ATP Tour - Hamburg event on, despite row

Eurosport - Thu, 13 Nov 11:16:00 2008

Hamburg will stage an ATP tennis tournament in 2009 despite a legal battle over the future of the event.

TENNIS 2008 MS Hamburg Rafael Nadal - 0

"We have told the ATP that we are ready and in a position to stage the tournament next year," the German tennis federation president Georg von Waldenfels told German news agency SID.

The DTB is appealing against a US court decision in August which upheld the ATP's right to downgrade the status of the Hamburg tournament.

From 2009, the former Masters Series event will be reduced to '500' status, a level below the Masters Series tournaments which are being rebranded next year as '1000s'.

The appeal is expected to be heard in early 2009.

As part of an overall restructuring of the men's tour, the Hamburg organisers have also had to move the tournament from its traditional May date to late July.

Von Waldenfels said next year's edition would run from July 20-26 and offer total prize money of around 1.2 million euros (£950,000), down from 2.27 million (£1.8m) this year.

Reuters

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  1. the hamburg masters series should be moved to dubai its­ a better venue and better organization

    From sara_962001, on Thu 13 Nov 7:08PM

  2. Hamburg is a huge event. Historic, really.­ Federer's only clay win over Nadal.
    Need I remind­ you, "not printable", we're only talking­ about the best player in the history of the game, vs.­ the best clay court player ever. 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Great­ final.

    From ben.katzman1, on Thu 13 Nov 4:23PM

  3. They could offer the loosers a free trip round the­ reaperbahn as prize money wont be enough for them to­ afford it themselves. Who really cares about Hamburg,­ it was never THAT important

    From not printable, on Thu 13 Nov 12:42PM
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