Featuring Roger Federer, ATP Stuttgart had its best edition ever in 2018
The Stuttgart Mercedes Cup Tournament Director Edwin Weindorfer commented on how the event changed since when the surface was switched from clay to grass four years. "After three years we first broke even. 2015 was the first tournament on grass and Rafael Nadal won, and 2017, when Lucas Pouille won, we recovered the money we spent. The best year of the tournament was definitely last year in 2018 with most spectators attending, 60,000. And Roger Federer won. In the last five years, the budget went from five to eight million euros in total. With Mercedes Benz, we have an agreement for one more year and negotiations have started to renew it."
In January Weindorfer said that he was disappointed with Grigor Dimitrov's withdrawal last year. If in four years Dimitrov will be a world No. 1, will Weindorfer try to bring the Bulgarian in the tournament? "I was disappointed because we had an agreement and he decided not to play. This year he has entered in 's-Hertogenbonsch, which is right to do but he could have been back in Stuttgart to make the things clear up but he did not. We are always open, also with players who we had issues with. That was the case for Grigor Dimitrov, but we are always open to having players back in Stuttgart. Why not. Sometimes players have agents who tell them bad things and they change them. It's not only about the players but also the people who are around them."
Dimitrov agent is no longer Roger Federer's Tony Godsick anymore but the Sweden George Steimenov. "Yes, I think that Tony Godsick would make sure that agreement would have been respected."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Q1Tmcf
No comments