From the French Open

Fixed! Rodionov comes to Strasbourg for the Bundesliga

Jurij Rodionov plays for Strasbourg in the Bundesliga at position 1.(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Francois Asal)

The UTC Strasbourg men's national league team will host Hartberg on Saturday in a clash of stragglers. Manager Georg Pirkebner can also call on an absolute firecracker. Yuriy Rodionov, currently number 138 in the world, will support the Gurktalers in their fight to stay in the league.

Tuesday is the French Open in Paris - and on Saturday Austria's number 2 Yuriy Rodionov will be playing in Strasbourg. The small community of 2000 inhabitants in the Gurktal will therefore be served a tennis thriller free of charge.

Sebastian Ofner in Paris on Sunday 
"Things didn't go well for him in the Paris qualifiers and before that in Rome - maybe he can clear his head a bit here in the middle of nowhere," says Georg Pirkebner, the manager of the Strasbourg Bundesliga men's team. At the start of the season, he presented two absolute firecrackers in the squad with Rodionov and Austria's number 1 Sebastian Ofner (he starts in the main draw in Paris tomorrow, is not playing today).

Relegation duel from 11 a.m.
The three doubles matches against Hartberg start at 11 a.m., and the world number 138 will then start the singles at around 1 p.m.. And Strasbourg needs every point! Because the match against Hartberg is already decisive in the relegation battle in the 1st Bundesliga - both teams have never won and have already been relegated to the lower play-off. The bottom three teams in both groups will then play off for two relegation places. 

Two Slovenians and three Carinthians
Behind Rodionov, Strasbourg's Slovenian duo Denis Zmak and Janez Semrajc are seeded, as is Klagenfurt's Patrick Ofner. Whether Niklas Grünefeldt or Paul Schmölzer will play will only be decided at short notice.