STUTTGART TO MAKE SWITCH TO GRASS COURTS IN 2015- WAHOOOOOOO :D victory dance

The MercedesCup in Stuttgart will become an ATP World Tour grass court tournament from 2015.

The tournament’s request to move to a grass court event taking place the week following Roland Garros in the lead up to Wimbledon beginning in 2015 was approved by the ATP Board of Directors at its recent meetings in Miami.

With Wimbledon taking place a week later in the calendar from 2015, a three-week gap will be incorporated in the ATP World Tour calendar in between Roland Garros and The Championships, meaning an additional week of tournaments in the lead up to Wimbledon.

Brad Drewett, ATP Executive Chairman and President, said: “The ATP is pleased to confirm that the request by the MercedesCup in Stuttgart to move to a grass court event in the week after Roland Garros from 2015 has been approved by the ATP Board of Directors. The MercedesCup in Stuttgart presented an extremely thorough application and we have full confidence that they will deliver a high-level ATP grass court event in the lead up to Wimbledon. As part of our process in setting the 2015 ATP World Tour calendar, we continue to review other options for the three-week period between Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2015.”

Edwin Weindorfer, Tournament Director of the MercedesCup, said: “On behalf of the MercedesCup and its long tradition, I would like to thank the ATP and its Board of Directors for their trust and commitment to award Stuttgart with a grass court tournament starting in 2015. We have worked very hard on this and we are convinced that our investments in the new and permanent grass courts and infrastructure will be well rewarded. The new grass courts will be built in close cooperation with Wimbledon expertise and supervised by Wimbledon grass court experts. Thanks to the long-term support and commitment of Mercedes-Benz, the TC Weissenhof and our other sponsors and partners, this project will now become reality. Our ultimate goal is to provide the best players in the world perfect grass court playing conditions to take home the winner‘s Trophy of the MercedesCup ahead of The Championships at Wimbledon!”

Richard Lewis, Chief Executive of the All England Club, said: “The three-week gap will create a longer grass court season between the French Open and Wimbledon, allowing the players more time to recover from the demands of playing at Roland Garros and then to prepare for The Championships. We are delighted to welcome the MercedesCup as a very important first step in building this exciting new extension to the grass court game. It is a highly respected tournament with a fine history and with whom we have a great relationship, and we look forward to working closely with them as we develop the opportunities for top class grass court tennis.”

The MercedesCup will join the AEGON Championships at Queen’s Club, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, the AEGON International in Eastbourne, the Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport as ATP World Tour grass court tournaments.

The first edition of the tournament in Stuttgart was held in 1898, with Mercedes-Benz assuming the role of title sponsor from 1979.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/03/13/Stuttgart-Switches-To-Grass-In-2015.aspx

Thoughts on this joyous occasion?

Great news that. The more grass court tournaments the better. Andy Murray was talking about the need for more grass court tournaments during his post-match interview with Sky last night so he will be pleased.

This is cool...

I suspect we won't see a lot of the top guys playing there though? They'll probably treat it as a recovery week after RG.

But this is definitely a sensible move for the tournament. Who wants to continue playing on clay after RG, when Wimbledon is just around the corner? They'll see far more takers in general.

Ripples people ripples!

Step in the right direction. But what the tour really needs is a significantly longer grass season. Not just an extra tournament and an extra week before Wimbledon. I'd love Wimbledon to be put back an extra few weeks and 2 or 3 more tournaments changing to grass.

However this is a start and it is good news.

I would say there should definitely be a Masters 100 Event on grass. I mean clay and hard courts have enough of them so grass should at least have one.

A fantastic step in the right direction

I am happy as well it will add some uniqueness to a once great tournament that has suffered as a result of its place in the schedule, we really do need to move back wimby a little into the US hardcourt season to make for a more complete grass court swing. So this will be 500 pointer I assume?

Great news...just wish it could come into effect from 2014! Now if the ATP tour could minus one hard court tournament and add one more quality grass tournament into the calender I would finally feel the schedule was properly balanced

Absolutely bliddy marvellous. Now if the players start committing to it, even better.

I think they need to shorten the summer hardcourt swing, move wimby back, move cincy up to two weeks after wimbeldon and make it a grass court masters event. Then prior to the US open you could still keep DC and Canada as warm ups.

I do feel there is scope for a Masters grass court tournament around now just prior to clay court season.

socal1976 wrote:I think they need to shorten the summer hardcourt swing, move wimby back, move cincy up to two weeks after wimbeldon and make it a grass court masters event. Then prior to the US open you could still keep DC and Canada as warm ups.

I would put the yet-to-be-named Grass Masters before W.

CaledonianCraig wrote:I do feel there is scope for a Masters grass court tournament around now just prior to clay court season.

For players, who want to play on Grass rather than the optional MC Clay one is one option, the other would be good to make it closer to Queens/Eastbourne/Den Bosch/Stuttgart.

Fair enough laverfan. I was just thinking around now would be good as the grass court season seems woefully short at the moment. Perhaps six weeks long? It would be ideal if Miami followed Stuttgart's lead.

Wimb needs moving to mid July start. It's too near RG.

lydian wrote:Wimb needs moving to mid July start. It's too near RG.

I would agree with that definitely or failing that bring RG forward a couple of weeks.

CaledonianCraig wrote: It would be ideal if Miami followed Stuttgart's lead.

I am not sure Miami can support Grass so early in the spring, but it is worth the research.

There are only two grass courts, but it is possible, to add some more.

http://www.miamidade.gov/parks/parks/crandon_tennis.asp