In 1892 a new clay tournament was established in Hamburg, Germany. Initially open only to German and Austrian players, in 1897 the tournament expanded its reach outside the two countries, with Brit George Hillyard winning the title after defeating compatriot George Ball-Greene in the final. Gradually, the tournament grew in popularity among tennis players and years later it added a doubles tournament to its schedule.
Before the Open Era, Germany’s Gottfried Von Cramm led the title count with six German Open titles. John Newcombe became the first player to win the German Open in the Open Era. A decade later, the tournament became a part of the Grand Prix Championship series. When the ATP was formed, the Hamburg Open fell under the bracket of ATP Super 9 series. Manuel Orantes, Eddie Dibbs and Andrei Medvedev were the most successful players of the Hamburg Open until the end of the 20th century.
In 2000, Gustavo Kuerten won the Hamburg Open title after defeating Marat Safin in five thrilling sets. Months later, Guga backed up that performance by capturing a second Roland Garros title. This was also the first tournament where the Hamburg Open became a part of the ATP Masters Series.
The next eight editions of the event saw Roger Federer capture four titles at Am Rothenbaum, making him the most successful player of the Hamburg Open during the Open Era. Federer ended Nadal’s 81-win streak on clay when he defeated the Spaniard for the first time on the surface in 2007 at the Hamburg final. In 2008, Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer in a rematch of the 2007 final and won his eighth Masters title in the process.
The Hamburg Open faced its biggest setback in 2009 when it was downgraded to an ATP 500 event. When the ATP made the decision to send the Hamburg event into a lower tier, it also shifted its place in the calendar from May to July. This was very crucial as up until 2008 the Hamburg event had served as a warmup event leading into Roland Garros.
The German Tennis Federation (DTB) was enraged by this decision. This led to the DTB and the Qatar Tennis Federation (who jointly owned the Hamburg Open) to sue the ATP. They argued that the ATP had given Hamburg a status of a Masters event, which was renewable every year as long as they followed ATP’s rules and regulations.
“We remain convinced that the ATP illegally withdrew the Hamburg tournament’s Masters status and we were right to challenge the decision,”
- Georg von Waldenfels, then DTB president
In its defense, the ATP said that being the governing body of tennis circuit, it had the right to make certain decisions, which would propel and magnify the power of tennis at the global stage.
“These are exciting times for men’s professional tennis with the ATP set to unveil the largest set of changes to the Tour since its inception in 1990.”
- Etienne de Villiers, then ATP Chairman
The antitrust case brought in by the DTB landed in ATP’s favour after two weeks of trial. The ATP also escaped a fine of 39 million Euros which it would have to pay had it lost the case.
In 2009, Nikolay Davydenko won the first Hamburg Open title as an ATP 500 event. In 2015, Rafael Nadal won his second Hamburg title after defeating Fabio Fognini 7-5 7-5. Nadal became the only player to win the tournament both as an ATP 1000 and ATP 500 event. Roger Federer holds the record for the most men’s singles titles by lifting the trophy four times. Steffi Graf is the most successful women’s singles player with six titles.
