The entry list of the bett1open WTA 500 tournament is led by the two current best players in the world: Ashleigh Barty and Naomi Osaka.
Berlin, 19th May 2021. – The tennis elite will meet at the bett1open in Berlin! In only 24 days the WTA 500 tournament will celebrate its premiere on the grass courts of the LTTC “Rot-Weiß” e.V. (12th-20th June 2021). The roster of players will have fans’ eyes shine. “We have eight (8) of the Top 10 players in the world coming to Berlin. Adding the German number 1, Angelique Kerber, and you get a world-class tennis festival”, says tournament director Barbara Rittner.
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Besides the current No.1 and No.2 in the world, Ashleigh Barty (Australia/1) and Naomi Osaka (Japan/2), Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus/4), Sofia Kenin (USA/5), Elina Svitolina (Ukraine/6), Bianca Andreescu (CAN/7), Iga Swiatek (Poland/9) and Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic/10) have committed to the tournament.
The field is completed by the Top 20 players Belinda Bencic (Switzerland/11), Petra Kvitova (Czech Repulic/12), Garbine Muguruza (Spain/13), Jennifer Brady (USA/14), Victoria Azarenka (Belarus/16), Maria Sakkari (Greece/18) and Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic/19). Altogether, there will be 15 players out of the Top 20 in the world playing in Berlin! “I’m looking forward to see all those great players in our traditional Steffi-Graf-Stadium”, says Rittner. “I am proud of this group of players, which is not a given.” The quality of the entry list underlines the fact that the participants of the bett1openhave won 17 Grand Slam singles titles together.
Angelique Kerber – the German figurehead
“The top-class entry list and Angelique Kerber as German figurehead promise world-class tennis. We all hope to welcome fans to the premiere of the bett1open so that the fans and the players can celebrate the return of women’s tennis to Berlin together”, explains Adam Szpyt, founder and CEO of bett1.de.
Edwin Weindorfer, CEO of the e|motion group and organizer of the bett1open can barely hide his excitement: “Together with bett1 and despite the difficult situation, we managed to put together an extraordinary event, which will bring Grand Slam flair to Berlin just shortly before the season’s highlight in Wimbledon. The first edition of a tournament couldn’t boast a better entry list than we do.”
33-year old Kerber, the Wimbledon winner of 2018, is currently ranked no. 26 in the world and could follow in the footsteps of Steffi Graf, who was the last German player to win the women’s tournament in Berlin (1996) – back then still on a clay court!
