Defending champion Alexander Zverev will be the favourite for this year’s ATP tournament in Munich. Germany’s number one could meet several up-and-coming contemporaries.
It will take a little more than a month until the start of the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in Munich, which has been ennobled by the organizers as the toughest clay court event on this level worldwide due to the external circumstances. And indeed: there is still snow in the Bavarian capital these days, the preparation of the courts at the MTTC Iphitos, the traditional venue for the Open Bavarian Tennis Championships, is still out of the question.
Meanwhile, the weather is expected to improve. Tournament director Patrik Kühnen already offered a considerable field of players at the official presentation at the invitation of title sponsor BMW. The quintessence: Jugend forscht – and the entire German elite (with the exception of Peter Gojowczyk) will play out the winning car from the end of April.
In addition to the current world number five, Alexander Zverev, the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, the Argentine Diego Schwartzman and the Italian Fabio Fognini, three other top-20 players have signed up: “We can present the strongest field of players to the spectators since I started eleven years ago as tournament director. It’s a very compact field, with Alex Zverev at the top and numerous world-class players who have already celebrated impressive successes this year,” says a delighted Patrik Kühnen.
Sand court specialist Schwartzman recently won a tournament in the 500cc category in Rio de Janeiro. Roberto Bautista Agut, Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini have already entered the list of winners in 2018: the Spaniard won the Dubai Championships, Fognini the Brasil Open and Monfils the tournament in Doha.
The spectators can also look forward to the exceptional French player Gael Monfils, the Russian youngster Andrey Rublev and last year’s semi-finalist Hyeon Chung from South Korea: “I have many great memories of the tournament in Munich. I’m looking forward to the great fans and hope for a final against Alexander Zverev,” says Hyeon Chung. This year, the 21-year-old reigning ATP Junior World Champion has reached at least the quarter-finals at all tournaments except Brisbane. At the Australian Open he defeated Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic in an impressive way, only retired in the semi-final against Roger Federer.
In the ATP Singles Race, the winner of the NextGen Finals 2017 is currently in fourth place: “With Hyeon Chung, the spectators will see one of the future stars of the tour. He enthralled the fans in Munich last year”, Patrik Kühnen is pleased about the newcomer’s renewed commitment. Last year’s finalist Guido Pella, who had to play his way through qualifying last year and is now back in 61st place in the world rankings, has also registered for Munich.
From a German perspective, Alexander Zverev will be joined by his brother Mischa, three-time Munich champion Philipp Kohlschreiber, Davis Cup player Jan Lennard Struff, Maximilian Marterer and Florian Mayer.