MERCEDESCUP: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Monday, June 6, 2016 TC Weissenhof, Stuttgart, Germany | June 6 – 12, 2016 Draw: S-28, D-16 | Prize Money: €675,645 | Surface: Grass ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.mercedescup.de Martin Dagahs:
[email protected] @ATPWorldTour @MercedesCup #MercedesCup Press Room: +49 711 32095705 facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/mercedescup MERCEDESCUP TALKING POINTS SPOTLIGHT ON STUTTGART: The first edition of the tournament in Stuttgart was held in 1898, with Mercedes-Benz assuming the role of title sponsor in 1979. It is one of the longest-running title sponsors on the ATP World Tour. The top four seeds are: Federer, who is making his Stuttgart debut, Cilic, a semi-finalist last year, Roland Garros semi-finalist Dominic Thiem and Gilles Simon. The other seeds are: Feliciano Lopez, who won the Roland Garros doubles crown (w/M. Lopez), last year’s runner-up Viktor Troicki, German No. 1 Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Lucas Pouille. There are two former champions in the field: wild card Juan Martin del Potro (2008) and Mikhail Youzhny (2002). Troicki (2015) and Kohlschreiber (2013) are former finalists. DAY 1 PREVIEW: There are two main draw singles, four final round qualifying and two doubles matches on Monday’s schedule. In the opening main draw singles match on Center Court, Germans Matthias Bachinger and Florian Mayer meet in a final round qualifying match. In the first main draw match of the tournament, big-serving Sam Groth and Illya Marchenko square off for the second time. Marchenko won the previous meeting in the 1R in Memphis in February.