ATP Stuttgart: The fans bring back the good mood
There won't be full grandstands at the MercedesCup 2021 either. The fans allowed on the facility convey an already forgotten tournament feeling.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Jun 08, 2021, 11:33 pm
From Jens Huiber from Stuttgart
Nothing specific is not known these days. As the organizer of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Stuttgart, you think that the date of the MercedesCup fits perfectly into the ATP calendar, as it has since the switch to grass in 2015. And then the French Open will be postponed quite nonchalantly by a week. And thus dig the Stuttgarters from some potential top starters. Or: if the grandstands are still absolutely empty on Sunday, up to 500 visitors can access the TC Weißenhof facility from the beginning of the new week.
And of course these fans give a tournament a fresh, almost forgotten charm. On the first day of the main draw matches it was not so important that Dustin Brown and Rudi Molleker, two local heroes, were knocked out of the table. Particularly unfortunate, of course, in the case of Brown, who can always shift up a gear on grass. Not so against Nikoloz Basilashvili. Which one should perhaps have on the slip when it comes to tournament victory. Also because Stuttgart is pretty firmly anchored in Germany. And Basilashvili not only won two titles in Hamburg, but also one in Munich.
Tommy Haas has most of the work to do
And otherwise? Tommy Haas performed his role as a tournament ambassador with the usual charm. Actually, the German tennis legend has already completed his greatest task at this time of year, but the Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati has been postponed to autumn, also a novelty in the history of the ATP tour. Haas works as a tournament director in California, hitting the ball himself very well. At least that's what social media reveal.
Haas, born in 1978, will no longer make a comeback. Feliciano Lopez, on the other hand, born in 1981, got in the right mood for his game against Alexei Popyrin on the training grounds at TC Weißenhof. Lopez has to be patient on Wednesday, however. His match was scheduled as the fourth of the day after 11 a.m., initially Yannick Hanfmann, Peter Gojowczyk or Dominik Koepfer were allowed to play.
As the clay court season is slowly coming to an end, an unwanted evening session for Feli Lopez could arise. This is usually much faster on grass. Another thing that you have to get used to again.
Here the single tableau in Stuttgart
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