HAMBURG, July 6, 2016
Florian Mayer and only 17-year-old Marvin Moeller have received the first two of four wild cards into the main draw of the German Open Championships, held from 9 to 17 July in Hamburg. This means that at least six German players will be part of the line-up at the ATP 500 event. The two will join their compatriots Philipp Kohlschreiber, Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff and Mischa Zverev. The tournament’s top-seed will be world number eight Dominic Thiem from Austria.
“The sporting performance as well as the personal connection to the city of Hamburg played a role for the award of the wild cards,” tournament director Michael Stich explained his decision. “Florian Mayer has always made a good impression at the Rothenbaum. After his long injury, he made an impressive comeback by winning the title in Halle. In the case of Marvin Moeller, I would like to give him the opportunity to gain some experience at highest level.”
Moeller lives in Hamburg-Rahlstedt and is the current world number 24 in the junior’s ranking. He has already captured four international tournaments on the ITF Junior’s Circuit and made it into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros. The teenager will make his debut on the ATP World Tour.
Mayer will appear in Hamburg for the 11th time. In 2010 he advanced to the semi-finals and made it to the stage of the final eight in each year between 2011 and 2013. After he had been sidelined for almost two years due to injury, the 32-year-old returned to the tour in April. Two months later, he beat Alexander Zverev in the final of the Gerry Weber Open to claim his second ATP career title. Mayer currently plays the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig, an €106,500 ATP Challenger event.
“I hope that some of the German players can capitalize on their home advantage to go deep this week,” told Stich. “Philipp Kohlschreiber lifted the trophy in Munich and Florian Mayer triumphed in Halle, so everything is possible in Hamburg.”
The opportunity for the local players is excellent, as a lot of competitors have already pulled out of the official acceptance list due to the Davis Cup quarterfinals as well as Group I Play-offs, held the same week. Roberto Bautista-Agut, Lucas Pouille, Fabio Fognini, Federico Delbonis and Pablo Carreno-Busta are the highest ranked players, who are not going to appear in Hamburg this year. The current cut-off is with Kenny de Schepper at world number 143. Germany does not have to play a tie of the team competition, taking place from 15 to 17 July.
