25 Years INTERSPORT HeilbronnOpen – powered by FPT. Stefan Edberg, Goran Ivanisevic, Henri Leconte und Carl-Uwe Steeb return to the center court, celebrating the anniversary and presenting with the „ChampionsNight“ a one-time showevent. Only Stefan Edberg has never been on a players list in the history of the HeilbronnOpen.
Another sensation crowned this Anniversary-Tournament: With the russian Andrey Golubev a qualifier won the HeilbronnOpen for the first time.

The tennis-courts of the Tennis-Center Talheim became a new  DecoTurf pavement (US Open pavement) and two Axial-Fans for better cooling during the tournament were installed.

With the INTERSPORT SatelliteMasters – powered by GETRAG there was a type of „Mini-HeilbronnOpen“ at the Tennis-Center Talheim . This should remain a one-time event.

The Village was able to move out of a tent-city under a solid roof. Just in time for the start of the 20th international tournament in Talheim the extension of the tennis-center got ready. A perfect opportunity for the catering-service and enough space for huge parties. A new VIP-area also enhances this tournament.

ATP awarded the HeilbronnOpen as the best Challenger-Tournament. Anew distinctions in 2001 and 2002.

To the end of the year for the first time the visitors are able to get there tickets “online” over the internet.

The Center Court now has a capacity of almost 1.500 visitors, this provides a great atmosphere. For the first time within the tournament there was hold the Nike Junior ChallengerCup. The press obtained better working conditions and in the outskirt area of the tennis center a big tent as “Village” was built.

After the tournament the Tennis Center Talheim was extended. The Center Court was aranged in the higher level with a solid grandstand.

Nicolas Kiefer apeared on the center court of the HeilbronnOpen, but lost in the 1st round against Lorenzo Manta (Switzerland). The matches were carried out on a new Taraflex-flooring. The tournament was also present in the internet for the 1st time.

The prize money was raised up to 125.000 US-Dollar  (incl.Hospitality). The tournament-winner price was 14.400 US-Dollar. But Tournament-Winner David Prinosil went for the alternative and chose a Fiat Tipo 16V sponsored by main sponsor FIAT. He wanted to give the car to his mother as a present, but thieves anticipated him. He was more lucky a few months later: With Marc-Kevin Goellner he achieved the double finals at the French Open. And in the late autumn the German Daviscup-Team won the trophy for the 3rd time.

The prize money was raised up to 75.000 US-Dollar  (incl.Hospitality).

The most famous player of the tournament was the iranian “Tennisclown” Mansour Bahrami. With Gunter Wehnert a DDR-Topplayer played for the first time after the German Reunion. In corelation with the portrait about Udo Riglewski in the program the now generally known tournament-slogan “We will take you to the Top!” appears.  The PlayerNight had its premiere and became a well-known cultural-event during the years

The „HeilbronnOpen“ as a ATP-Tournament was born. It the first time that the challenge is about ATP-Worldranking points. The tournament was arranged with 25.000 US-Dollar prize money (+ 25.000 US-Dollar Hospitality). The male-winner received 5.000 US-Dollar and 30 Weltranking points. Firstr HeilbronnOpen-winner was Udo Riglewski single matches and with Jaromir Becka also in the double matches. Most famous tournament visitor was Daviscup-Teamboss Niki Pilic. In the late autumn under his lead Boris Becker & Co. won the Daviscup for Germany for the first time.

Sean Sorensen and Matt Doyle, Irish Daviscupplayer, convinced Uli Eimüllner to integrate his tournament into the ATP. During these days Doyle was player-speaker at the ATP. Eimüllner knew Sorensen – Player at the TEC Waldau Stuttgart – and Doyle from the first tournaments in Talheim (1982, 83), before they were carried out as DITT-tournaments.

For the first time there were qualifications for men and women. The tournament started on Tuesday and already had two parties on the programme (on Friday and Saturday). A rolex watch was presented to the male winner (Carl-Uwe Steeb), an Ebel watch, worth 2.150 DM, was presented to the female winner (Lilian Drescher, Switzerland). Most of the women’s tournaments took place at the Lauffen tennis hall and had a small response from the public – as it went down into the annals

At the end of the same year the second tournament took place with an even better players’ group. Besides the men (winners were Wolfgang Popp and Udo Riglewsi/Sean Sorensen) women were invited too. Female winners were Christina Singer and Christina Singer/Kerstin Reuter.

Uli Eimüllner and Peter “Larry” Litterer organized the first tournament in the tennis halls of Talheim and Lauffen. With the help of Rolf Pinner, the then President of the DITT (Deutsche Interessengemeinschaft der Tennis-Turnierspieler) at first go a very attractive Gentlemen-Group could be found. Scores for the German ranking list could be gained. The winner at singles was Udo Riglewski who also won the doubles together with Dr. Hartmut Kirchhübel.

The idee was born after a hard training, when Uli Eimüllner and Peter Litterre compensated their dehydration with one or two wheat beers. “Let’s have a tournament. We invite some really good players and offer to our region more than a regional level”. Three months later the first tournament started.