Stuttgart, Germany — After 28 years, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has matured into a tournament that has all the facilities of a modern day WTA event.
Taking the tournament from the town of Filderstadt, just outside of Stuttgart, and bringing it into a brand-new stadium in the city, is only one of the changes to the tournament. The smell of the cabbage fields and the chirps of field birds when driving into Filderstadt, have changed to the smell of exhaust fumes and the sound of traffic, going to the new Porsche Arena. Other than that, the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix has become modern, bigger, and most of all, better.
When the tournament was held in Filderstadt, every player said they really loved to come to the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix because of the atmosphere. It has been a favourite tournament to many players. “We are aiming to attain that same reaction at the new location,” tournament director Markus Guenthardt said.
The reasons why the players always loved to come to Filderstadt were not only that they loved playing at the small venue of the local tennis club. Porsche has always been very kind to the players. They could drive around in a Porsche for a week, purchase one at a reasonable price, or sometimes get one free of charge. The girls also were treated with the famous ‘bed gifts’, which they found on their hotel beds every evening. One day they would find a trendy handbag or perfumes and the next day it could be a handy battery screwdriver. “Very handy, this thing,” Guenthardt said as if he was a stallholder at some market.
The Porsche Tennis organisation will not change any of those little extras that the players won't find at other tournaments around the world.
Porsche always had a small family approach towards the players. Now that they moved to a larger venue, they want to maintain that family-like atmosphere with the players, making them feel welcome and at home far away from their own homes.
“We had to offer something more to the fans and the spectators,” Guenthardt said. “We don’t just want to organize a tennis tournament, it has to be an event. Who is happy with watching eight hours of tennis nowadays?” In Filderstadt, which was small, homey, informal, and maybe even romantic pure, you had two options. You either went back to the overcrowded restaurant and cafe area again, or have a walk outside.
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