MUNICH, April 19, 2017

In less than two weeks, the entire German tennis elite will take on the rest of the world at the BMW Open by FWU, the toughest clay court tournament on the ATP World Tour. The organizers of the €540,307 ATP 250 event announced Thursday that Nuremberg native Maximilian Marterer and NextGen star Casper Ruud of Norway will receive wild cards into the singles main draw.

“I am really happy to compete in the main draw of the BMW Open by FWU, which is a great tournament. I will give 110 per cent and hope for a lot of support from my fans at home, so that I maybe can spring a few surprises,” told Marterer, who is currently ranked World No. 133.

18-year-old Casper Ruud put Norway back on the tennis map by clinching his first ATP Challenger title in Sevilla in September last year. The Oslo resident is one of the contenders for the 2017 ATP NextGen Finals and has already climbed up the ranking to World No. 127. At the beginning of the 2016 season, Ruud was ranked 1,139 in the world.

“Casper is an outstanding player, who will have bright tennis future prospects alongside Alexander Zverev,” BMW Open tournament director Patrik Kühnen stated.

“Tennis fans in Munich can look forward to the NextGen stars. Three years ago, Alexander showed his potential of becoming a great player. This year, he will one of the favourites for the title,” tournament organizer Michael Mronz added.

Munich Airport Tennis Kicks Off

Airport Tennis Munich – photo: Getty Images/BMW Open by FWU

In the lead-up to the BMW Open by FWU, passengers, visitors and airport staff are invited to show off their best shots on two tennis courts set up in the Munich Airport Center Forum between the airport’s two terminals.

From 19 to 29 April, an exciting program has been put together featuring training camps for young and old as well as a couple of show events.

To kick off the event Maximilian Marterer, Florian Mayer, Patrik Kühnen as well as DTM-pilot Timo Glock took part in an opening match on Thursday. With outside temperatures of about 3 degrees Celsius and light snowfall, the two doubles teams heated up the atmosphere with a couple of nice rallies.

“I have been spending a lot of time at the airport during my career as a racing driver, but playing tennis here is something really new to me and was a lot of fun. I am sure that the spectators will enjoy the tennis action during the BMW Open the same way. I wish all the players and visitors an exciting week,” the BMW factory racing driver said.

For BMW Open by FWU tickets please visit the tournament’s official homepage.

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