Monday 15 June 2015 09:52, UK
The Gerry Weber Open from Halle is a tournament held in the North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany since 1993 and attracts the world's best players.
The re-categorised ATP World Tour 500 event has grown in size every year and now holds its own against rival grass-court events such as the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club which takes place at the same time between 15-21 June.
With Halle coming to Sky Sports 3 on Monday 15 June, we take a look at five reasons why you should tune in to watch this unique grass-court tournament …
Roger Federer
The main man Federer is not only a 17-time Grand Slam champion but a regular at Halle. He holds a fine 46-5 record in Germany.
He also holds the record for most overall titles (seven - 2003-06, 2008, 2013-14) and most consecutive titles (four), as well as most finals (nine, 2003-06, 2008, 2010, 2012-14).
The Swiss maestro won his first title 12 years ago when he beat Germany's Nicolas Kiefer in straight sets.
He has since disposed of Mardy Fish, Marat Safin, Tomas Berdych, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mikhail Youzhny and Alejandro Falla last year to reach a magnificent seven crowns.
History
The tournament has been running for 22 years with Frenchman Henri Leconte winning the inaugural event against Andrei Medvedev from Ukraine.
It has also crowned five German winners since 1993 with Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer (1999), David Prinosil (2000), Tommy Haas (2009 and 2012) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011) all winning.
Tennis all day long ...
The Centre Court (the Gerry Weber Stadion) has 12,300 seats and a retractable roof which can be closed in just 88 seconds. The stadium is state of the art and is one of the best on tour. It is also used for other sport events such as handball, basketball, volleyball, boxing and pop concerts.
Star names
With prize money doubling to €1,696,645, Halle is now attracting even more top names from the world of tennis. Federer is the headine act. He owns 14 grass titles and 131 match wins for just 19 losses.
This year the event also includes US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori, Czech Tomas Berdych, French duo Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils, Spain's Tommy Robredo, Bernard Tomic from Australia and young Austrian hope Dominic Thiem. In the doubles, Bob and Mike Bob Bryan will be favourites to land yet another title.
It's on grass ...
The grass-court season has been extended to three weeks before the start of Wimbledon at the end of June which gives players more time to adjust to the surface, speed and low rebound.
A good performance in Germany is usually a good indicator for any player ahead of the third Grand Slam of the year at the All England Club.
