Alcaraz plays the Vienna 500: wild card after Riyadh postponement

Carlos Alcaraz will play the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, the ATP 500 running from October 26 to November 1. The Spaniard, world No. 3, accepted a wild card after the postponement of the Six Kings Slam and is expected to be the second seed behind Alexander Zverev. His first match at the Wiener Stadthalle is scheduled for Tuesday, October 27.

The Riyadh exhibition was scheduled for October 21-24 and will now be played from December 27 to 30, following the Houthi attacks on the Saudi capital's airport. The Vienna tournament director, Herwig Straka, contacted Alcaraz's management on Wednesday, as soon as news of the postponement broke: "Everything happened very quickly, and Carlos agreed to come to Vienna without much hesitation."

Alcaraz returns to Vienna for the first time since 2021, when, aged 18, he lost in the semifinals to Zverev, who went on to win the title. In 2023 Straka passed on him: he told Austrian newspaper Der Standard that the fee requested started at 750,000 euros, and the tournament preferred to invest in a deeper draw.

This year, besides Alcaraz and Zverev, the Vienna field includes, among others, Daniil Medvedev, Flavio Cobolli, Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe. As we know, defending champion Jannik Sinner will be missing.