The Gerry Weber Open in Halle is one of the opening events of the whistle stop grass-court season which is all done and dusted in five frantic weeks from June through to the start of July.

 

An ATP 250 tournament held since 1993, it has offered a haven for those players seeking to avoid all the pre-Wimbledon hubbub now gathering momentum in the UK. It’s also an event where the old-fashioned grass-court specialists tend to thrive. The courts are far faster than the grass used at Wimbledon these days and as a result, big servers with the ability to get forward enjoy plenty of success here.

 

Roger Federer has been the undisputed superstar of the tournament winning the title five times in succession, including a streak of four in a row between 2003 and 2006. However in recent years Federer has caused some controversy with a series of late withdrawals in 2007, 2009 and 2011 following appearances in the French Open final.

 

Federer is one of three Wimbledon champions to have also triumphed in Halle. Lleyton Hewitt and Michael Stich are the others. Tomas Berdych has also come close to completing the double, winning Halle in 2007 and finishing runner-up at SW19 in 2010.

 

The Centre Court holds an impressive 12,300 seats and joins Wimbledon’s Centre Court as just the second grass-court arena to possess a retractable roof.  This multi-functional stadium is also not just reserved for tennis, hosting a variety of other sporting competitions from boxing to handball.

To watch free live streams of the Halle Open online, simply open a free account with one of our fully licensed live streaming partners such as bet365. To access the live feed, go to bet365 > live streaming tennis.