It was a real tennis summer fairytale! Two years ago, local heroine Noma Noha Akugue stormed into the final of her home tournament at Hamburg's Rothenbaum with a wild card. Now she wants to build on the greatest success of her career to date. The 21-year-old from Reinbek has received a wildcard for the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open (13 to 20 July 2025) from tournament director Sandra Reichel.
In the summer of 2023, Noma Noha Akugue was suddenly mentioned in the same breath as Steffi Graf. Thanks to a truly sensational run, she had the chance to become the first German winner of the Hamburg tennis classic after the tennis icon. Although the Reinbek player lost the final against Aranxta Rus, it was in her home town of Hamburg of all places that the left-hander showed with her impressive athleticism that she has the potential to go far on the WTA Tour. "I don't know why I'm playing so well at the moment, I don't care. I'm just really happy and proud of myself," she said after reaching the final. Noma Noha Akugue showed her class early on: in 2015, at the age of eleven, she became the youngest district champion of all time, and in 2019, at the age of 17, she became the youngest German champion in history.
"I'm delighted to be back at my home tournament. Of course, it's always something very special to play in front of a home crowd. I'll never forget what happened two years ago at the Rothenbaum. The experiences I had back then motivate me again and again. That's why I'm delighted to have been given a wild card for the MSC Hamburg Ladies Open again and would like to thank Sandra Reichel and her team very much," said Akugue ahead of her return to the scene of her greatest success.
"Noma really wowed us all two years ago and we would like to see her build on her performances from that unforgettable week in the summer of 2023. Noma has great potential and we want to support her in her development with this wildcard," explains Tournament Director Sandra Reichel, who is delighted that no German WTA tournament in 2025 will have more German players in the main draw than Hamburg.
Two more main draw wildcards will be awarded before the start of the tournament next weekend.