Christoph Krenn and David Alten are part of the locomotives of the padel Austrian. Christoph Krenn tells us about his career and above all shows us to what extent the padel is expanding rapidly in Europe.

Jean-Marc Hérard (JMH) - How did you fall into the pot of padel ?

Christoph Krenn (CK) - We both (With David) started in 2014 when we opened a club in Vienna. Since I was in sports management, I was contacted to manage this club which has 3 outdoor courts and 3 modular beach tennis / beach volleyball courts.

But you touch all the rackets, that must help ...

Before I get down to padel, I was 3 years old world number 1 in Racketlon, a multi-disciplinary event that opposes the same opponents in 4 sports: table tennis, badminton, squash and tennis. in racketlon, I was also world champion in doubles, mixed and part of the national team. In 2014, I gave up Racketlon, after having been among the top 7 in the world for 3 years.

On the tennis side, David and I figured in the Austrian Top 100.

Suddenly, our evolution in the padel was pretty quick. David and I are winners of the 2015 Austrian championship padel, a good vintage for us since the same year, we won the FIP tournament (Tournament of the International Federation of Padel) in Vienna and reach the semi-finals of the FIP tournament in Koln!

In 2016, we played 2 WPT tournaments (Professional Tour: World Padel Tour): Valencia (defeat in the first round of the pre-previa), and the Challenger La finca Madrid where we spent 1 round.

Let's talk about Padel in Austria, there is a lot of infrastructure?

Since summer 2014, 3 outdoor courts and 2 indoor courts in Vienna have been installed. The last two at Christmas 2015.

From 2016 near Vienna: 1 runs in Stockerau, 1 in Biberbach, 1 in Podersdorf, 2 Short in Bisamberg from 2015, and 1 in Graz from 1995!

Plans for the 2017-2018 season?

Oh yes ! All of Austria is talking about padel for a while ! With us, the padel can count on great tennis players like Jürgen Melzer (ex 8 ATP), Dominik Thiem, Oliver Marach, and even the actor Viktor Gernot. Some thought it was a fad but the padel in Austria is actually only in its infancy.

For 2017 if all goes well, a club will be opened in Hard (West of the country), 3 new short should be mounted in Graz and 2 Courts in Enzesfeld near Vienna.

And other projects are in progress!

You have a large pool of players from padel ? What is your Federation doing?

For now, the Federation unfortunately offers very few competitions for amateur players. In 2016, Vienna, all levels combined, the Vienna Ranking (local ranking) counted 300 players.

In 2017, a circuit Padel & Tennis will offer competition padel and tennis in a larger number of clubs.

David and you try the adventure of World Padel Tour ? 

After the WPT Valencia and the Madrid Challenger where we trained with Juan Martin Diaz himself, the desire to do more on the circuit more became evident to us. We're crazy about this sport so don't try our luck in Spain. So we will try to be more present at the WPT 2017. As good competitors, our goal is clearly to play on the pro WPT circuit. In Austria, for the moment, it is very difficult to canvass and find sponsors because the discipline is still to be developed… Our project is therefore based on the crowdfounding platform “I believe in you”, available in Austria, Germany and in Switzerland.

The crowdfunding gives us financial support to our players, and the donor also receives something in return ...

Here is the link:

http://www.ibelieveinyou.at/ibiy/src/#!/projectdetail/3488/ab-auf-die-padel-profitour-2017

And it works?

We can talk about success… our initial goal was to raise 5000 Euros for our WPT season. 20 days from the end of the campaign, we have already collected 103% of the goal.

Can we have ambition when we arrive on the pro circuit?

We already have a win in pre previa, why not aim for the Top 100 WPT?

The level is so high in Spain ... the partners in Austria are so rare, and the conditions are so complicated in Austria that the project is all the more exciting.

We would like to thank all the donors, those who helped us in our approach and those who have helped, more than 30 people in all!

You do not live in Spain, what are your references to the country of padel ?

We live in Vienna, the player Fermin Ferreyra (150 WPT) is our main contact in Madrid. Fortunately our jobs are very flexible and we can move temporarily to Madrid. The budget to settle in the Spanish capital is too high.

Do you follow what is happening in France?

A little bit about Padel Magazine, even if we do not understand everything, but the main lines. In any case, the cohabitation Padel  & Tennis of the FFT seems to be working well for you, I hope it will be the same in Austria.

Interview by Jean-Marc Hérard - Padel Buzz

[box type = ”info”]more about Christoph and David on the web:

www.padel.wien (circuit padel/ tennis and activities padel in Vienna).

The platform I Believe in you:

http://www.ibelieveinyou.at/ibiy/src/#!/projectdetail/3488/ab-auf-die-padel-profitour-2017
https://www.facebook.com/Christoph-Krenn-214974508557403/ (Facebook page of Christoph Krenn [/ box]

 

Jean-Marc Herard

Jean-Marc Herard is the chronicler Padel Magazine internationally. Barcelona offers us a more international vision of padel including his chronicle Padel Buzz. JMH is the scanner of padel World.