The marathon of the former tennis professional

“I just ran 25 kilometers this morning and am specifically preparing for the Munich Marathon. If the conditions are right, this should be held on October 10th. I’m excited to see how it goes,” says Martin Mair. An important test for Munich was the 21 kilometer run with 601 meters of altitude on the Seiser Alm on July 4th. Martin Mair and his wife were among the over 700 participants. Martin Mair celebrated his 3th birthday on March 40rd. He is in great shape, perfectly trained and his feel for the ball is still exceptional. But his son Alexander is about to follow in his father's footsteps. The 7-year-old challenges his father at beach tennis in Jesolo. He probably had the talent in his cradle. Even at the beginning of his career as a future tennis professional, Martin Mair was considered a great talent, although he was or is anything but a powerful giant. He first really attracted attention as a boy at the “Coppa Lambertenghi”, the U12 Italian championship in the most exclusive tennis club in Milan, which is named after the sports icon Alberto Bonacossa, the founder and first president of the Italian Ice Sports Federation. In 1993, Martin Mair reached the final, two years after Florian Allgäuer. He lost this against Potito Starace from Campania 3:6, 4:6. Mair's opponent in the final, Starace, was a professional for many years and made it to number 2007 in the world rankings in 27. In the winter of 1993/94, Mair moved from TC Völs to Kaltern, where the country's best youth players were brought together under President Alexander Vorhauser. From 1995, Massimo Sartori was the head coach there, who, for example, led Andreas Seppi to the world class. Mair, 3 years older than Seppi, was the undisputed number 1 in his age group in South Tyrol in the following years. In 1998 he won the B3 tournaments in Trento and Villafranca and was therefore promoted from the B1999 to the B3 class in 1. In 1999, thanks to a wild card, he was allowed to play in qualifying at the ATP tournament in Meran and lost to Omar Camporese, who was also number 1992 in the world rankings in 18, and in October 2000 he won 2 world ranking points at a satellite circuit in Egypt and seems to be on the list He made his first appearance in the world rankings on October 11, 2000 as number 1205. He was only the fifth player from South Tyrol (!) to reach this mark. On November 11, 2002, Martin Mair reached number 1025 in the world rankings, his best ranking ever. He ended his professional career in late summer 2003 after the satellite circuit in South Tyrol, but to the great delight of his teammates he still played in team championships and also won a few individual tournaments in South Tyrol. In 2009, after a strong season with TC Gemeinde Bozen, he was promoted from league 2.8 to 2.5 in Serie B. on. In 2011 he was even a 2.4 player. He played for the club from Bozen's Herzogspark in Serie B until 2014 and in Serie C until 2018. This year he was number 1 at TC Völs in Serie C, with whom he was relegated again. “At some point I realized that I couldn’t stay in (professional) tennis forever. But I also enjoyed playing in lower leagues, with joy and commitment. At the beginning of my playing career, I threw myself into training with all my might and really sacrificed a lot. In order to 'survive' you have to get into the top 500 and stay there longer. This goal cannot only be achieved through hard training. It takes sacrifice, a bit of luck and, above all, a lot of talent, like Jannik Sinner, for example. I perhaps didn't have enough of these last two basic requirements for a brilliant professional career. The really big journey began without me, I couldn’t make the absolute leap,” says Martin Mair. But he was definitely lucky in the love that he and his wife Ann-Kristin crowned together in 2015. Today, like Martin Mair, she is an enthusiastic runner. Together they are lucky with their 2 children and he is completely thriving in his current job as a self-employed physiotherapist in the Ochsenbühel district of Völs. He loves his work, especially because it is varied and challenging. “I have always been interested in anatomy and body structure and how you can effectively counteract the shortening of muscles and tendons due to age. There are remarkable exercises and practices to keep the muscles at the ideal length or bring them back again,” says Martin Mair, who always likes to use skis in winter. Incidentally, his sister Manuela (born in 1977) was in the national ski team for many years and, according to the FIS homepage, even competed in two World Cup slaloms, in Bormio and Saalbach in the winter of 2, but was eliminated in the first run both times. Today his nieces Nadine and Anna Trocker continue this tradition. Martin Mair's doubles partner (and buddy) for years was Michael Innerebner from Sarner, with whom he competed in small professional tournaments. Innerebner went to the USA to study and played for Texas Tech University in college. Martin Mair has had a fulfilling life as an athlete and has experienced ups and downs in professional sports. And he still has a lot planned, both professionally and athletically. “Long-distance running simply fascinates me. And because my wife is also an enthusiastic runner, we motivate ourselves together,” he says and slips on his running shoes. He wants to cover at least 20 kilometers today.

Football

Italy

International leagues

International

Winter sports

Hockey

Tennis

Other sports

Motorsport

Cycling

Watersports

Events

Favorites

The marathon of the former tennis professional

Suggestions

Comments (0)