The Berlin Open is a WTA 500 event held on outdoor grass courts each season. It is one of Germany’s largest female tennis events. Often, the event is called the German Open or Berlin Ladies Open, and it was called also the bett1 Open for sponsorship reasons.
This tennis competition is one of the oldest in Germany, and its roots are in the 19th century. Originally, the event took place in Hamburg, Germany. However, the venue changed in 1978 and moved to West Berlin, and the opening took place at the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club.
Also, the Berlin Open was an outdoor clay competition until 2008. After 2008, the event went on a hiatus before being reinstated in 2020 as a WTA 500 event. Although, the return of the Berlin Open was delayed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officially, Germany’s premier outdoor grass competition returned in 2021 at the Rot-Weiss Tennis Club.
Russian player Liudmila Samsonova won the competition’s singles title in 2021 after she defeated Belinda Bencic in the final. Historically, German players have performed well at the Berlin Open. When the event was held in Hamburg, Ilse Friedleben won the title six times.
Compatriot Hilde Sperling then matched Friedleben’s record in 1939 with six wins of her own. However, 22-time Grand Slam winner Steffi Graf holds the all-time singles record for the Berlin Open.
Between 1987 and 1996, Graff won nine Berlin Open titles - all on clay. Since the change in surface to grass, there have been three separate singles winners at the Berlin Open. Samsonova’s inaugural victory was followed by Ons Jabeur and Petra Kvitova.
