Rudi Berger (sports official)

Rudi Eugen Berger (born October 30, 1951 - † August 15, 2007 ) was a German tennis referee and official.

Berger initially trained as an administrator. He had to give up a career as a tennis player because of knee problems. From 1980 on, he was then a regular referee at major tennis tournaments. After graduating from the Men's Tennis Council Officials School in Basel in 1984, he became the first German professional referee of the Men's Tennis Council (MTC) in 1987 . On the ATP Tour he was in action worldwide and led encounters at numerous tournaments.

In January 2001, he said goodbye to the referee's chair and moved to the management of the Munich tennis club MTTC Iphitos . From Nikola Pilić he took over the management of the BMW Open, which is held annually in the Bavarian capital . With higher prize money and the commitment of well-known players, he managed to significantly upgrade the tournament.

On July 28, 2006, he raced his car into a Munich café after an epileptic fit . In the hospital, doctors diagnosed a brain tumor , of which Berger died on August 15, 2007 at the age of 55.

In his honor, the DTSV (German Tennis Referee Association) has awarded the Rudi Berger Award to deserving German tennis officials since 2008 .