Sometimes, the Stockholm Open is referred to by its alternate name, the BNP Paribas Nordic Open. The first edition was held in 1969 and took place at the Kungliga Tennishallen (Royal Tennis Hall).
Then, the event briefly changed venue between 1989 and 1994, when it relocated to the Globe Arena. However, the Stockholm Open returned to its historic home of Kungliga Tennishallen in 1995, where it has remained ever since.
Throughout its history, the Stockholm Open has moved up and down the ranking tiers several times. For the first 17 of its 19 19-years in existence, the competition was a Grand Prix Tennis Tour. In 1990, the event was upgraded to the ATP Championship Series Single Week - the equivalent level of today’s ATP 1000 level competition.
Since 1995, the Stockholm Open has remained at the ATP 250 level or equivalent. When the Stockholm Open was in its heyday during the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s, some of the greatest ever men’s players won.
John McEnroe won the title four times between 1979 and 1985, while Boris Becker also emerged as the victor four times in the 80s and 90s. Despite the Stockholm Open’s downgrade to an ATP 250 level competition in 1995, many top players continued to compete in the Swedish tournament.
Former world number one Roger Federer competed at the 2010 Stockholm Open and won the title, beating Florian Mayer in the final. Another former top 10 player to win the event included James Blake, who won consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006.
Juan Martin del Potro, Grigor Dimitrov, Marcos Baghdatis, and Gael Monfils have also achieved success in Stockholm. Since its move to an ATP 250 competition, two players have been tied for the most title wins. Former Swedish number one Thomas Enqvist and former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych both won three times.
