MUNICH, May 7, 2017

A lot of happy faces could be seen among the organizers and financial supporters of the BMW Open by FWU during the final press conference on Sunday morning.

“We enjoyed an exciting week of tennis here with a lot of matches, which went over three sets. The entire group of German players came to Munich and Tommy Haas took the chance to say goodbye to his fans here,” told Patrik Kühnen, who is in his 10th year as tournament director in the capital of Bavaria.

“Although conditions were not always easy, the players were very pleased with the courts. I am looking forward to the next year.”

Title sponsor BMW announced to extend its sponsorship until 2019. “We do not only want to invest in our brand but also in the concept of the event and we love this tournament. It has been our 30th year as a tennis sponsor here in Munich and we hope that our special edition of the i8 for the tournament’s champion was the right incentive for the players in order to win as many matches as possible,” Peter van Binsbergen, President of the BMW Group Sales Subsidiary for the German Market told.

The organizers of the ATP 250 event were also pleased with the week, which did not take place in sunny and warm conditions most of the time, but did not have to face a lot of interruptions due to rain.

“During the first part of the week we sold about 80 per cent of our tickets. The final weekend of the tournament was sold out,” organizer Michael Mronz stated. “We still want to fill the courts right down to the last seat. This will remain our goal.”

Changes due to a new ATP calendar coming effective in 2019 are not intended. “We do not think that it would manke any sense to change the surface, the date or status of the tournament. We are pretty pleased the way it is at the moment,” Mronz added.

There is only some space of improvement for the players of the presenting sponsor FWU. Top ranked Gael Monfils lost his opening match against Hyon Chung and Fabio Fognini also fell on Thursday to Guido Pella. At least second seeded Roberto Bautista-Agut advanced to the semi-finals.

FWU is a specialized unit-linked life insurance and financial service provider headquartered in Munich. The company’s new claim is “Forward U”. “We still need to communicate it to our players,” CEO Manfred Dirrheimer told with a smile.

The tournament’s license holder MTTC Iphitos was also happy with the week. “Mission completed,” simply stated its president Peter Bosch.