Novak Djokovic playing in Hamburg is not realistic,says Tournament Director
Last year in June the Hamburg Tournament Director Michael Stich had said that he wanted to bring Novak Djokovic back in the German event. Back in the day, the Serb was not playing at his best, he was coming from a quarter-final loss to Marco Cecchinato in the French Open and if he lost early in Wimbledon he could have needed to play more matches. But the Serb triumphed in the All England Club and Stich, who was running the event for the last time, failed in his attempt. In an exclusive chat to Tennis World USA, the new Tournament Director Sandra-Eva-Maria Reichel said there are not high chances: "Of course you want to get the top players but it needs to be realistic and it's also a question of budget you have, if you can afford it. You never know. Everything is possible. We will try our best. We are happy with Fognini and Thiem. We will see what happens in Paris. It's a very dynamic process."
Asked to give an opinion on Stich's job, Reichel replied: "Running a tournament is not an easy job and I respect everybody who is running an event. Hamburg was downgraded also, so it's even tougher. He did a good job but the German Federation believed there needed to be a chance and we had the opportunity to be part of this project. It has to be a 500 in the future and we are trying to hold some activities with Tennis Europe to get involved the best younger players in the country. When you are in tennis, you are always thinking about it but it's not realistic at the moment. Our goal is to make the next generations get involved as well as former champions."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Ep29Ay
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