Europe Top-16 Cup | 8 Sep 2021

Austrian champion, Robert GARDOS on duty in Thessaloniki

Last year in Switzerland, Robert GARDOS of Austria finished third at the 2021 POMEGRANATE Europe Top 16 Cup in Montreux. At this year's edition in Thessaloniki, he will be the No. seven seed and enters the tournament having just won his fourth national champion of Austria title.

In Thessaloniki on 18 and 19 September, he will be on duty alongside European stars: Dimitrij OVTCHAROV (Germany), Mattias FALCK (Sweden), Liam PITCHFORD (England), Patrick FRANZISKA (Germany), Simon GAUZY (France), Marcos FREITAS (Portugal), Kristian KARLSSON (Sweden), Darko JORGIC (Slovenia), Jonathan GROTH (Denmark), Tomislav PUCAR (Croatia), Yang WANG (Slovakia), Emmanuel LEBESSON (France), Daniel HABESOHN (Austria), Andrej GACINA (Croatia) and Panagiotis GIONIS (Greece).

Having competed at the event eight times before, Robert has been at the top of Europe for a long time.

"If we are talking about best memories, that is most certainly the 2020 edition when I won bronze. The worst was 2015 in Baku. I lost the quarterfinal against Simon GAUZY after I was 3:0 up. He recovered to win it in seven games," said GARDOS.

For this year's edition, GARDOS has high hopes.

"The top players from Europe will be there, so let's just start with a win in the opening round. There are no easy matches there, but my goal is to defend the bronze I won last year. I hope for that," said GARDOS.

Speaking about the favourites, GARDOS pointed at the usual "suspect".

"Dima is the best player for sure, but we have to see who will be in the best shape in Thessaloniki. We did not have any tournaments after the Olympic Games so no one knows how everyone will play."

GARDOS was also at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

"It was very well organised; the only thing was that we did not have a chance to play at the central court tables at training as we all prefer. Everything else was perfect. Japan did a great job.

"On the other hand, I was not very happy with my performance. I had never lost to Paul DRINKHALL before and I failed to close the last game after I had a 10:6 lead. It was very difficult after I lost in the first round, so I do not have best of memories from Tokyo this year. It was a long journey, with a very long and far from perfect qualifying system. Now I am glad it is over," explained Robert.

After a one-week break, which Robert spent with his family, he was back in action again.

"We had some preparations with the team, then I won another title in singles in Austria which makes me very happy. I returned to Granada, and I am now preparing for the Top 16 and I hope I will be fully ready."