Munich. BMW will remain the title partner of the iconic tennis tournament at MTTC Iphitos in Munich in the coming years. The successful partnership, which began back in 1987, has been extended on a long-term basis. Next year, the BMW Open will be held as an ATP 500 tournament for the first time.
“The title partnership with the BMW Open is one of the most established of the BMW sporting engagements,” said Christian Ach, Head of BMW Gewrmany. “Over the course of what is soon to become four decades, BMW has actively supported the tournament and contributed to the success it enjoys today. The upgrade to the 500 category is now the next big step. We want to, and will, take this step together with our long-term partners. We are very excited about the future.”
Over the past few days, the BMW Open was held as a 250 tournament for the final time. And it set a new benchmark: for the first time in the history of the iconic tournament in Munich, all nine days were sold out. Despite unsettled weather, more than 50,000 spectators turned up to watch the 37th BMW Open – and were once again treated to top-class tennis.
“We always want to create special experiences for our customers and the fans. This week at the BMW Open showed once again, both on and off the court, that we are very good at achieving that here,” said Ach, going on to mention the upgrade to an ATP 500 tournament. “Next year, we will definitely come up with something special. The BMW Group is very much looking forward to it.”
The upgrade to a 500 tournament, which the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) decided upon at the end of last year, means that the BMW Open will now be just one category below the nine Masters 1000 events on the ATP Tour. As such, the iconic tournament at Aumeisterweg will attract even more of the world’s elite tennis players in the future.
In recent years, the BMW Open has been graced by such superstars as Roger Federer (SUI) and Olympic champion Andy Murray (GBR). In 2024, Germany’s Olympic gold medallist Alexander Zverev (GER), former US Open champion Dominic Thiem (AUT) and last year’s winner Holger Rune (DEN) set out to win the title at one of the toughest clay tournaments in the world.
For many years, a special highlight has been the BMW Winner’s Car, which the BMW Open champion receives along with the trophy, Lederhosen and prize money – this year an all-electric BMW i5. BMW will again present the BMW Winner’s Car in the spring in 2025: despite the upgrade to a 500 tournament, the 2025 BMW Open will still be played in April.