The Erste Bank Vienna Open is Austria’s largest tennis event, an indoor hard court ATP 500 tournament that takes place every year in late October and draws some of the ATP’s top players. Since its founding in 1974, it’s been held in Wiener Stadhalle in the 15th district of Vienna, just west of the Innere Stadt.
Being a big fan of Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem and always watching this tournament on TV, it had been pretty high on my bucket list, and I got to attend a day of the tournament during my 13-day trip to Central Europe in 2023.
Getting There
There are a few parking garages in the vicinity of Wiener Stadhalle, but it’s recommended and extremely easy to take public transportation to get there. I was staying in the heart of the Innere Stadt, and took the U3 metro line from Herrengasse right near my hotel to Schweglerstraße, which was a less than 10 minute walk from the stadium. The stadium is also close to connections to the U6 line at the Wien Westbahnhof station.
The Venue
Wiener Stadhalle is a multi-purpose convention and event center comprised of six halls. Hall D is the arena that is used for Center Court of the Erste Bank Vienna Open and is Austria’s largest indoor arena. My seat was in one of the end sections, and if I had to decide over again I would have probably decided to sit on one of the sides. With the incline of the end section, it was sometimes hard to see above the heads of the row in front of me.
Entry to Hall D is from Roland Rainier Platz. I arrived right around doors open time, and there was a long line through Märzpark in front of the stadium, but it moved fast. It’s important to check the tournament website for prohibited items before you go – large bags and backpacks are not allowed and they are strict on the sizes of bags allowed. There is a storage depot onsite for larger items, and within the stadium there is a coat check.
A second court known as Erste Bank Open 2 Go hosts matches and practice sessions across Vienna’s Innere Stadt on the grounds of the Vienna Ice Skating Club, with entry being 10 Euro and the practice sessions free to attend. I didn’t get a chance to check this out during my time in Vienna, but it seems like an inexpensive and flexible way to see some tennis!
The Fan Experience
The foyer and concourse areas of Hall D host a fan zone with sponsor activations and a food court featuring local eats and of course some Austrian biers. During my time in the stadium I enjoyed a pulled chicken deli bowl from Fat Monk, a nourishing Austria-based restaurant chain.
There were a few locations around the concourse that had tennis gear stores set up. I was surprised that I didn’t find any official Vienna Open-branded merchandise, but I did get this pretty cool t-shirt on clearance!
The thrill of the tennis matches aside, it was also fun just to be a part of the crowd in Wiener Stadhalle. Where some tennis tournaments have a quieter, more traditional vibe, I found being in the Vienna crowd to be pretty fun, with vibrant music and interactive aspects built into the changeovers and time between matches.
The Tennis
Tickets for the Erste Bank Vienna Open are typically on sale as early as the end of the prior year, and it’s best to buy from one of the official ticketing partners. For an ATP 500 event, I found tickets to be pretty affordable – my ticket to the semifinals day was about 80 Euro.
Like all other ATP 500 events, the Vienna Open is a week-long tournament, with the finals typically held on Sunday. Since I was attending the tournament as part of a multi-city trip with limited time in Vienna, I only attended one day of the Vienna Open. I chose to do semifinals day (Saturday), knowing that with the amount of top 20 players who usually participate in this tournament I was likely to see some pretty good semifinal match-ups, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed! I got to see the top four seeds of the tournament: (1) Daniil Medvedev def. (4) Stefanos Tsitsipas, and (2) Jannik Sinner def. (3) Andrey Rublev. Both were exciting matches with the final sets ending in tiebreaks.
Following the singles semis, the stadium cleared out a lot, but I stayed to watch the featured doubles match, supporting American doubles specialist Rajeev Ram and his British partner Joe Salisbury to victory over Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, another thrilling match that ended in a match tiebreak.
I had an amazing time attending the Vienna Open and saw some great tennis!
C to Shining C 