Vito F Outdoor Challenge meets MercedesCup

At the 21st MercedesCup (until 25th July, 1999) the best clay court specialists in the world are competing for 1.4 million dollars prize money, valuable ATP points and a zircon-green Mercedes-Benz SL 320. To the joy of the spectators and the organizers: there are still five of the original seven German participants in the main field. And both organizers and spectators are watching 19-year-old Mercedes Junior Team member Björn Phau very closely.

Also guests at Weissenhof is a Vito F Outdoor Challenge team. This sporting event will take place this year in Lech am Arlberg, Austria. Mixed teams of two from all over Europe will compete in six different outdoor sports in September, 1999. MercedesCup visitors over 18 can register at the information booth.

The spectators went through a whole variety of emotions at the 21st MercedesCup.  Title defender and the public's darling Gustavo Kuerten retired totally exhausted from the match against Magnus Norman at a score of 2:5 in the first set, after that the match between Tommy Haas and Mariano Puerta was cancelled because the Argentinian was ill. His double was also cancelled in the evening because his partner Javier Sanchez also fell ill. But the public was more than compensated by a number of super encounters. First and foremost was the duel between Marcelo Rios and Hernan Gumy which lasted two hours and eighteen minutes and proved to be a genuine thriller: 6:7 (2:7), 7:6 (8:6), 6:0 which only had a happy end for the Chilean.