Federer, Nadal Lead Impressive Honour Roll In Hamburg

Held the week after Wimbledon, the Hamburg European Open has a rich history of welcoming the best players on the ATP Tour.

The tournament, one of four German ATP Tour events, would have been held this week if not for the Tour suspension due to coronavirus.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to know about the ATP 500 tournament.

Hamburg History
Many of the greatest players in the history of the sport have triumphed at the Rothenbaum Tennis Centre. In fact, seven former World No. 1s have lifted the Hamburg trophy.

John Newcombe (1968), Ivan Lendl (1987, ’89), Stefan Edberg (1992), Marcelo Rios (1999), Gustavo Kuerten (2000), Roger Federer (2002, ’04, ’05, ’07) and Rafael Nadal (2008, ’15) have all enjoyed title runs in the German port city.

The list of doubles champions also features a number of high-profile names, including Stefan Edberg (1984), Daniel Nestor (1996, ’03, ’08), Mark Woodforde (2000), Todd Woodbridge (2000, ’01), Bob Bryan (2007) and Mike Bryan (2007). Emilio Sanchez owns a tournament record four doubles trophies (1986, ’89, ’91-’92).

Federer’s Four
Federer owns a tournament record four singles titles in Hamburg. The Swiss captured his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title at the event in 2002, beating Top 10 stars Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin en route to the trophy. After a third-round loss to Mark Philippoussis in 2003, Federer claimed 10 straight victories in Hamburg to claim back-to-back trophies in 2004 and 2005.

The Basel native missed the event in 2006, before adding another five matches to his win streak to claim a record-breaking fourth trophy. Following wins against Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer and Carlos Moya, Federer ended Nadal’s record 81-match winning streak on clay to move clear of fellow three-time Hamburg winners Eddie Dibbs and Andrei Medvedev. Federer, who owns a 32-5 record at the ATP 500, also reached the 2008 championship match, falling in three sets to Nadal.

Roger Federer owns a tournament record four titles at the Hamburg European Open.” />

Success For Nadal
Across four appearances in Hamburg, Nadal has reached the championship match on three occasions (2-1) and compiled a 16-2 tournament record. As a 16-year-old, the Spaniard reached the third round on his tournament debut in 2003.

Four years later, Nadal beat Fernando Gonzalez and Lleyton Hewitt to reach his maiden Hamburg championship match against Federer. Since his three-set loss to the Swiss, the 6’1” left-hander has claimed 10 straight victories in Hamburg. Nadal beat fellow ‘Big Four’ members Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer en route to his maiden trophy at the event in 2008 and defeated Fabio Fognini in the 2015 championship match to double his Hamburg trophy count.

New Look
Over the past 18 months, the site of the Hamburg European Open has been transformed. With the Rothenbaum Tennis Stadium at the heart of the tournament’s renovations, the ATP 500 event has modernised its centre court with an updated retractable roof and stadium facade, complete with new seats for spectators.

Alongside improvements to its main stadium, which has decreased its capacity from 13,200 to 10,000 fans, the event has also renovated its players’ centre, press centre and site entrance. The tournament’s previous Hall of Fame has also been upgraded, with a new, digital ‘Walk of Champions’ taking its place.

The tournament received €10m in funding to complete the site improvements, including an €8m donation from The Alexander Otto Sports Foundation. The City of Hamburg, the German Tennis Federation and local tennis and field hockey club, Club an der Alster, provided the remaining funds for the project.

Hamburg European Open has upgraded facilities at the Rothenbaum Tennis Stadium.” />