Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Myth of the winning car
"Stuttgart? Is that the tournament where the winner gets a Porsche ..?" That's exactly how it is: the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has been the tennis event with the most attractive prize for more than 40 years - and Tracy Austin, Martina Navratilova or Maria Sharapova have brought it to an impressive collection.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Apr 20, 2020, 01:59 pm
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2020 is unfortunately canceled due to the corona pandemic. In a tennisnet special, we look back in exclusive interviews and detailed articles on the most beautiful stories of the past years.
Anke Huber had a little problem after her victory in Filderstadt. In the 1991 final, the girl from Karlsruhe had just struck Martina Navratilova completely unexpectedly and thus secured a Porsche 968 Cabriolet.
The problem? Huber was only 16 - and a driver's license was still a dream of the future.
She was not the first and only one: Tracy Austin, premier winner in 1978 and ultimately four-time winner of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, won at the age of 15, of course without a driver's license. And Martina Hingis, once a Swiss child prodigy, won her first of four titles at the age of 17.
Martina Navratilova with fleet
A brand new Porsche instead of nasty mammon: It has always been the great attraction of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Record winner Martina Navratilova had an entire fleet at home at the end of her career. Although she already had a driver's license when she won her first race, the transport of her winning cars was always a bit complicated, after all, the Porsche first had to make it across the pond to the USA ...
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In 1986 Navratilova even got two cars: one gave her friend Judy Nelson for her 30th birthday, which she celebrated during the week; Navratilova regularly won another in the final. Overall, the "Grande Dame des Tennis" has six victories in Filderstadt. (Tournament founder Dieter Fischer gave her a farewell Porsche at the end of her career in 1994.)
None of the winners seemed to have problems with possible parking spaces. Maria Sharapova, winner in 2012, 2013 and 2014 and long since a Porsche brand ambassador, got to the point after her second victory when she was asked whether it would be tight in her garage: "There is always room for a Porsche!"
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The German winners after Huber, i.e. Julia Görges (2011) and Angelique Kerber (2015, 2016) - now also brand ambassadors - are now happy Porsche drivers, as is Laura Siegemund (2017) .
"Exchange Boxster for Carrera!"
It is already known that the players in Filderstadt and Stuttgart read every wish from their lips - keyword “bedtime treat”, which Dieter Fischer always put in the hotel room. But also as far as the choice of car is concerned: When Martina Hingis won a Porsche Boxster S in 2000, she came around the corner with an unusual request: "I would like to exchange the Boxster for a Carrera."
How did you get to award a car as a victory bonus? Dieter Fischer, who had the actual idea of a tournament in the fields of Filderstadt at the end of the 1970s, initially came to nothing with many sponsors. The world's tennis elite in tranquil Filderstadt? "Crazy," was the general verdict. Only Lars Schmidt, then head of sales at Porsche AG, liked the idea. "I owe the tournament to him," says Fischer.
The winners always thankfully accepted the Porsche. Racing driver Hans-Joachim "Strietzel" Stuck even once had the honor of driving the prize onto the pitch, not without warning from the winner. "Just watch my car," Pam Shriver threatened him in 1986.
In the meantime, this pleasure is mostly up to the players themselves - emphasis on "mostly": Karolina Pliskova, winner in 2018 and at least 26 years old, had also (still) converted her matchball without a license. A problem? No. Pliskova was chauffeured to the square by someone who knew the winning car better than anyone else: the CEO of Porsche AG, Oliver Blume.
Gallery of the Porsche winners: From Austin to Siegemund
Seven attempts for the first victory: Petra Kvitova won the final in Stuttgart in 2019 - and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet.
A Porsche 924 for the premier winner in 1978: Tracy Austin. The American wins four times in a row!
She is still a record winner: Martina Navratilova receives her winning car in 1983, a Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, from Prof. Dr. Ferry Porsche presented personally.
Elegant on the court like no other: Gabriela Sabatini won in 1989 in Filderstadt and received a Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet.
Get in - but please don't drive away: Anke Huber surprisingly wins against Martina Navratilova in the final at the age of 16. However, she is still too young to drive a Porsche - here the Porsche 968 Cabriolet.
The last victory of the "Grande Dame des Tennis": Martina Navratilova took her sixth Porsche in 1992 - and the fifth Porsche Carrera 911 Cabriolet.
The second win for crowd favorite Huber, in the final against defending champion Mary Pierce. This time Huber can drive the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet too!
Martina Hingis, Swiss child prodigy, won her first of four titles in a three-set final against Anke Huber in 1996 at the 20th edition of the tournament. And: the first Porsche Boxster!
The first winner after moving to the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart: Nadia Petrova with her red Porsche 911 Targa 4S.
Another premiere: Svetlana Kuznetsova wins the first edition on sand in spring 2009. And receives the first 7-speed model, a Porsche Boxster S!
Nobody had expected her: surprise winner Julia Görges! In 2011 she sensationally beats the world's number one Caroline Wozniacki and takes a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet with her!
She once described herself on sand as a "cow on ice" - this is long since over: Porsche brand ambassador Maria Sharapova made the Stuttgart hat trick and a Porsche 911 Targa 4S clear in 2014!
The second consecutive victory at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the future brand ambassador and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber - in the German final in 2016 against Laura Siegemund! The price: a Porsche 718 Boxster S.
Insane! After losing to the final a year earlier, local hero Laura Siegemund won the 40th edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet in a dramatic final against Kristina Mladenovic in 2017.
Seven attempts for the first victory: Petra Kvitova won the final in Stuttgart in 2019 - and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet.
A Porsche 924 for the premier winner in 1978: Tracy Austin. The American wins four times in a row!
She is still a record winner: Martina Navratilova receives her winning car in 1983, a Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, from Prof. Dr. Ferry Porsche presented personally.
Elegant on the court like no other: Gabriela Sabatini won in 1989 in Filderstadt and received a Porsche 944 S2 Cabriolet.
Get in - but please don't drive away: Anke Huber surprisingly wins against Martina Navratilova in the final at the age of 16. However, she is still too young to drive a Porsche - here the Porsche 968 Cabriolet.
The last victory of the "Grande Dame des Tennis": Martina Navratilova took her sixth Porsche in 1992 - and the fifth Porsche Carrera 911 Cabriolet.
The second win for crowd favorite Huber, in the final against defending champion Mary Pierce. This time Huber can drive the Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet too!
Martina Hingis, Swiss child prodigy, won her first of four titles in a three-set final against Anke Huber in 1996 at the 20th edition of the tournament. And: the first Porsche Boxster!
The first winner after moving to the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart: Nadia Petrova with her red Porsche 911 Targa 4S.
Another premiere: Svetlana Kuznetsova wins the first edition on sand in spring 2009. And receives the first 7-speed model, a Porsche Boxster S!
Nobody had expected her: surprise winner Julia Görges! In 2011 she sensationally beats the world's number one Caroline Wozniacki and takes a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet with her!
She once described herself on sand as a "cow on ice" - this is long since over: Porsche brand ambassador Maria Sharapova made the Stuttgart hat trick and a Porsche 911 Targa 4S clear in 2014!
The second consecutive victory at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix for the future brand ambassador and reigning Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber - in the German final in 2016 against Laura Siegemund! The price: a Porsche 718 Boxster S.
Insane! After losing to the final a year earlier, local hero Laura Siegemund won the 40th edition of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS Cabriolet in a dramatic final against Kristina Mladenovic in 2017.
Seven attempts for the first victory: Petra Kvitova won the final in Stuttgart in 2019 - and a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet.
