It's the comeback of the year at the Rothenbaum! Hamburg tennis legend Tommy Haas is coming back home to play an exhibition against former US Open champion Dominic Thiem on the centre court of the Rothenbaum tennis stadium. It is a clash between two true tennis aesthetes who will also be reviving the one-handed backhand. "High Noon" for the German-Austrian tennis summit is on the final day of the WTA 250s tournament MSC Hamburg Ladies Open 2025 on Sunday, 20 July 2025, at 12 noon. Haas and Thiem will be the "appetiser" for the women's singles final, which starts at 2 pm. The doubles final will then be played. As usual, tickets are valid for the whole day, i.e. for both the exhibition and the final matches of the WTA tournament, and are available in the online ticket shop atwww.hamburg-open.com available. On this MSC Family Day, all children up to the age of 15 have free admission.
Tommy Haas played his last match on Germany's most beautiful centre court in 2017. Back then, he received an ovation from the fans at the Rothenbaum after his defeat to Argentinian Nicolas Kicker. Now the Hamburg tennis fans will embrace their Tommy again with a particularly intense "welcome back" applause. "It will certainly be very emotional to be back on the court in Hamburg and I'm delighted that we've managed to pull it off together. It's been another eight years since my last official match on this court. I have so many memories that I'm sure will come flooding back - and hopefully there will be a lot of fans there to help us all have a great day. And the fact that it's also against Dominic makes it even more special. We've known each other for a long time, of course, but we've never played an official match against each other. Germany against Austria is always special anyway - nobody wants to lose," explains the former world number two, who has remained loyal to the "white sport" since ending his career in 2017, and not just as Tournament Director of the Masters event in Indian Wells. The family man is playing in his fifth year in the Men's 30 Bundesliga for TC Großhesselohe this season and impressively demonstrates in his performances that he is still in really good form.
During his successful career, Haas not only shone with his one-handed backhand, he also won 15 titles and worked his way up to number two in the world rankings. He competed a dozen times at his home tournament at the Rothenbaum and reached the semi-finals on his debut in 1997, where he lost to Felix Mantilla. In 2012, he even made it to the final, but had to congratulate Juan Monaco on his victory. However, it was never enough for the Hamburg crowd favourite to win a Grand Slam title.
Dominic Thiem has that ahead of him. The Lower Austrian triumphed in the 2020 US Open final against Alexander Zverev and celebrated the greatest success of his professional career in the Arthur Ashe Stadium, in which he won a total of 17 tournaments and reached three other Grand Slam finals. Last autumn, the 31-year-old had to end his career due to the after-effects of a serious wrist injury. Before that, however, he learnt to appreciate and love the tournament at the Rothenbaum. Thiem has been a guest in Hamburg three times and reached the quarter-finals at the Hamburg European Open in 2018 and 2019. "It will definitely be a special match against Tommy - and in his home town, too. I have really fond memories of my matches in Hamburg, the atmosphere in the stadium at the Rothenbaum is always something special. I really like northern Germany in general - Hamburg is a great city and I've been on holiday to Sylt a few times. I'm really looking forward to celebrating a cool tennis event with Tommy and the fans!" says Thiem, who recently picked up a racket again and celebrated a successful "mini comeback" in the Vienna Landesliga A. His guest appearance in the Hanseatic city is now likely to be a somewhat bigger challenge.
"Tommy Haas against Dominic Thiem in Hamburg - it's an absolute dream come true for all of us. It's a duel between two absolute favourites and it's the classic match between Germany and Austria. That's as good as it gets. Now we all want to celebrate a big tennis festival together on our final day and hope for a sold-out stadium. We'll simply all meet at the Rothenbaum," says Tournament Director Sandra Reichel full of anticipation.