Stuttgart

Stuttgart (/ˈʃtʊtɡɑːrt/; German pronunciation: [ˈʃtʊtɡaʁt], Swabian: Schduagert, pronounced [ˈʒ̊d̥ua̯ɡ̊ɛʕd̥]) is the capital and largest city of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,068 (October 2014) while the greater Stuttgart Metropolitan Region has a population of 5.3 million (2008), being the fourth-biggest in Germany after the Rhine-Ruhr area, Berlin/Brandenburg and Frankfurt/Rhine-Main. The city lies at the centre of a densely populated area, surrounded by a ring of smaller towns. This area called Stuttgart Region has a population of 2.7 million.

Stuttgart is spread across a variety of hills (many of them vineyards), valleys and parks – unusual for a German city and often a source of surprise to visitors who primarily associate the city with its industrial reputation as the 'cradle of the automobile'. Stuttgart has the status of Stadtkreis, a type of self-administrating urban county. It is also the seat of the State Parliament and State Government of Baden-Württemberg, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Württemberg as well as one of the two co-seats of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart.

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Tommy Haas

Thomas Mario "Tommy" Haas (born 3 April 1978) is a German-American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of World No. 2 in May 2002, Haas's career was interrupted by injuries: he has twice dropped out of the world rankings due to being unable to play for twelve months. His first period of injury saw him miss the whole of the 2003 season, and he did not return to the world's top 10 until 2007. He also missed over a year's tennis between February 2010 and June 2011, but has since returned to play on the tour. He returned to World No. 11 in 2013 after reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time in his career.

Haas has reached the semifinals of the Australian Open three times, and Wimbledon once. He is among a few players to have reached the quarterfinal stage of each of the Grand Slams. He has won 15 career titles in singles, including one Masters tournament, and has a silver medal from the 2000 Summer Olympics.

Stuttgart Open

The Stuttgart Open (currently sponsored by Mercedes and called the Mercedes Cup) is an ATP World Tour 250 series tennis tournament on the ATP Tour. Between 1970 and 1989, the Stuttgart Open was a Grand Prix tennis circuit event. From 1990 to 1999, the Stuttgart Open was an ATP Championship Series tournament. The Championship Series name was changed to ATP International Series Gold in 2000, and the Stuttgart Open was a part of this series from 2000–2001 and 2003–2008. In 2002, the Stuttgart Open was briefly demoted for one year to ATP International Series status. In 2009, the Stuttgart Open was demoted again to the newly named ATP World Tour 250 series status, which it has retained ever since.

Held since 1916 in Stuttgart, Germany, the Stuttgart Open was played on clay up to and including 2014. In 2015, the tournament will be played on grass. Along with the move to grass-courts, the tournament will be staged in the week after the French Open finishes.

Thomas Muster of Austria won the title twice in consecutive years (1995 and 1996).

Tomáš Berdych

Tomáš Berdych (Czech pronunciation: [ˈtomaːʃ ˈbɛrdɪx]; born September 17, 1985) is a Czech professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, and World No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. In the final, he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Berdych's biggest career win to date was the Paris Masters in 2005 as an unseeded player, defeating Ivan Ljubicic in the final.

Berdych has reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slams. Alongside his Wimbledon performance in the same year, he reached the semifinals of the 2010 French Open, defeating fourth seed Andy Murray in straight sets in the fourth round, and dropping no sets until his loss in the semifinals to Robin Söderling. At the 2012 US Open he defeated World No. 1 Roger Federer, again at the quarterfinal stage, before losing to eventual champion Murray. During the 2014 Australian Open he lost to eventual champion Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets during the semi. He is the second player (after David Nalbandian) to defeat Roger Federer multiple times in Grand Slam events before the semifinal stage. He has the distinction of being one of three players, the others being Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Stan Wawrinka, to defeat all the Big Four in major events.