Sometimes in professional sports it is not only what happens on the pitch or on the court that is interesting, but also what happens off it – in an industry of event staging, career managing, cross marketing, as well as brand creating and implementing.
This is why it is particularly interesting to hear that the agency Perfect Match, owned and run by former player Markus Günthardt, has been asked to take over the WTA 500 grass court event in Berlin, from next year onwards. The licence for the event, currently known as the ecotrans Ladies Open, is owned by the Octagon agency and leased to Wimbledon.
In an effort to secure a grass court season of overall excellence, representatives of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon’s Church Road noted how well Perfect Match has staged the WTA 500 in Bad Homburg, a tournament whose licence is directly owned by Wimbledon.
So after the emotion Group withdrew as tournament organizer of Berlin’s ecotrans Ladies Open, it seemed logical for Wimbledon to approach Günthardt’s company to take over.
The 66 year old Swiss is an expert in running women’s tennis tournaments as not only is he involved in Bad Homburg, but has held the role of Tournament Director of Stuttgart’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, another WTA 500, since 2005.
“For me, in these early stages of event planning, the architect and the caterer are the two main people to talk to,” Günthardt explained (in German) to tennis MAGAZIN.
“We want to create entertainment and a tournament experience that makes everybody want to return: players, spectators, sponsors, media and VIPs.”
Similarly to Wimbledon and Bad Homburg, where established local tennis clubs host professional tennis events, LTTC Rot-Weiß Berlin is the host for the ecotrans Ladies Open.
Günthardt continued, “The club hosting the event, LTTC Rot-Weiß Berlin, is important to us, so that its members fully support the tournament and then see themselves reflected in it.
“Also, the representatives of the City of Berlin need to be heard and understood. The event location in Berlin is in [the forest area] Grunewald, on the outskirts of Berlin, so the city residents have to be persuaded to travel there. [Whereas] the tournament location in Bad Homburg is in the centre of a town of 55,000 people.”
Berlin on the other hand has a population of 3.6 million and is Germany’s capital again since the country’s re-unification. It has grown into one of Europe’s cosmopolitan hotspots.
Tennis is coming back to the city one more time this year as the Laver Cup will be held in Berlin from 20–22.09.2024 at Uber Arena (formerly Mercedes-Benz Arena). In what may be his farewell performance, Rafael Nadal will play for Team Europe and be captained by Bjorn Borg.
So, there is hope that Berlin transforms back to its former tennis glory – as once upon a time, local tennis hero Gottfried von Cramm, who actually was a member of LTTC Rot-Weiß Berlin, made it to the Wimbledon men’s singles final in 1935, 1936 and 1937.
Title photo of Steffi Graf Stadium in Berlin by Sascha Feuster
Interview with Markus Günthardt by Christian Albrecht Barschel of tennis MAGAZIN