The Hamburg European Open (formerly ''German Open Tennis Championships'') is an annual

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

tournament for professional players held in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

, Germany and part of the

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, a ...

(ATP) Tour. Before 2021, it was a male-only event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the tennis center ''

Am Rothenbaum Am Rothenbaum is the site of the main tennis court of the German Open Tennis Championships, played in the Harvestehude quarter of Hamburg, Germany. Though the site is called "Tennisstadion am Rothenbaum" (lit. ''Tennis Stadium at the Rothenbaum' ...

'' in the Harvestehude quarter. For much of its history, the tournament was contested in May, as a precursor to the

French Open The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ve ...

on the professional tennis calendar. Starting with the 2009 tournament, it has been held in July instead. The women's event was held initially separately from 1982 to 1983 (in Hittfeld), and again from 1987 through to 2002. It was part of the

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

and existed under several different sponsored names, most commonly known as the Citizen Cup (1987–1995) and the Betty Barclay Cup (1999–2002). WTA Hamburg was the location where

Monica Seles Monica Seles (; hu, Széles Mónika, ; sr, Моника Селеш, Monika Seleš; born December 2, 1973) is a retired professional tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. A former world No. 1, she won nine Grand Sla ...

, then-world No.1, was stabbed during a match by a disorderly local tennis fan on April 30, 1993. In 2021, Hamburg returned to the calendar of the WTA tour, becoming part of its WTA 250 series category of tournaments.

History

The inaugural edition was held at the 'Eisenbahnverein auf der Uhlenhorst' (Uhlenhorst Railway Club) and was played in a best-of-three sets format. From the second edition in 1893 onward the tournament was a best-of-five sets until 2007 when it reverted (like other non Grand Slam events) to a best-of-three sets final. The first five editions, from 1892 to 1896, were exclusively open to German and Austrian players. From 1898 to 1901 the German Championships were held in

Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's official name is ''Bad Homburg v.d.Höhe'', w ...

. A men's doubles event was added to the tournament in 1902. In 1924, the tournament permanently moved to the current location in

. The German Open was a combined men's and women's tournament up until 1979 when the WTA event was moved to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Men's

The tournament joined the Grand Prix Tour from 1971 to 1989 with mixed importance. With the creation of the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organ ...

in 1990, the tournament was immediately classed as an

ATP Masters Series The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...

event up until 2008. In 2009 the tournament was downgraded to an ATP Tour 500 event. According to tournament officials, this seriously hinders its ability to attract top-ranking players, who are more likely to participate in tournaments that earn them more points. Tournament officials sued the ATP in 2007 to stop the downgrade but a US jury decided in 2008 that it did not constitute a breach of monopoly laws. After a court-ordered mediation the tournament saw its appeal to the verdict rejected in 2010. As the tournament stands now with its new position in the ATP calendar, it is an attractive event for many players who dislike playing on faster surfaces. Its new position will prevent top-ranked players from playing there, since it is after Wimbledon and the focus moves towards preparing for the North American summer hardcourt surface before the start of the U.S. Open.

Women's

The German Championships were a combined men's and women's tournament held in Hamburg up until the women's event moved to West Berlin in 1979. The women's championships were established in 1896 and held 66 editions with the men's event before the decision to separate the two events. A new WTA Hamburg tournament was established in 1982, three years after the separation of the men's and women's German Open. This tournament was held the week prior to the men's German Open (whilst the women's German Open was held the week following the men's event in West Berlin). It existed as a lower tier tournament in 1982 and 1983 before a hiatus for three years. It was held in Hittfield. When the tournament then returned in 1987, it was held at

in September with German

Steffi Graf Stefanie Maria Graf ( , ; born 14 June 1969) is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, ...

winning the tournament. The German Open (men's) was held in late April to early May (with the women's event being held in Berlin from 11 May). In 1990 the tournament was promoted to Tier II status which it maintained until 2002 when the tournament was discontinued. It has been known by various names; the Casino Cup (1982), Fila Europa Cup (1983), Citizen Cup (1987–95), Rexona Cup (1996–97), Intersport Damen Grand Prix (1998), and Betty Barclay Cup (1999–2002). On April 30, 1993, Monica Seles, then-world No.1, was stabbed by a disorderly local tennis fan during a quarterfinal match with

Magdalena Maleeva Magdalena Georgieva Maleeva ( bg, Магдалена Георгиева Малеева, ; born 1 April 1975) is a Bulgarian former professional tennis player. She played on the WTA Tour competing in singles and doubles, from April 1989 to Octo ...

. Seles never played in Germany again after the incident. Between 2003 and 2020, no tournaments were held in Hamburg. Hamburg returned to the WTA calendar in 2021 after it secured license in the 250 series from the Baltic Open that was previously held in Jurmala, Latvia.

holds the record for the most wins at WTA Hamburg, winning it six times consecutively from 1987–1992. She also finished runner-up a further two times.

Champions

Men's singles

;Key

Women's singles

''This section contains information of finals for WTA Hamburg (1982–2002) and Hamburg European Open (from 2021) only.
''For information regarding finals of the

German Open German Open is a name given to many sports events established in Germany, and include: *German Open (badminton), an annual badminton tournament held since 1955. * German Open (golf), was a golf tournament on the European Tour *German Masters, a snoo ...

that was held concurrently with the men's event up to and including 1978, please see German Open (WTA) Past finals.''

Men's doubles