Modernized Hamburg Rothenbaum presented to the public - top field at the opening
The facility at Hamburg's Rothenbaum was modernized by around 10 million euros. At this year's edition, some top stars are due to inaugurate this.
by SID / tennisnet
last edit: Sep 03, 2020, 01:51 pm
The famous tennis facility on Hamburg’s Rothenbaum was presented to the public on Thursday after extensive modernization. Sports senator Andy Grote, patron Alexander Otto, DTB vice-president Hans-Wolfgang Kende and club boss Carsten Lütten made the first serve on the center court. The European Open will take place there from September 21 to 27.
The Hamburg clay court classic was postponed from July to September due to the corona pandemic and will now take place in the week before the French Open. Five top 10 players and another seven from the top 20 have registered for the 114th edition of the event. While the German number one and local hero Alexander Zverev is (still) missing, Jan-Lennard Struff will serve at Rothenbaum.
Becker, Graf and Stich full of joy
Germany's former tennis greats are happy about the result of the almost ten million euro renovation. The six-time Rothenbaum winner Steffi Graf said: "The tournaments at Rothenbaum were important milestones in my career." Boris Becker said: "I have a lot of memories of the Rothenbaum. Most of them were also pretty good. Well, we don't talk about one or the other defeat. I'm happy that the Rothenbaum will shine in its old glory again."
And Michael Stich, 1993 tournament winner, added: "The new Center Court will certainly be an absolute dream! My heart will always hang on the Rothenbaum and will always remain a part of the Rothenbaum.
Great qualification field
The organizers plan to play in front of around 1000 fans in northern Germany from September 21 to 27. An official okay is still pending. The fans can look forward to an extremely attractive field of participants, and some top stars have already named for the qualification. Karen Khachanov, Borna Coric and Casper Ruud, among others, want to tackle this.
The tournament at Hamburg's Rothenbaum jumped into the vacant slot in the week before the French Open after the cancellation of the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid resulted in a further shift in the revised ATP calendar. Before Hamburg, clay court tournaments are already taking place in Kitzbühel (next week) and Rome.