Mood as the key to success

Preparations for the Davis Cup duel with Turkey are in full swing. The draw will take place today (1 p.m., ORF Sport+ live) in Bad Waltersdorf, and the showdown will begin on Friday (1 p.m., ORF Sport+ and oetv.tv live) in the Sportaktivpark. A play-off ticket for the 2025 final tournament is at stake. And although captain Alex Peya (the Viennese stepped in for the ill Jürgen Melzer) and Austria’s number one Sebastian Ofner are unavailable due to injury, the ÖTV team are the favorites in the international match.

Werner Farmer is also convinced of a win. Not only because the red-white-red team has the better cards on paper, but “because I’m basically a confident person,” says the ÖTV team’s masseur. “We have a young team this time, everyone is highly motivated. But the Davis Cup writes its own stories, so a good atmosphere is extremely important.”

Premiere in Bratislava

The Davis Cup and its stories – Farmer knows a lot about them. After all, the Styrian, who works as a sports therapist and massage therapist in Vienna, has been an essential part of the ÖTV team with his healing hands for ten years. “I was there for the first time in Bratsilava in 2014 and have not missed an international match since then. Except in 2018 when we won in Moscow, when I had to leave on Saturday because my daughter had her graduation ball,” laughs the Bad Gams native, who celebrated his 57th birthday on Monday.

Farmer made the jump into the team via former captain Clemens Trimmel. “I have been a masseur at the Erste Bank Open in the Vienna Stadthalle since 1999.” Trimmel brought me onto the team when Jan Velthuis was part of it.” Trimmel left at the end of 2014, and since then Farmer has seen captains and players come and go. His best memory? “The 2018 Davis Cup in Graz. For me as a Styrian, that was basically a double home event. “We defeated Australia back then and the atmosphere in the team and in the stands was brilliant,” enthuses the West Styrian, who was also taken on board as a masseur at the ATP tournaments in Stuttgart and Mallorca as well as for Austria’s Billie Jean King Cup team.

Lockdown as a killjoy

And his saddest experience? “When we were only allowed to play in front of 25 spectators at the final tournament in Innsbruck against Serbia and Germany due to the lockdown.” Farmer, who is the fifth Styrian in the Davis Cup team alongside player Filip Misolic, stringer Gerald Laposa, team doctor Uli Lanz and ÖTV Vice President Jürgen Roth, is all the more hoping for full spectators this weekend in Bad Waltersdorf. Farmer (“My main tasks are mobilization and taping”) will do his part to ensure that the fans see their team win.