Topic: Gerry Weber

The Gerry Weber Open is a tennis tournament held in Halle, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Held since 1993, the tournament is played on four outdoor grass courts and is a part of the ATP World Tour 250 series on the ATP Tour schedule.

The Centre Court (the Gerry Weber Stadion) has 12,300 seats and a retractable roof which can be closed in 88 seconds so that tennis games can continue with a closed roof when it begins to rain. The stadium is heated and also used for other sport events (handball, basketball, volleyball and boxing) and concerts.

Swiss World No. 3 Roger Federer has won the Halle tournament five times (2003-06, 2008) and holds the record for most singles titles. Federer also won four of them in consecutive years, and every time Federer won the title except in 2008, he went on to win the title at the Wimbledon Championships. Federer withdrew from the 2007, 2009 and 2011 tournaments, citing fatigue after the French Open. After Federer released his statement regarding his withdrawal from the 2011 tournament, Ralf Weber, the tournament director, released a statement that was considered to be very critical of Federer, and potentially damaging to their relationship.