MUNICH, April 16, 2015
Only nine more days to go until the BMW Open by FWU AG will start with its 100th edition. On Thursday, tournament director Patrick Kühnen, organizer Michael Mronz, German Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann and the Bavarian minister of finance Markus Söder played a show match at the airport in Munich.
Patrick Kühnen, Michael Mronz, Markus Söder and Michael Kohlmann (from left) played a show match at the Airport in Munich
It was also announced that Alexander Zverev will receive the second wild card for the ATP 250 event to join his compatriots Philipp Kohlschreiber, Benjamin Becker and Tommy Haas. The latter, has arrived in Munich last Wednesday in order to prepare properly for his maybe last appearance in the capital of Bavaria.
The 17-year old Zverev was happy to join the great player’s field led by Andy Murray. “The BMW Open are a very popular tournament with a lot of great players. I am very pleased to receive a wild card again. I will give my very best on court. The atmosphere last year was really impressive.”
Tommy Haas and Alexander Zverev were both at the Airport in Munich last year
“We can present a couple of top players again this year, which are very interesting and have their own characters,” told Kühnen. “Murray might be the favourite but there are also a lot of other players to mention like Fabio Fognini, Gael Monfils, who beat Federer today in Monte Carlo, defending champion Martin Klizan or Roberto Bautista-Agut.”
The Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart announced today that Rafael Nadal will play at the inaugural grass court event. “That’s great news! It shows the significance of tennis in Germany. All of the tournament directors in Germany always try to present top tennis here and it’s very nice that it seems to work,” Kühnen added.
BMW Open’s organizers: tournament director Patrick Kühnen (left) and organizer Michael Mronz
“Germany is still an important and special place in the tennis world. For players like Murray and Nadal it is still important to present themselves here,” Michael Kohlmann told. “For our German players it’s also a great opportunity to practice with them on court. Tournaments like those in Munich and Stuttgart are perfect for such attractive practice sessions.”
“Florian Mayer made an impressive return to the courts this week. I think that he could be a candidate for the third wild card in Munich. Jan-Lennard Struff, who is currently fourth alternate made it to the semi-finals here last year and Daniel Brands could be on the list as well,” Kohlmann speculated.
Germany’s new Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann
A wild card for the qualification draw of the BMW Open will be found in a very special tournament taking place at Munich Airport next weekend. 24 players will play on the two courts between Terminal one and Terminal two in a modified modus. Matches take place best-of-five with short sets until 4 games and the “no-ad-rule”.
“Jan Choinski will be the top-seed. He is 18 years old and made it into the semis at the US Open junior’s tournament last year. He made it into the top 20 at junior’s level and has currently reached a career high 599th position in the ATP rankings. He will be the favourite and I am happy that he accepted the challenge here,” told Kohlmann, who is also responsible for Germany’s second squad.
The main draw at the BMW Open will start on Monday April 27 with a special “Tommy Haas-Day” on Tuesday. “Booking of tickets has been great so far. We already sold more than 10,000 tickets,” stated Michael Mronz.
Further read “Tommy Haas arrives in Munich!”: href=”https://www.tennistourtalk.com/?p=1831
