currently 10th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, just 25 points behind ninth-placed Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer and 35 points behind eighth-placed Jamie Murray and Michael Venus.

Arevalo and Rojer maintained their Turin push after they avoided becoming the third seeded pair to fall on Wednesday in Vienna. They defeated Nikola Mektic and John Peers 6-7(3), 6-4, 10-8 to set advance to face home wild card pair Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald.

Carlos Alcaraz announced on social media on Wednesday that he is fit to play the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals.

“I have good news!” Alcaraz posted. “I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! Excited to finish the year on a high!”

I have good news! ?? I am feeling better every day and I will play Paris-Bercy and be in Turin for the ATP Finals! ? Excited to finish the year on a high! ?? pic.twitter.com/RC1pCzr237

— Carlos Alcaraz (@carlosalcaraz) October 25, 2023

The Spaniard withdrew ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel due to a left foot injury and muscle fatigue to his lower back. He most recently competed in Shanghai, where he lost to Grigor Dimitrov in the Round of 16.

Alcaraz will hope to find his form immediately in Paris, where he will resume his battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone with Novak Djokovic. The Serbian currently leads the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, a good barometer for the year-end No. 1 battle, by 500 points with a maximum of 2,500 points up for grabs in Paris and Turin.

Felix Auger-Aliassime’s most recent title came in Basel one year ago. Based on his form Wednesday, the Canadian is keen to add another Swiss Indoors Basel trophy to his collection.

The defending champion eliminated Swiss wild card Leandro Riedi 6-3, 6-2 to reach the second round. The sixth seed will next play Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp, who ousted Roberto Bautista Agut in three sets.

All aboard the Felix Express ???

The 2022 champion @felixtennis eases past Riedi 6-3 6-2 ?#SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/KCedaHX1yS

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2023

The 23-year-old Auger-Aliassime stayed out of trouble on his service games for the most part, relinquishing just one break in the match. He consistently challenged his opponent’s serve, winning 50 per cent of his return points and earning four breaks in the 75-minute match.

Auger-Aliassime has long thrived indoors, winning all four of his titles in such conditions. This is his first indoor appearance outside of Laver Cup since Rotterdam in February.

Jannik Sinner held firm for victory in a hard-hitting opening-round clash against Ben Shelton on Wednesday at the Erste Bank Open.

The Italian prevailed 7-6(2), 7-5 in Vienna by striking 28 winners and offering just six unforced errors across the one-hour, 44-minute encounter. With his win, Sinner avenged his defeat to Shelton in the Shanghai fourth round two weeks ago.

“It was a very tough match. He always serves really well, and today was obviously the same,” said Sinner. “He is confident, he is a very tough player to beat. I was looking forward to it. I lost the last matchup, so I’m happy that I won this one. I’m already looking forward to the next one.

“I wish him the best for the rest of the season, I think he will finish the season strong. I’m very happy about the performance and happy to be in the next round.”

Although Shelton, who flew straight to Austria after winning his maiden ATP Tour crown on Sunday in Tokyo, understandably showed some signs of fatigue in the second set, he pushed Sinner all the way inside the Wiener Stadthalle. An intense first set was only settled when Sinner raised his level in the tie-break and the Italian was forced to fend off four break points overall during his win.

Daniil Medvedev is a 20-time tour-level singles champion, but he has yet to win a single event more than once. If his opening performance at the Erste Bank Open is any indication, Medvedev could put an end to that statistical anomaly this week in Vienna.

The top seed earned a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win against #NextGenATP Frenchman Arthur Fils on Wednesday in the pair's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting. In a masterful performance, Medvedev lost just five points on serve and recorded a clean stat line of 16 winners and eight unforced errors.

"I was a little bit nervous coming into the match," Medvedev said, explaining that he took a week off from practice following Shanghai, during which time he celebrated his daughter's birthday. "Arthur wants this top win and he's going to get it one day. But luckily I managed to serve well, play well, kind of work him out during the match and it worked, so I'm very happy."

"Mesmerising Medvedev" ?

Top seed @DaniilMedwed bringing top drawer tennis up a set and break on Fils@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/wNdEpK98MH

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 25, 2023

Medvedev was clinical in all aspects of his game in the 75-minute match, using his forehand to do the most damage with seven winners off that wing. His relentless yet steady game drew 31 unforced errors from Fils, who made the final in Antwerp last week.

“I don’t expect myself to do well on any tennis trivia when we are taking it back before I played!” Taylor Fritz joked in the latest edition of ATP Uncovered’s Test The Tour series. The American was one of five ATP Tour stars to be quizzed on their Nitto ATP Finals knowledge.

Former champions Andy Murray, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev were also among the panel.

“I know nothing about it!” Medvedev joked. But would the World No. 3 surprise himself as he was asked who the youngest champion in event history is, which country has the most Nitto ATP Finals titlists and more?

“I remember it! I’m kidding, I wasn’t even born then,” Tsitsipas said, while cracking a smile.

Watch the full video below to find out which of Fritz, Medvedev, Murray, Casper Ruud and Tsitsipas answered the most questions correctly.

Since reaching the US Open quarter-finals, Taylor Fritz went 2-2 on the Asian swing before heading to Europe for the Swiss Indoors Basel. On Wednesday, the American survived a stern opening test from Max Purcell to continue his chase for a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals.

Sitting ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, Fritz's bid to leapfrog Holger Rune for the crucial eighth position received a timely boost with his gritty 7-6(6), 7-6(4) win at the ATP 500.

"As far as where I'm at in the Race, I think I'm in a good spot," Fritz said post-match. "I have a pretty decent chance if I can come up with a big result one of these next two weeks [in Basel or Paris]."

[ATP APP]

The American trailed Purcell 1/5 in the opening tie-break and saved two set points before he snatched the set with a three-point surge. He twice surrendered a break lead in set two, including an unsuccessful attempt to serve out the match at 5-4, but recovered to close out the second tie-break on his third set point.

Not everything has gone the way Cameron Norrie might like in terms of results during the 2023 ATP Tour season. Yet all players, even the very best in the world, go through tough stretches, and the Briton is not one to let a few lean months stop him believing in his own ability.

“I started the year winning [lots of] close matches, and that’s kind of how tennis goes,” Norrie, who is 36-23 for the year, told ATP Tennis Radio on Saturday at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. “You win or lose close ones all at once, and I think it just becomes automatic. I’ve had a couple of tough losses recently, but I think that’s tennis and that’s just how you can learn from it and respond from it.”

Even if things don’t always go to plan on the court, the lifestyle and friendships Norrie enjoys on the tennis merry-go-round are more than enough to keep him positive day-to-day. The World No. 18 believes that those constants are the foundation for him to rediscover his best form.

“Luckily I have a really good team around me to push,” said Norrie, who arrived in Vienna having gone 1-6 since the US Open. “For me, I’m really still really enjoying the Tour, enjoying the travel, and going to new places still. It’s definitely been an interesting year, but I need to stay patient.”

Norrie applies his calm approach to practice as much as he does matches. The five-time ATP Tour champion believes it helps him stay positive even when he is struggling to close out wins.

The schedule for the 2024 United Cup in Perth and Sydney has been released.

PERTH GROUP PLAY - RAC ARENA

Day	Time/Group	Teams
Fri. 29 Dec.	10am / A	Spain v WTA TBC
Fri. 29 Dec.	5pm / C	Great Britain v Australia
Sat. 30 Dec.	10am / E	Czech Rep. v China
Sat. 30 Dec.	5pm / A	Poland v WTA TBC
Sun. 31 Dec.	10am / C	USA v Great Britain
Sun. 31 Dec.	5pm / E	China v Serbia
Mon. 1 Jan.	10am / A	Poland v Spain
Mon. 1 Jan.	5pm / C	USA v Australia
Tue. 2 Jan.	10 am / E	Czech Rep. v Serbia

PERTH QUARTER-FINALS

Day	Time/Group	Teams
Wed. 3 Jan.	10am / QF 1	Group A winner v Best runner-up
Wed. 3 Jan	5pm / QF 2	Group C winner v Group E winner

SYDNEY GROUP PLAY - KEN ROSEWALL ARENA

Day	Time/Group	Teams
Fri. 29 Dec.	Day	No play
Fri. 29 Dec.	Night	No play
Sat. 30 Dec.	10.30am / F	Netherlands v Norway
Sat. 30 Dec.	5.30pm / D	Italy v Germany
Sun. 31 Dec.	10.30am /B	Canada v ATP TBC
Sun. 31 Dec.	Night	No play
Mon. 1 Jan.	10.30am / F	Croatia v Norway
Mon. 1 Jan.	5.30pm /D	France v Germany
Tue. 2 Jan.	10.30am / B	Greece v ATP TBC
Tue. 2 Jan.	5.30pm /F	Croatia v Netherlands
Tue. 3 Jan.	10.30 am / D	France v Italy
Tue. 3 Jan.	5.30pm / B	Greece v Canada

SYDNEY QUARTER-FINALS

Stefanos Tsitsipas spoiled the party for the local fans Tuesday at the Erste Bank Open by delivering a rock-solid opening-round display to down home favourite Dominic Thiem.

The fourth-seeded Greek prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4 after saving all three break points he faced at the ATP 500 in Vienna. Tsitsipas clinched a first set of narrow margins by rallying from 2/4 in the tie-break before a decisive break in the third game of the second set proved enough for him to book a second-round clash with Tomas Machac.

With his one-hour, 59-minute win, Tsitsipas strengthened his bid to secure a spot at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals. The 25-year-old is currently sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, having amassed a 46-20 record in 2023.

More to follow…

Can one win change the course of a season?

Holger Rune will be hoping that is the case after he earned just his second victory in nine matches on Tuesday to reach the second round at the Swiss Indoors Basel, boosting his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances.

The Dane battled hard to claw past Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 at the ATP 500 event in Switzerland, where he rallied from a set and a break down to triumph after two hours and two minutes. Rune trailed 3-4 in the second set but broke back before sealing the set on his third set point. He did not face a break point in the third set, striking 12 winners in the decider.

With his victory, he set a second-round meeting against Sebastian Baez, while he also increased his Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances. The 20-year-old is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 90 points ahead of ninth-placed Taylor Fritz. Aiming to make his debut at the prestigious year-end event, Rune is currently occupying the final qualification position.

"I am happy I kept fighting and turned the match around," Rune said. "I tried to raise my level. I always enjoy playing here."

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek bounced back from a disappointing first-round exit in Shanghai on Tuesday when they beat Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sebastian Korda 6-2, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The top seeds are chasing their sixth tour-level title as a team this week and will next play Tallon Griekspoor and Robin Haase or Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski. Dodig and Krajicek will compete at the Nitto ATP Finals in November after qualifying earlier this month.

Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni are currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings and are looking to join Dodig and Krajicek in Turin. They suffered a first-round loss in Basel, falling to Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz. The Germans advanced 6-2, 5-7, 10-5 in one hour and 38 minutes.

[ATP APP]

Ofner/Oswald Save 2 MPs, Advance In Vienna
Austrians Sebastian Ofner and Philipp Oswald defeated defending champions Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 7-6(4), 4-6, 11-9 in the first round at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Ofner and Oswald saved two match points, eventually advancing after one hour and 47 minutes.

One year ago, Ben Shelton was No. 158 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and competing in a stretch of ATP Challenger Tour events. At the time, the American had earned just three tour-level wins and was embarking on his life as a professional tennis player.

Little did the lefty know that one year later, he would be No. 15 in the world and competing with the biggest stars on the ATP Tour every week.

“I think that’s the craziest thing to think about, how far I’ve come,” Shelton told ATPTour.com. “But it’s interesting that a lot of guys who where in a similar position to me last year, like Chris Eubanks or Aleks Vukic, have kind of had the same trajectory.

“They’re Top 50 now, so to be playing Challengers with all those guys last year and now we are at the point where we are playing a full ATP schedule, it’s something really cool that we share.” 

Shelton is 26-22 this season and has consistently risen to the occasion on the biggest stages. He reached the semi-finals of the US Open, the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and last week at the ATP 500 in Tokyo claimed his first tour-level title.

After a standout collegiate career, Cypriot Menelaos Efstathiou will now try his hand at the pro level.

The 24-year-old is set to compete in his first ATP Challenger Tour event this week at the Sparkasse Challenger Val Gardena in Ortisei, Italy. Efstathiou graduated this year from Wake Forest University, where he became just the second player from his school to earn Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year honours, joining Noah Rubin.

After finishing seventh in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Rankings, Efstathiou will receive up to eight spots at select ATP Challenger Tour events in the next year, including in Ortisei, thanks to the ATP/ITA Accelerator Programme. The goal of the programme is to become a launching pad for the top players within the American collegiate system and accelerate their journey to the pro level.

The college route is one that Efstathiou will forever cherish.

“College tennis is amazing. I improved my game overall, but I would say more, I became more mature over the last five years,” Efstathiou told ATPTour.com earlier this year. “The level is very high so you always compete with good players, it definitely helped me improve my maturity and raise my level.”

Hubert Hurkacz recorded his 40th tour-level win of the season on Tuesday when he moved past Serbian Dusan Lajovic 7-6(2), 6-3 to reach the second round on his debut at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

The 26-year-old fired 18 aces, won 80 per cent (41/51) of his first-serve points and broke Lajovic’s serve three times to become the first Polish man to earn 40 tour-level wins in consecutive years since Wojtek Fibak in 1981-82.

[ATP APP]

With his victory, Hurkacz has boosted his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes. The Pole is currently 11th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, 300 points behind Holger Rune, who occupies the final qualification spot in eighth.

Earlier this month Hurkacz moved himself into qualification contention for the prestigious year-end event when he won his second ATP Masters 1000 crown in Shanghai, gaining 1,000 points.

Nobody has won more ATP Challenger Tour titles this season than Mariano Navone. The Argentine claimed his fifth title of the year at that level this past weekend when he captured the AAT Challenger Santa Fe 2 on home soil.

The 22-year-old, who is one of four Challenger champions this past week, defeated Italian Andrea Pellegrino 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Now at a career-high No. 127 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Navone has won 15 of his past 16 matches on the ATP Challenger Tour, including two consecutive titles after winning in Buenos Aires the week prior to Santa Fe.

“In May of last year I was losing in the first round of an M15 and today I have won five Challengers,” Navone said in Spanish. “To that kid I would tell him to be calm, that good things are going to come. At that moment it was difficult, but now we have to continue, finish the [season] as high as possible.”

Navone is the sixth player with at least five Challenger titles in a season this past decade, joining Facundo Bagnis, Filip Krajinovic, Tallon Griekspoor, Sebastian Baez and Benjamin Bonzi. Navone is the fifth Argentine in ATP Challenger Tour history (since 1978) to collect five Challenger titles in a season.

In other action, Frenchman Kyrian Jacquet claimed his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title at the Olbia Challenger in Italy. The 22-year-old won seven matches in eight days as he advanced through qualifying en route to being crowned champion. Jacquet downed #NextGenATP star Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 6-4 in the final.

Andrey Rublev rode out a topsy-turvy start to secure a first-round win Tuesday at the Erste Bank Open.

The third seed defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-4 in Vienna to improve to 10-4 at the ATP 500 event. Rublev led 2-0 and 4-2 in the opening set but he still had to rally from a break down at 4-5 to force a tie-break, which Popyrin at one point led 5/2. The World No. 5 reeled off five straight points to claim the first set, however, before holding firm in the second for a 97-minute triumph.

“I don’t know [how I won the first set],” said Rublev. “I was super lucky, it was my mistake. I was 4-2 up, I had an easy ball and I played it where he was and he passed me. From that moment the match started to change and he was 5-4 up with a break. Somehow I was able to stay there and I was able to turn it around."

Rublev finished the match having converted four of seven break points he earned. The 26-year-old is a five-time ATP 500 titlist, a tally which includes a title run in Vienna in 2020.

Rublev up and running ?

2020 champion @AndreyRublev97 gets the better of Popyrin 7-6(5), 6-4@ErsteBankOpen | #erstebankopen pic.twitter.com/O3va2KuTNM

The final ATP Masters 1000 event takes place at the Rolex Paris Masters, where six-time record champion Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz compete. 

Here's what you need to know ahead of the indoor hard-court event in France: 

When is the Rolex Paris Masters?

The 2023 Rolex Paris Masters will be held from 30 October-5 November. The indoor-hard ATP Masters 1000 tournament, established in 1986, will take place at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France. The tournament director is Guy Forget.

Who is playing at the Rolex Paris Masters?

The Rolex Paris Masters will feature record champion Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and defending champion Holger Rune.

When is the draw for the Rolex Paris Masters?

The Rolex Paris Masters draw will be made on Saturday, 30 October at 12:00 p.m.

What is the schedule for the Rolex Paris Masters?

* Qualifying: Saturday, 28 October - Sunday, 29 October at 10:00 a.m Saturday and 11:00 a.m. Sunday
* Main Draw: Monday, 30 October - Sunday, 5 November. Monday – Thursday at 11:00 and 7:30 p.m. Friday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
* Doubles Final: Sunday, 5 November at 12:30 p.m.
* Singles Final: Sunday, 5 November at 3:00 p.m.
*View On Official Website

What is the prize money for the Rolex Paris Masters?

The prize money for the Rolex Paris Masters is €5,779,335 and the Total Financial Commitment is €6,748,815.

SINGLES
Winner: €836,355/ 1000 points
Finalist: €456,720/ 600 points
Semi-finalist: €249,740/ 360 points
Quarter-finalist: €136,255/ 180 points
Round of 16: €72,865/ 90 points
Round of 32: €39,070/ 45 points
Round of 64: €21,650/ 10 points

DOUBLES ($ per team)
Winner: €282,960/ 1000 points
Finalist: €147,840/ 600 points
Semi-finalist: €78,140/ 360 points
Quarter-finalist: €43,300/ 180 points
Round of 16: €23,760/ 90 points
Round of 32: €13,200/ 0 points

How can I watch the Rolex Paris Masters?

Watch Live On Tennis TV
TV Schedule

How can I follow the Rolex Paris Masters?

Hashtag: #RolexParisMasters
Facebook: @rolexparismasters
Twitter: @RolexPMasters
Instagram: @rolexparismasters

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

Who won the last edition of the Rolex Paris Masters in 2022?

Holger Rune triumphed in the Rolex Paris Masters singles final with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win against Novak Djokovic in the championship match. Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski lifted the doubles trophy in Paris with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the final.

Who holds the Paris record for most titles, oldest champion, youngest champion and more?

Most Titles, Singles: Novak Djokovic (6)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (4)
Oldest Champion: Novak Djokovic, 34, in 2021
Youngest Champion: Boris Becker, 18, in 1986
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Stefan Edberg in 1990, Pete Sampras in 1997, Andre Agassi in 1999, Novak Djokovic in 2014-15, 2019, 2021.
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 50 Tomas Berdych in 2005
Last Home Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008
Most Match Wins: Novak Djokovic (45)

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown