Tsonga, Paire Make Sweet Treats In Vienna & Basel

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Swiss Indoors Basel – Basel, Switzerland

Benoit Paire took some time off ahead of his second-round clash against Roger Federer at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Frenchman visited the “Läckerli House” in Basel’s old town and prepared the famous cookie specialty. The Basler Läckerli is a traditional hard, spice biscuit made of honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel and Kirsch. After a nice walk through the old town, Paire arrived at the shop and helped bake some Läckerli.

“This is a very nice experience. The biscuits are very tasty and it was fun to prepare them. It’s not easy, almost more difficult than playing Roger Federer. I will offer some of my biscuits to him on court tomorrow,” Paire said with a big smile.

“I know a lot of Swiss specialities, but this is the first time I tasted the Basler Läckerli,” the Geneva resident added. “Last night I had some Raclette, a dish I like a lot.”

Marin Cilic and Marco Chiudinelli participated in the Champions of Tomorrow clinic with junior players from all over Switzerland Sunday morning. The 20 junior players enjoyed the clinic with the two stars. Defending champion Cilic even gave them some advice in German.

Erste Bank Open 500 – Vienna, Austria

Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev took to the streets of Vienna on Saturday for some improvised street tennis in front of the famous landmark St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Zverev and Thiem also assisted with the draw ceremony.

“This city is amazing. I think it is an old fashioned, European city like we have in my home country, in Germany,” Zverev said. “It is such a beautiful place… I think we all enjoyed it.”

Vienna ?? @ErsteBankOpen pic.twitter.com/ORDNmzu0DX

— Karen Khachanov (@karenkhachanov) October 21, 2017

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Kevin Anderson, Sam Querrey, David Ferrer, Pablo Cuevas, Jamie Murray, Bruno Soares, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan took a cooking class in Vienna on Monday evening at “Plachuttas Gasthaus zur Oper”. After learning how to prepare Wiener Schnitzel last year, it was all about the Kaiserschmarrn (shredded pancake), a traditional Austrian dessert, this time around. After completing their own desserts the players were treated to a three course meal, which of course included the traditional Wiener Schnitzel.

“I usually don’t make a lot of food, but it was a blast. Last year, we made a Schnitzel, and this year we learned to make another dish, so I can make two dishes now,” Mike Bryan said. “I would say Jo was the strongest. He says he cooks a lot at home for his wife and baby. I was lagging behind. I was probably the worst…Bruno got the certificate for best forehand. He was the best whipper, but there was a lot of talent.”

Andrey Rublev celebrated his 20th birthday on Friday in Vienna, and was presented with a Next Gen cake and cake pops by Erste Bank Open 500 Tournament Director, Herwig Straka.