HALLE, March 3, 2015

The Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany, will remain a tournament for men only. There was rumour concerning a possible organization of a combined event for women and men during the grass court season.

“We welcome more than 10.000 spectators at our venue every day, also without having a women’s tournament,” tournament director Ralf Weber told the magazine Sponsors. “That’s the reason, why we decided not to integrate a women’s event. It would not do justice to the girls, if they had to be in the shadow of stars like Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.”

Roger Federer has a lifetime contract with the Gerry Weber Open in Halle

The decision has also been made due to media interests. “Nothing against women’s tennis,” Weber said. “But we invest several million euros and so we are also interested in media coverage and viewing rates. In consideration of this, women’s tennis lag far behind their male counterparts.”

More than one year ago, the ATP announced the decision to upgrade the Wimbledon precursor events at Halle as well as at London’s Queen’s Club from the Tour 250 tier to 500 level tournaments, a decision which will provide a significant boost to the grass court season in 2015. The two tournaments have also been rescheduled to take place two weeks after Roland Garros starting on June 15.