The ATP tournament in Halle (officially Noventi Open ) is a tennis tournament on grass for men that is held in Halle (Westphalia) . It takes place every year in June between the French Open and Wimbledon and is named after the sponsor, the healthcare provider Noventi. From 1993 to 2018 the textile company Gerry Weber sponsored the tournament. It is the most important preparatory tournament for the third Grand Slam tournament of the year at Wimbledon , alongside the tournament in London's Queen's Club , which is taking place at the same time.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic , the 2020 tournament was canceled. The next event is scheduled for June 12-20, 2021. The main sponsor, Noventi, will remain the tournament's namesake until 2023. Overall, the WTA and the ATP have suspended the lawn season for June 2020.
In 1992, an ATP Challenger tournament , the so-called Taifun Cup , was held on clay on the grounds of the TC Blau-Weiss Halle . With 11,000 visitors he set a record number of spectators for a tournament of this category this year. This resulted in the Gerry Weber Open in 1993, which was not only played on grass for the first time, but was henceforth part of the ATP World Series, the predecessor of the ATP Tour 250 . The tournament has been part of the ATP Tour 500 since 2015, the third highest category on the tour after the Grand Slam and Masters tournaments.
Venue
The OWL Arena with the Center Court holds 11,500 spectators; the neighboring, second largest Court 1 offers 3500 seats. After it was not possible to play for a whole day due to rain in 1993, the construction of a closable roof began. The two-part construction was completed within three months and can be closed within 88 seconds. Since 2008, a specially developed lawn ventilation system has also ensured optimal conditions on the center court lawn. In addition, there are two more match courts available as well as six more training grounds.
Audience numbers
The Gerry Weber Open are the most popular ATP tennis event in Germany with a total of over 2.7 million spectators in 26 tournament years. At the anniversary tournament in 2017, the tournament recorded a new attendance record with 116,200 visitors. In 2018, 115,500 visitors came to Halle. Considerations in 2014 to host a combined women's and men's event were rejected again.
The record winner of the tournament is the Swiss Roger Federer with ten successes, most recently he triumphed against David Goffin in 2019 . A total of six Germans were able to win the title, including Tommy Haas as the only one twice (2009, 2012). Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer (1999), David Prinosil (2000), Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011) and Florian Mayer (2016) were each successful once. The only player to win both singles and doubles in one year is Roger Federer (2005, with Yves Allegro ). Both Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram (2015, 2016), as well as Łukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo (2017, 2018) were able to defend their title in doubles . With three titles, Klaasen is also the record winner in doubles.