Czech tennis player Tomas Berdych has been announced to be playing at this year's Atp Stuttgart, June 12-19. The 31-year-old is set to play tennis on grass in the opening week of the grass season. The Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart is played in the first week of that part of the season along, along with the ATP's Hertogenbosch.
Berdych will be making his sixth career appearance at Stuttgart if nothing goes wrong. The world number 11 hasn't played in Stuttgart since his first-round exit in 2009. His best result at the tournament so far has been the semi-final achieved back in 2006.
Also, Berdych will be playing for the first time on the grass courts of the Mercedes Cup. In 2015, the tournament made a switch from clay to grass. The player from the Czech Republic prefers faster surfaces, and that was maybe one of the reasons for his decision to play again in Stuttgart.
Berdych has captured one ATP title on grass so far in his career, making it all the way in 2007 in Halle. He was the 2010 Wimbledon runner-up to Rafa Nadal and last year's semi-finalist at the same event, where he was defeated by eventual champion Andy Murray.
Feliciano Lopez joins Berdych
World number 40 Lopez is also expected to play tennis at this year's ATP Stuttgart. The 35-year-old is set to make another appearance at the Mercedes Cup once the event kicks off.
The Spaniard has played at the tournament since its switch to grass.
Tomas Berdych & Feliciano Lopez join Roger Federer, Grigor Dimitrov & Tommy Haas to play Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart.
— Michal Samulski (@MichalSamulski) April 25, 2017
Though Lopez is known as a good player on grass, he has yet to notch a good result at Stuttgart.
His best result at the tournament was the last four stage achieved in 2007 while the tournament was played on clay. Lopez exited the Stuttgart event in the round-of-16 in 2015 and lost his opening round match last year.
Richard Gasquet set for a comeback
French tennis player Richard Gasquet has been confirmed for ATP's s'Hertogenbosch.
The Frenchman is set to make his second appearance at the event, the first one since his debut year at the Ricoh Open in 2008. Back then, the 31-year-old ended on the losing side to now retired French tennis player Marc Gicquel.
ANNOUNCEMENT: Nr 23 of the world, @RichardGasquet1, will be back in Rosmalen and play at #RicohOpen! pic.twitter.com/zEtHNQfctp
— Ricoh Open🎾 (@RicohOpen) April 25, 2017
Gasquet made it all the way twice in his career at an ATP grass court event. Both of his grass court wins were achieved at the same place -- in Nottingham -- in 2005 and 2006.
