Will South Tyrol get the next Andreas Seppi?

The path to becoming a tennis professional

The Kalterer professional Andreas Seppi, figurehead of South Tyrolean tennis, has been in the highest men's professional league (ATP World Tour) for several years now. For the young South Tyrolean talents, their entry into the professional world begins with the ITF (International Tennis Federation) tournaments, also known as futures tournaments for men. This tournament series, which is endowed with 15.000 or 25.000 dollars (the sum of the prize money is always divided among all players), represents the lowest professional class in tennis. This is intended to make it easier for young athletes in particular to get into the ATP world rankings, which is the world's top ranking for men. 2.000 best players recorded. This is also intended to make it possible to jump into the higher tournament series of the ATP - which is why points for the ATP world rankings are awarded if you win in the main draw of an ITF tournament.

Anyone who manages to work their way up the rankings can take part in the next highest tournament series, the ATP Challenger Tour. As the prize money increases, the athletes' playing strength and the awarding of world ranking points increase.

It's a tough road to get to the top of the ATP World Tour, where the elite of world tennis compete - a number of young South Tyrolean players are currently competing on the ITF Tour, and some have already been able to collect world ranking points in their young careers.

These South Tyroleans are currently in action on the men's ITF tour: Joy Vigani (ATP world ranking position 944) : The 20-year-old from Brixen, South Tyrol's highest ranked tennis player in the world rankings after Andreas Seppi, has been on the ITF tour since 2012. So far he has won eleven games in the main draw of a professional tournament in singles and six in doubles. The best result of his career was advancing to the final of a $10.000 tournament.

Alexander Weis (ATP 1413, doubles: ATP 1592) : The 19-year-old from Bolzano has been on the ITF tour for three years. He has won a total of five singles games in the main draw so far, of which he made it to the round of XNUMX in two tournaments. In doubles he has so far won four games in the main draw of a tournament.

Manfred Fellin (ATP 1600) : The man from Brixen (20 years old) has so far won three first-round singles matches in the main draw of an ITF tournament and thus made it to the round of XNUMX.

Horst Rieder (ATP 1851) : The Völser, 19 years old, has won one singles game in the main draw so far and thus scored his first world ranking point.

George Winkler : The 20-year-old from Völs, so far without a world ranking point, was able to qualify for the main draw on the ITF tour twice in singles, but then lost the matches in the first round.

Moritz Trocker : The 16-year-old, also from Völs, has been on the tour for a year and a half. He has never made it into the main draw in singles. So far he has won five matches in qualifying for various ITF tournaments.

Erwin Tröbinger : The 20-year-old from Val Gardena has so far qualified for the main draw once in the singles, then finished the tournament in the first round. In qualifying he has won four games at various ITF tournaments so far.

Patric Prinoth : The 20-year-old, also from Val Gardena, has never been able to qualify for the main draw in singles. However, he won 17 games in different qualifying rounds.

Also the 22-year-old from Val Gardena David Kostner , the 19-year-old from Brixen Michael Kerschbaumer and the 15-year-old Pusterer Jannik Sinner played a few tournaments on the ITF tour last year. However, they have not yet taken part in any professional tournaments this year.

Read everything about South Tyrol's women on the professional tour on SportNews on Wednesday!

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Will South Tyrol get the next Andreas Seppi?

How do you actually become a tennis professional? And which young South Tyrolean players are currently working on making this dream come true? SportNews delves into the world of the yellow felt ball for once and provides information on these questions in a two-part series.

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