For Jurgen Melzer, this week will bring inner peace. As he arrives for the Erste Bank Open 500, at the back of a concert hall with its grey-slab walls, the Austrian will walk down the steps and into the players’ lounge, the hub of the action and onto a lift, where, via a maze of corridors, you hit practice courts, locker rooms, a gym and the media centre. Running in a horse-shoe shape around the arena is a fan area and further practice courts, where spectators can catch a glimpse of ATP World Tour stars through a frosted bubble. It is a familiar scene.

Hall D of the Wiener Stadthalle is largely unchanged. The trip will evoke special memories for Melzer, who first came here as a teenaged tennis wannabe, a hopeful fan with dreams of competing on Center Court, which seats more than 16,000. Today, as he strides out to play Canada’s Milos Raonic, the 37-year-old will step into singles retirement at the very tournament where he hoped to end his career. Memories will flood back of his first ATP World Tour win in 1999 (d. Burgsmuller), of his back-to-back triumphs in 2009 and 2010, and also some tough losses in 16 visits.

“I’ve always felt comfortable in Vienna,” Melzer told ATPWorldTour.com. “I won it twice in 2009 (d. Cilic) and 2010. The 2010 tournament was where I dealt with the most pressure. I had reached the Roland Garros semi-finals; I was close to the Top 10 and beat Rafa [Nadal] in Shanghai two weeks earlier. I came into the tournament with a target, with people thinking I should win. In the end I did [beating fellow Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-7(10), 7-6(4), 6-4]. It has always been my dream and wish to play my last singles match in Vienna.”

Watch Uncovered Flashback: Melzer Reflects On 2010 Season

Ever since he won junior Wimbledon in 1999, with victory over Kristian Pless, Melzer was hailed as the successor to former World No. 1 Thomas Muster. A target was on his chest and the pressure mounted. For years, Melzer believed he was the dedicated competitor that left no stone unturned. Yet he took a long time to realise it’s one thing to sign on a dotted line, turn professional and accept prize money; it’s another to be truly professional. It wasn’t until that the Austrian, with a fluent backhand and superb first volley, tuned 26 that he realised he needed to adjust his outlook.

Melzer wishes he “could take back those years”, but it’s his memories of ranking in the Top 10 as a singles and doubles competitor, winning three Grand Slam championship titles — 2010 Wimbledon and 2011 US Open (men’s doubles), and 2011 Wimbledon (mixed doubles) — in addition to advancing to the 2010 Roland Garros semi-finals that he’ll forever treasure.

Melzer told ATPWorldTour.com, “I’m really proud of it, because I was ranked in the Top 10 of both singles and doubles at the same time – being No. 8 [in singles in 2011] and No. 6 [in doubles in 2010]. It hadn’t been done for a while. I always enjoyed playing with somebody, celebrating as a team, doing it with a close friend. That’s why I played so much. There are times when I played too much doubles, to the detriment of my singles, but I got to No. 6 and won two Grand Slam men’s doubles titles. So I wouldn’t change it.”

In signing with a smaller management agency, Melzer received few wild cards after his junior Wimbledon triumph, so he earned his stripes the hard way and moved up the professional ladder to break into the Top 100 on 8 July 2002. “I really had to work for it,” said Melzer. “I can be proud of it. I didn’t get everything on a silver plate. You’d go week by week, working away like a squirrel trying to gain points. Everything is short-term.”

By the time he reached his first ATP World Tour final on the grass of Newport in the summer of 2003, the weight of expectation proved too great and he went down 6-1 in the third set to Robby Ginepri. For the next three years, the memory festered. “The pressure got to me and I didn’t deal well with it. It really affected me as I played two other finals after that [2005 St. Polten and 2006 Houston] and didn’t win.”

Melzer got the monkey off his back In September 2016 at Bucharest. It was a massive relief. “Going into the Bucharest final, I went alone,” said Melzer. “My coach back then, Karl-Heinz Wetter, was at home. I was only there with Julian Knowle and we lost in the semi-finals of the doubles. My coach tried to fly in for the final and something happened with his flight, so he had to stay at home. It was kind of a weird feeling, but I knew I had to rely on myself.” The jigsaw puzzle was complete once he beat Filippo Volandri 6-1, 7-5 in the final.

By 2010, Melzer’s career came to fruition and he played a total of 130 singles and doubles matches. In winning a personal best 51 singles matches, the Austrian finished in the year-end Top 20 for the first time and broke his streak of never having advanced beyond the third round at a Grand Slam championship. “After a while of losing prior to the third round, it got in my head,” explained Melzer. “I lost two third-round matches after being two sets up – once against Guillermo Coria at Wimbledon and once against Andy Murray at the US Open. There were other matches when I was the favourite going into the match, but I didn’t perform on the day. It took me a while to realise what it takes.

“At Roland Garros [in 2010], I passed the third round and reached the semi-finals. So it was really sweet. The tournament was my biggest success as a singles player, aside from winning two Vienna singles titles. The quarter-final against Novak [Djokovic] was the most memorable match of my career. Coming back from two sets down against Novak at a Grand Slam, hadn’t been done before or since my win. So every time Novak is two sets up and somebody wins the third set, that stat and my name will be thrown up in the future.

“It was a great tournament for me. I was playing great tennis coming in and I probably played my best match in the third round, beating David Ferrer and hitting him off the court. The semi-finals against Rafa, the greatest clay-courter of all time, was an experience I will never forget. It was a close third set, had set points, having been outplayed for the first two sets.”

Only two weeks ago, Melzer came through the latest start of his career at the Santo Domingo Open, an ATP Challenger Tour event. Stepping out onto court at 1 a.m. local time, after persistent, torrential rain from the outer bands of Hurricane Michael led to scheduling chaos, he beat Hugo Dellien in 90 minutes in the first round. It was another memorable day in a 20-season pro career, which includes 349 tour-level match wins and five ATP World Tour singles crowns from 13 finals. As the curtain falls on his singles career, the left-hander will now focus on the team game with renewed vigour.

Having enjoyed success with Julian Knowle and lifted major doubles titles at 2010 Wimbledon (d. Lindstedt/Tecau) and 2011 US Open (d. Fyrstenberg/Matkowski), in addition to the 2010 Rolex Shanghai Masters with Philipp Petzschner, Melzer is hoping to re-establish himself as one of the sport’s leading exponents and improve upon his 13-17 record in finals. “It worked well from the beginning,” said Melzer, of his partnership with Petzschner. “But the injuries we both had, independently, kept our team from becoming a greater partnership. I really felt that if we could play full seasons together we could have made [the Nitto ATP Finals in] London more times than twice [in 2010 and 2011].”

He will also continue to mentor his brother, Gerald Melzer, who continues to ply his trade after two injury ravaged seasons. “It’s something very special and very few people can live it,” said Melzer. “We won our first Challenger title together in 2008, when he was 18 years old. I tried to be the best influence on him possible. My heart is different when he plays. I want him to win so badly, play well and even put his success over my own.”

And it is working with players that Jurgen Melzer will look to expand upon when the time comes to quit for good. “I would like to stay in tennis and share my experience with young players or coach. It would be a waste to not use the experience I’ve accrued.”

Editor’s Note: Melzer upset Raonic Monday to clinch his 350th tour-level match win.

Kevin Anderson and Kei Nishikori, Lucas Pouille and Philipp Kohlschreiber, who are competing at the Erste Bank Open 500, visited the Vienna State Opera on Monday.

Austria’s opera house, which employs more than 1,000 people, produces 50 to 60 operas per year and 10 ballet productions, including more than 350 performances.

Home hope Dominic Thiem, who is currently eighth in the ATP Race To London for a spot at the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November, leads the ATP World Tour 500 field in Vienna. Seventh-placed Anderson and 10th-positioned Nishikori are also in contention for the three remaining London singles berths.

Kyle Edmund checked off another career accomplishment on Sunday in what’s been his finest season on the ATP World Tour. The 23-year-old Brit beat France’s Gael Monfils to win his maiden ATP World Tour title at the European Open in Antwerp. Edmund spoke with ATPWorldTour.com about the milestone:

How does it feel to be holding this trophy?
It’s a really nice feeling to get the win today. Looking at the overall picture, just lots of years of hard work and building up to this, to win a title on the professional level, on the ATP World Tour.

To finally do that is a really great feeling, something you always remember, looking back and winning your first title. So right now in the moment, it’s hard to just take it all in but over time it will give me a lot of confidence and belief.

Was this a goal you had as a junior growing up, to win an ATP World Tour title?
Yeah, it’s always a goal, even when you’re a youngster. But it’s just a dream at that point, and over the years, it’s building to make that into a reality, and you gain belief at different events and throughout the years, you have certain wins that give you belief and confidence that you can do it.

I’ve known for a while that my game is good enough to win a title. But it’s about doing it, producing… and I’m happy that’s happened today.

Watch Highlights: Emotional Edmund Earns First Title In Antwerp

How did you prepare for this final differently with your first final (l. to Andujar, Marrakech 2018) in mind?
I think that just helped me to learn from the environment and the feeling of being in a final. He beat me quite comfortably there. I knew it couldn’t go any worse, and it was not a great feeling to lose in the final comfortably.

That helps you for the next one, spurs you on and makes you even more determined to get it. So after going down in the first set (vs. Monfils), it was just about really about being determined and fighting to get the win. I knew the win wasn’t going to come easy after that; I knew if I was going to win it, I would really have to work for it.

You beat two former Top 10 players in the last two rounds in Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils. What did you do well to beat both players?
They’re both different matches. The Gasquet one, I felt in control from the start of the match and served very well. It was more straightforward but still a tough match.

But I think today at the start, [Monfils] came out firing a lot quicker than I did, which made it harder to turn around. But both obviously French players, and they’re very skillful and tough to beat, which most French players are, so you always know that, and it was no difference in my thoughts.

I was very happy to come through that in the semi-finals and the final, where the matches count the most and matter the most. To get over the line and win the title is a great feeling.

After the first-round loss at the US Open, you reached Beijing semi-finals, Shanghai quarter-finals. Would you consider this the best stretch of your season after your Australian Open semi-final run, or would you say it’s better than that?
As a stretch of tournaments, it’s been my most consistent for sure. There have been reasons why I’ve struggled after the Australian Open, just with physical concerns or issues basically. So it was always trying to get better from there and learning not to get physically down again.

As a stretch, this has been my best. I’ve had some good wins, some good tournaments.

ATP title. Grand Slam SF. British No. 1. At the end of the year, how’s that going to make you remember 2018?
It’s been my best year so far. I’ve done things that I’ve done for the first time, as in British No. 1, semi-finals at a Grand Slam, winning my first tour-level event. So that’s been really good for me to do that and then obviously the goal is to always improve on that. But you have to get going, you can’t just sprint straight away and expect these things to happen.

You have to almost get your first out of the way, and do it, rather than just thinking it will happen. So now that I’ve done a few of them I’m very pleased, and I think it’s going to help me in the future.

Now that you have the first title, what are your next goals?
It was always a big goal of mine to get the title… For sure, I’m close to the Top 10, so I know the goal is definitely Top 10. That’s a strong, tough goal. Top 10 just doesn’t happen overnight. You have to be consistent with your results, and that’s something I’m working towards… and of course winning more titles… and by doing this one I think that will help me massively.

Watch Hot Shot: Edmund Finishes SF With A Flourish In Antwerp 2018

You’ve done well on clay, hard. What would you say is your favourite surface now?
It’s a really tough one to say. I like playing on clay. As a junior I played on it a bit more than hard. With the ATP circuit you naturally get used to playing on hard and improve on hard because it’s probably 70 per cent of the year is played on hard courts… I enjoy playing on both (clay and hard). I’ve had my best results on hard, but for sure I like playing on clay.

Is there anyone you’d like to acknowledge who has helped you get to where you are in your career this year but also just generally speaking?
There are always lots of people who have helped over the years, even when I was 14, 15, at certain academies, who have sacrificed their time to help me, and it has improved me at that stage of my career.

For sure, my two coaches and my fitness trainer, they’ve been there the majority of the weeks so they’ve helped me a lot. Probably the most important would be your family because they have always been there and they always support you no matter what, with mum and dad and sister.

See Where Edmund Is In The ATP Race To London

There were times when I was 10, 11 years old where we would go for tennis sessions at 6:30 in the morning until 8, which meant getting up at like 5:30, and my mum would do that, take me to the courts. There’s lots of sacrifice that goes in and for sure, they’ll be very happy with my win today.

After the season, what will you do that you maybe haven’t had time to do lately?
For sure, I’ll go on holiday. I’ll do that for a little bit, just mentally it’s nice to get a break. Of course you need a physical break… But mentally it’s important, I feel for such a long year that we have as tennis players, to just get away from the courts and mentally get away from it.

I always have sport interests. Last year I think I did go to a Liverpool game so I might try that. I know I’m going to go to England vs. New Zealand for rugby. I’ve played rugby in school and watched it on TV but I’ve never actually been to an international test match in rugby so I’m pretty pumped to watch that. And apart from that there have been no plans. I try not to make plans in my off-season because generally you just want to chill out. But for sure I’ll go for a holiday.