From cattle market to ATP Tour tennis: Inside Vienna's historic new venue
When it came to the next big move in the future of the Erste Bank Open, the team behind the ATP 500 dug deep into Vienna’s past.
An indoor hard-court event uniquely held across two venues, the Erste Bank Open this year featured a new tournament site: the historic Marx-Halle, a structure which served as the main cattle market of the Austrian capital for 120 years before being repurposed as an events venue.
This past 10 days, the Marx-Halle has hosted qualifying and main-draw matches for both singles and doubles at the Erste Bank Open. For tournament director Herwig Straka, the new venue has been a high-quality addition that perfectly complements the event’s longtime Centre Court venue, the Wiener Stadthalle, where Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev will clash on Sunday in a blockbuster championship match.
“We found Marx-Halle and we knew it was a brilliant location because it has enough space,” Straka told ATPTour.com when asked about his tournament’s motivations for a new second site. “It’s the same conditions as the Stadthalle and we can do what we always try to do: To expand, run activities for kids and families. Then we translated it to the idea of fans [being able to purchase] a ground ticket.”
For the previous four editions of the Erste Bank Open, the tournament’s second site was a temporary structure on the Heumarkt, a square in Vienna’s city centre. Straka says the move to the Marx-Halle was motivated by a clear set of goals, and the feedback he has received across the tournament suggests he and his team have achieved them.
“[The clearest improvement] is the number of courts,” said Straka of the Marx-Halle, which features two match courts and one practice court and can host up to 25,000 fans. “The option to run a wheelchair event now at a professional level. Maybe additional events in the future we could add. It is space, and real indoor playing conditions. That is the main difference and improvement [from the Heumarkt].”
<img alt=”Jannik Sinner” style=”width: 100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/10/26/13/50/sinner-vienna-2025-practice.jpg” />
Top seed Jannik Sinner during practice at the Marx-Halle during the 2025 Erste Bank Open. Photo Credit: e-motion/Stefan Strasser
The No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings Alexander Bublik, as well as other Top 40 stars Francisco Cerundolo, Flavio Cobolli, Tomas Machac, Alex Michelsen and Corentin Moutet are among those to have contested singles matches at the Marx-Halle this past week. It has also functioned as the main practice facility for all the players competing at the stacked ATP 500.
“We wanted to improve the quality for the players [with our new venue],” said Straka. “It feels one to one exactly like it does in the Stadthalle. We’ve had brilliant feedback. All the players, Jannik, Sascha, have practised there. It’s that kind of feeling we wanted to create, and we were successful.”
As well as ensuring players are catered for, Straka’s other primary concern when planning the Marx-Halle venue was for visiting fans. He cites the more ‘personal’, up-close experience available to tennis lovers as an obvious plus point.
“The fans can get very close to top players and inhale and feel much more than you could do at a main centre court,” said Straka. “The energy of the players and their game, even in practice. There are a lot of tennis fans there who play themselves actively, so for them watching Jannik practise, for example, is a big experience.
“I was very proud of the tennis in the city concept [from previous years], but at some stage you need to be ready for the next step and to improve. This is the next step.”
Fans enjoy a close-up view of the practice courts at the Marx-Halle. Photo Credit: e-motion/Stefan Strasser