[August]

I remember reading rumours that am Rothenbaum would be demolished, on the other hand I remember reading that Michael Stich wanted to make the tournament a grass event for Olympic preparation this year. So what does the future of the German Open seems. Is the threat of am Rothenbaum being demolished over? And are there any reliable rumours that Hamburg might be a grass event in the longer pre-Wimby grass season since 2014?

[Eden]

Michael Stich said in December last year that they tested to lay a grass court on the Rothenbaum but that this has been unfeasible for different reasons.

The German Tennis Association demented in April that there are plans to demolish the stadion.

Michael Stich has a contract as a tournament director until the next year and it has to be seen if he is going to renew it.

He said a few times that he would like to see a women tournament in Hamburg.

[sexybeast]

Please, do something with this tournament and the fantastic stadium. Put it on a different date as an atp500, why not the week before Rome/Madrid?

There is like:

Monta Carlo-Barcelona and one week in between and then Madrid/Rome. Hamburg could be played in that week in between and maybe Federer would atleast sign up to play Hamburg and give it the starpower it needs, it could even be played at the same time as Barcelona.

[samanosuke]

Hamburg was a way better and traditional than Madrid's hollywood project

[motorhead]

indoor fast court prior to US open.

[samanosuke]

Originally Posted by motorhead

indoor fast court prior to US open.

yep... all top players will happily travel 5000 kms to Hamburg and then 5000 more to return to US

[Eden]

There is a report about the future of the Hamburg tournament in a local newspaper today:

- Michael Stich and the agency HSE (who got the licence for the tournament from the German tennis association) have an option until 2018 and plan to continue at least until then

- They write it is highly unlikely that Hamburg will become an indoor tournament. There are no capacities for it in the town and the ATP doesn't have any new indoor tournaments planned for 2014 and 2015.

- The ATP has asked Hamburg and Stuttgart to fill in with a new tournament on grass when they extend the grass season in 2015. According to a board member of the club who has the building law for the Rothenbaum they won't be able to pay for the needed investments and maintenance.
Michael Stich also doesn't see any advantages as Hamburg would get downgraded to a 250 tournament as the ATP doesn't want to have a 500 tournament after the French Open.

- A discussed possibility would be to get a licence for a women tournament. Germany only has one in Stuttgart right now. According to a spokeperson from the ATP they don't look for another combined tournament though. Beside this Halle has plans for a women tournament and they are going to decide until the US Open if they are going to apply for it. It's unimaginable that Germany will have 2 combined tournaments.

- At the moment the most realistic scenario is that the tournament stays like it is now and that they modernize the facility. Michael Stich said that all other possible dates wouldn't be better than the one they have now and that it would be important for them to have the status of Germany's biggest tournament.

- The redevelopment of the roof would cost about 1,5 Million Euro and the German tennis association won't be able to pay this.

- The favored solution is to have a stadion which can be used for league matches of the local hockey club and which can be upgraded for 7500 people for the tennis tournament. They made a feasibility analysis with a positive result but further building plans will be made after discussions with responsible people from the town.

- It is agreed upon that everyone tries to keep the tournament.

(German source: http://www.abendblatt.de/sport/rothe...othenbaum.html )

[Eden]

According to Michael Stich he asked Rafa if he would play in Hamburg this year but as we know he refused.

(Well, he wouldn't have been able to play the tournament anyway now...)

Michael said that the goal for 2014 or 2015 should be to get one of the topplayers to play in Hamburg again.

[sexybeast]

Nadal should play Hamburg and skip Cincy when he is healthy.

[Li Ching Yuen]

If either of those tournaments don't fill in that grass court spot then someone else will. I say they should re-analyze the situation and not pass away on this opportunity of stopping being insignificant tournaments in the grand scheme of things.

By that I mean: "it's fucking 2012, get some artificial grass in that place and be done with it".