Folks, the ATP Paparazzi is back online for some tennis stories !
I’m heading for Stuttgart today for the Mercedes Cup final. It will be my fifth time there and there is always something happening with Spanish and Argentinian players. Unfortunately for me, they do rather prefer going to Båstad now and play beach-volley… Anyway, it’s clay and it’s sunny !
The “party” will officially begin at 12.45 with the press conference. Join me on Twitter @DHartfieldNet for more updates !
Don’t forget to check El Tenis Que No Vemos, I’m the local reporter for the tournament.
PRESS CONFERENCE
With Jörg HOWE (PR Daimler AG), Erwin STRAKA (e-motion manager), Thomas HORNICKEL (TC WeiBenhof and Edwin WEINDORFR (the tournament director).
Night sessions
The night sessions have been a test this year, and it was a good idea because of the hot weather at the beginning of the week. According to he tournament director “Some people bought tickets but didn’t come, and no one can do anything about that !”
The configuration of the Center Court does not really allow the lightnings the way the ATP wants it : “Technically, we should make a lot of changes but that is not planned in the next years.”
Clay season
“Even if the USA say that it is useless, we think it is important to have another clay season in Europe after Wimbledon. And we’re proud to have a tournament here in July”.
The Mercedes Cup reached around 30 000 visitors so far, quite the same as last year. “We expect to sell 1000 tickets today at the door. We’ll see if we’ll reach our goal !”
The Center Court has rarely been full booked in Stuttgart. How does it come ? “Excepted Nadal and Federer or perhaps a local player, no other Top 20 player can sell so many tickets nowadays. That’s a reality. Even if Nadal is very strong and powerful on clay, after Wimbledon his choice was clear : between the Davis Cup and the Mercedes Cup, he would chose the Davis Cup. But this year, he played less tournaments, had to skip the Davis Cup tie and Stuttgart was unfortunately not on his schedule. Anyway, we’re still hoping to bring him back here. Federer never played on clay after Wimbledon and will never do it. There is no need to insist.”
Singles final
One Spaniard reached the final beside Gaël Monfils, who plays here for the first time. “If Monfils wins today, it would be his third tournament victory and we would love to have him back next year.”
Doubles on TV ?
“We have a special partnership with Sport TV but also with channels from all over the world (France, Argentina…). We can not do what we want and have to respect the ATP rules and the schedules we have. We had great Doubles matches with German players or former Gran Slam winners…”
ORDER OF PLAY
1.50 pm : Doubles final
Schwank/Berlocq vs Kas/Petscher (match in progress)
7/6 (6) -
4.00 pm : Singles final
Monfils vs Montañes
