The German Open, known as the Berlin Tennis Open
(previously the Grass Court Championships Berlin, bett1open) is an annual
WTA Tour
The WTA Tour (also known as the Hologic WTA Tour for sponsorship reasons) is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women and organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125 series, and third-tier is the ITF Wome ...
professional
tennis
Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
tournament
A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:
# One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...
for women held in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, Germany.
It was played in
West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...
, West Germany (until 1990), then in Berlin from 1991 to 2008 on clay, and since 2021 on grass, following
reunification
A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...
.
Held since 1896, it was one of the oldest tournaments for women. Until 1978 the tournament was held in
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
together with the
men's tournament. From 1988 until 2008, it was classified on the WTA Tour as a
Tier I
The WTA Tier I tournaments were Women's Tennis Association tennis elite tournaments held from 1990 until the end of the 2008 season. From 1988 to 1990, the different levels of WTA tournaments were referred to by the term 'Category', and there ...
tournament. Since 2021, it is classed as a
WTA 500 tournament.
After an absence of more than a decade, the tournament was announced to return to the
WTA calendar for the
2020 season. However, the event was cancelled in April 2020 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and it returned in 2021. The new event is classified as a
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
-level tournament and serves as a warm-up event towards the
Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly called Wimbledon, is a tennis tournament organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in collaboration with the Lawn Tennis Association annually in Wimbledon, London. It is chronologically the ...
, having switched its surface from clay to grass.
History
Past champions of the tournament include former world number ones
Billie Jean King
Billie Jean King (née Moffitt; born November 22, 1943), also known as BJK, is an American former World number 1 ranked female tennis players, world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in w ...
,
Chris Evert
Christine Marie Evert (born December 21, 1954) is an American former professional tennis player. One of the most successful players of all time, she was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 2 ...
,
Steffi Graf
Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a r ...
,
Monica Seles
Monica Seles (born December 2, 1973) is a Serbian–American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
,
Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
Aránzazu Isabel María "Arantxa" Sánchez Vicario (; born 18 December 1971) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 12 weeks, as well as ...
,
Martina Hingis
Martina Hingis (, ; born 30 September 1980) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 209 weeks ( fifth-most of all time) and as the world No. ...
,
Amélie Mauresmo
Amélie Simone Mauresmo (; born 5 July 1979) is a French former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and tournament director. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 39 weeks. Maur ...
,
Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 117 weeks, i ...
,
Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger (name at birth, née Ivanovic; born 6 November 1987) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tenn ...
and
Dinara Safina
Dinara Mubinovna Safina (, ; ; born April 27, 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 26 weeks, and world No. 8 in doubles. Safina ...
.
Past finals
Singles
Doubles
Tournament names
* 1896–1927:''German Championships''
* 1928–1948:''German International Championships''
* 1949–1970:''West German Championships''
* 1971–1979: ''German Open''
* 1980: No tournament
* 1981–1988: ''Fila German Open''
* 1989–1990: ''Lufthansa Cup''
* 1991–1992: ''Lufthansa Cup German Open''
* 1993–2000: ''German Open''
* 2001–2002: ''Eurocard German Open''
* 2003: ''MasterCard German Open''
* 2004: ''Ladies German Open''
* 2005: ''Qatar Total German Open''
* 2006–2008: ''Qatar Telecom German Open''
* 2021–2023: ''bett1open''
* 2024: ''ecotrans Ladies Open''
* 2025–present: ''Berlin Tennis Open by Hylo''
[Berlin Tennis Open]
/ref>
See also
* German Open Tennis Championships
* WTA Hamburg
References
External links
Berlin overview
Old Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:WTA German Open
Tennis tournaments in Germany
Grass court tennis tournaments
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
1896 establishments in Germany
2008 disestablishments in Germany
Women's sport in Berlin
Tennis tournaments in Berlin