Hope Schwärzler

Melzer: “I would love to share this with Joel”

All the Austrians have already had to pull out of the adults' event at the French Open, but Red-White-Red even has a co-favorite at the start of the juniors' tournament, which began on Sunday. The 18-year-old Joel Schwärzler, who had already won a Challenger in the adults' event a week ago, returned to the juniors just to win a Grand Slam there.

A left-hander with a varied game, almost always wearing a cap backwards on his head. Joel Schwärzler bears a strong resemblance to Austria's former top 10 player Jürgen Melzer. No wonder, as the latter is also the coach of the next red-white-red tennis hopeful.

"I would say that we play very similarly," confirms Schwärzler. "But I'm taller than Jürgen, so I should be able to serve better, and his backhand was much better." Of course, that can still change. "And I don't really like playing stops yet either," admits the junior.

The 1.89 meter tall Vorarlberg native and his coach would like to have something else in common. To date, Melzer is the only Austrian Grand Slam winner at junior level, having triumphed at Wimbledon in 1999. "That's something I would love to share with him, that we are the only ones," Melzer wishes.

Joel Schwärzler(Bild: Sportmediapics.com/ Manfred Binder)

Austria's current greatest young talent is characterized above all by an extremely fast game. "He has a very high base power in his normal strokes," says Melzer. "He doesn't play a one-size-fits-all game either, he has a natural move around the net, and we've worked on that too." What is still lacking is consistency. Of course, this is the decisive factor in tournaments, which is why the Challenger title in Skopje was somewhat surprising and all the more pleasing. 

Opening match against 15-year-old
Schwärzler goes into the junior tournament as the top favorite. He is the only one in the field with an ATP ranking, and his opening match on Monday will be against the 15-year-old super talent Jack Kennedy (US), who plays extremely well for his age but is three years younger.

"I really want this title," Schwärzler makes no secret of his desire, which is why he is only returning to the juniors for the French Open. Melzer says: "He's rising to the challenge of being the favorite here, so if he doesn't win, it won't be the end of the world."