Grass Court Championships Berlin | |
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Tournament information | |
Founded | 1896-2008; 2021-present |
Editions | 93 |
Location | Hamburg (1894-1978) West Berlin (1979-1990) Berlin (1991-2008, 2021-) |
Venue | Am Rothenbaum Rot-Weiss Tennis Club (1979-2008, 2021-) |
Category | Tier I (1988-2008) Premier 500 (2021-) |
Surface | Clay / outdoor (until 2008) Grass / outdoor (2021-) |
Draw | 56M / 32Q / 28D |
Prize money | $1,340,000 (2008) TBD (2021) |
Website | www.grass-court-championships-berlin.de |
The German Open (currently known as the Grass Court Championships Berlin or bett1open) is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for women played in West Berlin, West Germany (until 1990), then Berlin, Germany from 1991 to 2008 following reunification. Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women. Until 1978 the tournament was held in Hamburg together with the men's tournament. From 1988, it was classified on the WTA Tour as a Tier I tournament.
After an absence of more than a decade, the tournament was announced to return to the WTA calendar for the 2020 season. However, the event was cancelled in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and it will be due to return in 2021. The new event will be classified as a Premier-level tournament and serve as a warm-up event towards the Wimbledon Championships, having switched its surface from clay to grass.[1][2]
Past champions of the tournament include former world number ones Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Martina Hingis, Amélie Mauresmo, Justine Henin, Ana Ivanovic and Dinara Safina.
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