Wildcards for Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Sabine Lisicki

Stuttgart. The main draw field of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will include two Germans as Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Sabine Lisicki were both given wildcards by the organisers of the 700,000 dollar tournament, which will be held for the first time on clay in Stuttgart’s Porsche Arena from 25 April to 3 May.

“Anna-Lena and Sabine are currently Germany’s top players and we therefore wanted to present them to our spectators,” said Tournament Director Markus Günthardt. As they will be playing for the German Fed Cup team against China in Frankfurt over the same Porsche Tennis Grand Prix qualifying weekend, without a wildcard there would have been no other way for them to get a place in the main draw field which is littered with seven Top Ten players. Markus Günthardt: “They shouldn’t be at a disadvantage because they’re playing for Germany. That’s why we gave them a wildcard.”

Anna-Lena Grönefeld, No. 55 in the WTA world rankings, won the doubles title at last year’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix when partnered by Patty Schnyder (Switzerland). Sabine Lisicki reached the semifinals in Memphis/USA. She is world ranked No. 62.

08/04/2009