The young Pressbaum residents Carolina Palazzo, Julia Witzelsberger, Matthias Trimmel, Luca Bucek, Simon Stricker and Wenzel Tiapal arrived by bus on Thursday. The children were accompanied and looked after by Carina Meinke and Andraz Krapez.
The tournament started on Friday with the first mixed doubles games, which were only played for the U15 age group. Trimmel/Palazzo met a Turkish pairing and were able to hold their own, despite being very nervous in the first game. But unfortunately they had to admit defeat 18:21, 8:21. Bucek played with Witzelsberger (U13), but the two clearly lost out against a Hungarian pairing. From Pressbaumer’s point of view, the mixed competition was already over close to the opening round.
Then the singles began. But here too, no one made it to the quarter-finals in their first international appearance. Tiapal faced local hero Luka Hrizica in his only U-13 group game, but he was defeated (8:21, 13:21). Stricker also played in the U13, but in a group of three. While he was able to keep up to some extent against the Hungarian, he had no chance against the Turk Özden. Witzelsberger also started in the U13. She also met a Hungarian and a Turkish woman in her group of three. Although Witzelsberger managed to play some nice rallies and score points, her opponents still left the court as clear winners in two sets. In the U15, Trimmel faced the strong Belgian Maxim Jacob and a Ukrainian in his group of three. Against the latter, Trimmel started a little uncertainly, but then improved. He lost 7:21, 16:21, but you could clearly see that more would have been possible with more routine. In the second game against the much stronger Belgian, Trimmel suffered a clear 2-set defeat. Bucek was drawn into a group of three in the U15 with a Romanian and the seeded Maltese Jeremy Mark Gatt. He felt the same way as Trimmel. He was able to play well in two sets against the Romanian, but he was powerless against Gatt. And at Palazzo in the U15, nervousness prevailed in the first game against a Turkish player. “There would certainly have been more,” supervisor Meinke is convinced. But there was no match for the Hungarian’s powerful game.
To the delight of coaches Meinke and Krapez, there was still a sense of success in the doubles. Tiapal/Stricker in their first U-13 doubles match against the Slovenian Karlovsek/Pusnik with more energy and commitment than ever before. And that paid off. With 21:15, 22:20 they celebrated their first victory and a place in the quarter-finals. The Croatians Hrzica/Knezovic were waiting there. “Since Tiapal was already inferior to Hrizica in the singles, the two started with a lot of respect and couldn’t quite repeat their performance from the first doubles,” analyzes Meinke. But despite the 2-set defeat, in the end the joy of the first international tournament start far outweighed the disappointment. In the U15, Trimmel/Bucek lost in the first round for the boys, as did Palazzo/Witzelsberger for the girls.
At the very end there was still a sense of achievement: Wenzel Tiapal and Simon Stricker won their first doubles.
Photo: ASV Pressbaum
Carina Meinke: “All Pressbaum children were able to gain valuable tournament experience and learn a lot from playing against players from different nations, but also from watching the international games. The children can now start the new season with new self-confidence.”