Erste Bank Open ATP 500
St. Petersburg Open ATP 250
Transylvania Open WTA 250
Courmayeur Ladies Open WTA 250
We're winding down the 2021 Tennis Season for the last four tournaments in
October in Europe - two ATP and two WTA events.
In November the men vie for the last Masters 1000 - the Rolex Paris Masters
1000, a 250 in Stockholm and the Women will be in Linz, Austria for the last
WTA 250 of the season (the women do have five WTA 125s this week through
December 19, 2021).
And then, November 7th through the 24th, we're into the Finals: the
NextGen Finals Milan, WTA Finals Guadalajara and the
Nitto ATP Finals Turin. And that's a wrap for the 2021
Season!
One thing most will agree upon is that Year 2021 was much better than the
Year 2020. So let's get to it!👇
OCTOBER 25-31, 2021
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| New Guns + 1 Used Shotgun (l-r Murray, Hurkacz, Ruud, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Berrettini, Auger-Aliassime, Sinner) |
Erste Bank Open, ATP 500
Wiener Stadthalle
Vienna, Austria
Surface: Hard indoorDraw: Singles 32, doubles 16
2020 champ: Andrey Rublev
This is an established tournament, founded in 1974 and featuring younger players this year - seven of the eight seeds are between the ages of 20 - 25.
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| Erste Bank Open Venue - Wiener Stadthalle |
Seeds (in order of seeding):
Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Casper Ruud,
Hubert Hurkacz, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Jannik Sinner, Diego
Schwartzman.
Other notables include: Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov, Lloyd Harris, Cameron Norrie.
Wildcards: Andy Murray (won titles in 2014 and 2016), Lorenzo Musetti, and Austrian Dennis Novak.
The tournament has an interesting initiative called Tennis 2 Go, establishing courts in a large tent in the centre of the city where fans can watch practices for free and some matches for a modest price.
Other notables include: Carlos Alcaraz, Grigor Dimitrov, Lloyd Harris, Cameron Norrie.
Wildcards: Andy Murray (won titles in 2014 and 2016), Lorenzo Musetti, and Austrian Dennis Novak.
The tournament has an interesting initiative called Tennis 2 Go, establishing courts in a large tent in the centre of the city where fans can watch practices for free and some matches for a modest price.
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| The Albertina Museum Vienna |
The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. Apart from the graphics collection the museum has recently acquired on permanent loan two significant collections of Impressionist and early 20th-century art.
St. Petersburg Open, ATP 250
Sibur Arena
St. Petersburg, Russia
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|
Sibur Arena overlooking the Gulf of Finland |
Surface: hard indoor
Draw: Singles 28, doubles 16
Defending champ: Andrey Rublev (Rublev is defending Champ in both Vienna and St. Petersburg and chose to stay in Russia - may his temper be temperate👼)
This is the 26th edition of the tournament.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Andrey Rublev, Denis Shapovalov, Roberto Bautista Agut, Aslan Karatsev, Taylor Fritz, Karen Khachanov, Alexander Bublik, Sebastian Korda.
Other notables include: Marin Cilic, Ilya Ivashka, Adrian Mannarino, John Millman, Jan-Lennard Struff.
Wildcards: Yshai Oliel, Nino Serdarusic, and Russian Evgenii Tiurnev.
Draw: Singles 28, doubles 16
Defending champ: Andrey Rublev (Rublev is defending Champ in both Vienna and St. Petersburg and chose to stay in Russia - may his temper be temperate👼)
This is the 26th edition of the tournament.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Andrey Rublev, Denis Shapovalov, Roberto Bautista Agut, Aslan Karatsev, Taylor Fritz, Karen Khachanov, Alexander Bublik, Sebastian Korda.
Other notables include: Marin Cilic, Ilya Ivashka, Adrian Mannarino, John Millman, Jan-Lennard Struff.
Wildcards: Yshai Oliel, Nino Serdarusic, and Russian Evgenii Tiurnev.
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|
St. Petersburg Bank Bridge - 25 meters long crossing
the Griboedov Canal. One of the world's most
beautiful bridges - with 2 griffon winged statues on
each side. |
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| Cluj-Napoca Cityscape |
Transylvania Open, WTA 250
BT Arena
Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Surface: Hard indoor
Draw: Singles 32, doubles 16
This is the first edition of the tournament, made possible by the fact that Cluj-Napoca is the only European city with two WTA licenses. "Located in the heart of Transylvania in a legendary realm, Cluj-Napoca is a cosmo city where important events happen ...[t]he entire land is full of wonderful sights, fascinating history and ready to be discovered .... And the stories about Transylvania and Count Dracula fuel the mysticism surrounding the area" ~ WTA website 2021 Transylvania Open
Transylvania - Myth v. Reality
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| MYTH: 'Dracula's Castle' Bram Stoker's imagination. |
"Dracula's Castle" -draws tourists from around the world to Transylvania. Dracula was loosely drawn from an idea of Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes) - whom medieval Romanian's considered a warrior protecting the realm from the Ottoman invaders trying to reach Western Europe - and a Hungarian woman who allegedly bathed in blood to retain her youth. Bram Stoker is not believed to have set foot in Transylvania and there's no evidence where Vlad Tepes was born, and this was not his castle. However, Dracula Lore is a million dollar+ tourist industry for Romania.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Simona Halep, Anett Kontaveit, Emma Raducanu, Jil Teichmann, Ajla Tomljanovic, Marta Kostyuk, Irina-Camelia Begu, Anhelina Kalinina.
Other notables include: Andrea Petkovic, Anastasia Potapova, Alison Van Uytvanck.
Wildcards: all are Romanian players – Irina Bara, Jaqueline Cristian, Andreea Prisacariu.
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|
REALITY: Bran Castle in Transylvania's sylvan
countryside. |
Transylvania - "Land Among the Forests" - is a beautiful, green
and lively place. The 14th century Bran Castle was a military
location becoming one of Queen Marie's favorite castles and
houses some of her most cherished furniture. In May this year,
local Romanian medics set up a campaign - "Vlad the Vaccinator"
- wearing scrubs and fangs, they offered tourists free Covid
jabs instead of drawing blood from necks👇
DRAW (right click on these links and save the files on your computer, they
don't open in browsers directly anymore)
Courmayeur Ladies Open 2021, WTA 250
Courmayeur Sport Centre
Courmayeur, Italy 
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| Courmayeur Alpine Botanical Gardens - the highest botanical garden in Europe |
Surface: Hard indoor
Draw: singles 32, doubles
Inaugural event. Courmayeur is in the Italian Alps and known for one of the world's best ski resorts. Located high in the very northwest tip of Italy, the Sports Centre lays at the foot of Mont Blanc in the Aosta Valley. The ladies here may beat the snow, but nonetheless they are indoor on hardcourts.
Seeds (in order of seeding): Ons Jabeur, Camila Giorgi, Liudmila Samsonova, Petra Martic, Clara Tauson, Alison Riske, Jasmine Paolini, Zhang Shuai, Ann Li (Tenerife 🏆Champion today), Dayana Yastremska. Jabeur and Giorgi withdrew today, and Yastremska, Li fill in the top and bottom of the draw.
Another notable is Hsieh Su-Wei.
Wildcards: All went to Italian players – Martina Caregaro, Jessica Pieri, Lucrezia Stefanini.
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| Courmayeur Mountain Sports Centre at the base of Mont Blanc |
DRAW (right click on these links and save the files on your computer, they
don't open in browsers directly anymore)
BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN🎃
Shirley Hartt 🏆🍹
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