At the beginning of February, our tennis-ski travel scouts Aline and Christoph guests at the Tennishotel Kreuzwirt in Naturns in South Tyrol for a weekend. Next to the hotel, the two had training at the European Tennis Academy . For Christoph, as a sports psychologist, the self-coaching concept of Mental Match Plays interesting. what the two of them experienced in the tennis hall, but of course also while skiing in Val Senales and in and around the Tennishotel Kreuzwirt , in the detailed travel report that Christoph sent us.
I became aware of TennisTraveller at the international DTB tennis congress in Berlin at the beginning of January via the TennisTraveller Instagram account and many visible online news. The competitions with partner hotels gave me the idea to surprise my wife with the tennis and ski scout trip for TennisTraveller , and we threw our hat into the raffle ring. When we got the news a few days after Berlin that we had been selected, we were of course very happy to finally be able to enjoy a free weekend for two in the Alps. After we were able to get Grandma and Grandpa to act as babysitters, the anticipation grew every day until the trip.
Coming from Germany, the journey continued over the Fern Pass on the German-Austrian border through Tyrol past Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis over the Reschen Pass, which forms the border region of Austria and South Tyrol. The journey was challenging in the snowstorm and darkness. Luckily for us, the trucks only turned sideways on the parallel Brenner, so that over 200 people were trapped in their cars and had to be looked after by the fire department. We, on the other hand, just lost time, but made it to the Kleinkunst-Hotel Kreuzwirt in Naturns in time for dinner at 8 p.m. After a nice welcome and briefing from the head of the house, Hannes himself, we were able to check in briefly. After a very tasty Hugo as a welcome drink, a delicious four-course menu with a fresh salad bar and selection options in the main courses refreshed us after the exciting journey, because the next morning the day of the tennis and ski scouts was to begin in the neighboring glacier ski area Schnalstal.
On the way to breakfast we kept an eye on the many playful details of the Kleinkunst Hotel Kreuzwirt. The lampshades in the hallways are made from cups, soup ladles and cake plates. There is a children's play area and a comfortably furnished fireplace anteroom for reading. Breakfast is taken in a bright, modern dining room with a view of the southern slopes of the Alps and the town center of Naturns. The offer corresponds to a three-star hotel; the highlight is cooking eggs, which every guest can do themselves using an egg timer.
The hotel has its own parking lot and has disabled-accessible entrances and elevators. It was extensively and modernly renovated in 2014. The rooms are equipped with balconies and walk-in showers as well as separate toilets. The mattresses are very comfortable and guarantee a restful sleep. For me, as a frequent traveler, this is always the most important point in hotels, so it's a plus.
The Hochjochferner rises at the head of the Schnals valley, on the border between Austria and Italy. The glacier extends over 185 hectares. From September to May, winter sports enthusiasts frolic here in the eternal ice. The ski area on the glacier is equally suitable for beginners, experts and families. The eight-kilometer-long smuggler's run into the valley particularly delights all types of skiers.
The Glacier Hotel Grawand, the highest mountain hotel in Europe, is located at the mountain station of the Gletscherbahn at 3,212 meters. From there, when the weather is nice, visitors can see the three-thousanders Weißkugel, Wildspitze and Similaun. The glacier mummy Ötzi rested between Similaun and Finailspitze for 5,300 years.
The 30-minute drive without snow chains from the valley to around 2,000 meters after a snowstorm was the first adrenaline rush of the morning, but manageable with front-wheel drive. Once at the top, our free ski pass was deposited by the Kleinkunst-Hotel Kreuzwirt as promised. Our first gondola ride led directly to the glacier, unfortunately the cloudy weather meant visibility was very limited and there was a lot of unprepared snow, so the valley run was closed and only two lifts were open. Since we were almost the only guests on the slopes, after two runs we went to the Ötzi bivouac to warm up.
The prices in Italy are very moderate and the facilities cannot be compared to the modern ski resorts in Austria. The service on site is very nice and courteous. And the panorama at 3013 meters from the window was not available at every window because of the two meters of fresh snow, but the snow mountains around the Ötzi bivouac had something very primal about them. At lunchtime we decided to leave the gondola and drive to the other side of the mountain. There was a lot more going on there and the visibility was also much better. We met nice Berliners on the gondola rides who told us how wonderful the ski area would be when the sun was shining and that we definitely had to come back to experience the après ski on the Teufelsegg. We then enjoyed the rest of the day's skiing on two open red slopes until we drove back down to the valley around 3 p.m., as our tennis training was scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. with Joe Hauser, the CEO of the European Tennis Academy, who had come especially from his home in Bregenz was.
After a short afternoon break at the Hotel Kreuzwirt from the ski tour, which was very strenuous for the thighs due to all the fresh snow, we drove two minutes to the tennis facility in Naturns. In addition to the snow-covered outdoor courts, there are four indoor courts on a green-blue carpet with little granulate. The only drawback of the tennis hall is the dim light and the run-out dimensions behind the baseline that are too short. The hall is generally well heated, the showers and changing rooms are clean and the restaurants were very well attended and Bundesliga football was on.
Joe Hauser greeted us in his charming Austrian way and we immediately felt welcome under his care. What was very good was that he immediately asked us about our different needs. So it quickly became clear that I wanted to test out Mental Match Play and that we wanted to focus on my wife's beginner tennis and that Joe could include me as a sparring partner in the two double lessons. Although Günter Bresnik, Dominik Thiem's coach, was not the topic of our conversation, it was immediately apparent that the Mental Match Play program and Joe Hauser's coaching had similar content to the training forms recently presented by Günter Bresnik at the DTB Tennis Congress to the backswing and the looseness of the club grip, namely taking the club into the other hand after the backswing and staying there briefly. The mental match play was then gradually incorporated into the warm-up. In summary, the Mental Match Play concept means that a lot of work is done with the feeling, the senses, the concentration and the focus on one thing, which allows the complex technical and ball distance challenges of tennis to fade into the background. It quickly became clear that the concept, developed over three years, worked directly for beginner tennis players when my wife's focus was turned to hearing the sound of the ball when it hit the carpet and left the racket. We were suddenly playing very long rallies and my wife was automatically better positioned to the ball and was also able to coordinate the speed better. We therefore immediately had our AHA experience in the first of four hours that this ETA training concept is something special and immediately effective. The focus here is on looseness and lightness; this avoids cramping due to too many error corrections.
Mental Match Play includes tasks or focus cards that are placed behind the player so that they can collect their thoughts and refocus after hitting balls. The ultimate discipline of the Mental Match Play concept is playing with Bluetooth sports headphones and direct instructions from the app. All instructions are developed based on sports psychology and directly address the senses of hearing, feeling and seeing. The instructions are accompanied by specially composed music. The music accompanies calm instructions that promote relaxation and rhythmic, faster instructions and is suitable for every tennis level. Seen from my sports psychology lens, this is one of the best tennis products I've had the pleasure of getting to know to date. I can only congratulate Joe Hauser's team on having endured this long development period in order to bring the sport of tennis closer to many people in a simple and easy way.
The long day of skiing and tennis made us very hungry and we were looking forward to the delicious 4-course meal in the Kleinkunst Hotel, which rounded off our first Travelscout day with culinary delights.
The second double lesson was on Sunday morning and the sports day before that was still fresh in our minds.
Joe listened to our request for a good warm-up and we were able to get back into good tennis mode using the headphones and the MMP app instructions. Furthermore, Joe Hauser was able to give me crucial expert tips when throwing the ball and therefore for my serve, which helped me to have more stability when opening the game, thank you very much for that. I was allowed to place the ball on a small Italian espresso cup in my hand and had to find a calm, stable ball throwing point, i.e. pretty much in the middle of the upswing, so that I could explode directly into the now well-thrown ball with a good pre-tension. What can I say, so far the serve is working much better again. My wife was also impressed by Joe's calm and competent manner, so we couldn't thank him enough for our Mental Match Play training.
As a reward, we treated ourselves to a relaxing afternoon in the natural and adventure pool in Naturns, which is only a 5-minute walk from the hotel. On Sunday the infusion sauna was particularly well attended, all the other saunas were not so crowded. This relaxation was really good for us, we could really enjoy the atmosphere with a good book.
Since the Kreuzwirt's kitchen is closed on Sundays, we took an evening trip to Meran, 20 minutes away. We visited the Forst brewery and rounded off the day with delicious South Tyrolean delicacies and freshly tapped beers from Europe's largest independent brewery. For a digestive walk, we were enchanted by the old town of Meran with its small streets and the many shops under the typical old town arches.
Evening walk through Meran's old town
On the return journey in bright sunshine we were able to take in all the beauty of South Tyrol's winter landscape in daylight. We had a very nice time at Vinschgauer and Speck, which even the hazy day of skiing couldn't ruin for us, because ETA's great tennis training left nothing to be desired. And on the way back, after a good breakfast at the Kleinkunst-Hotel Kreuzwirt, we didn't miss the opportunity to tackle the huge amounts of fresh snow in Serfaus-Fiss-Ladies before heading back home to the children in the evening.
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