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.

Feliciano López

Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (Spanish pronunciation: [feliˈθjano ˈlopeθ ˈði.aθ ˈɣera]; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital, Madrid. Lopez achieved his career-high singles ranking of world no. 12 in March 2015. Currently, he has appeared in more consecutive majors than anyone other than Roger Federer, dating back to the 2002 French Open.

In 2005, he was the first male Spanish tennis player to reach the quarterfinals of Wimbledon since 1972, when Manuel Orantes reached the semifinals. He repeated the feat in 2008 and 2011. Lopez defeated Tim Henman at the 2007 Wimbledon second round in what would be Henman's last Wimbledon match. Throughout his career, he has played in the most five-set matches that have gone beyond 6–6, his longest fifth set being 16–14 at the 2009 Australian Open against Gilles Müller. He reached quarterfinals of the US Open in 2015

Playing style

Lopez is left-handed and uses a single-handed backhand. He usually slices his backhand, instead of opting for the topspin drive. He is known for his strong serve and ability to play balls repeatedly on the baseline. He is also a confident net player and has been known to serve and volley. Unusual among Spanish players, who almost always prefer clay courts due to the popularity of that surface in their country, Lopez is an exceptionally strong grass-court player, with three quarterfinal runs at Wimbledon (his strongest Grand Slam showing), as well as a title on grass at the Aegon International in 2013, which he successfully defended in 2014. This is due in part to his more traditional playing style, playing more like grass-court legends Pete Sampras and Roger Federer than fellow-Spaniard Rafael Nadal. This traditional arsenal includes a big serve and a willingness to come in to the net.

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.

Mischa Zverev

Mikhail "Mischa" Zverev (born 22 August 1987, in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union) is a German professional tennis player of Russian descent. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world no. 45 in June 2009 and reached the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters as a qualifier the same year.

Personal life

He is the son of former Russian tennis player Alexander Zverev, who is also his coach. He now resides in Monte-Carlo, Monaco and represents Germany internationally. His brother, Alexander also plays on the tour.

Juniors

Zverev had a very successful junior career, attaining a No. 3 combined world ranking and reaching the semifinals of the US Open (losing to Andy Murray), the quarterfinals of Roland Garros (losing to Alex Kuznetsov) and the Australian Open (losing to Novak Djokovic) in 2004.

As a junior he compiled a 123–50 win/loss record in singles (and 79–3 in doubles).

Professional career

2006

In October 2006, he made his first ATP-level quarter-final in Bangkok, Thailand, beating former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero and former No. 5 Rainer Schüttler before losing to former No. 1 Marat Safin.

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).