Munich 2026 - ATP 500 Preview

Here is my Preview of the Munich ATP 500 tournament (BMW Open by Bitpanda).

In 2025, this event was upgraded to become an ATP 500.

Munich is played on medium-pace clay courts.

Speed Data

These are the average stats of the last five years:

• 68.1% Points won on the First Serve
• 76.3% Service Holds
• 0.31 Aces/Game
• 0.12 TB/Set

Munich sits at an altitude of around 500 metres above sea level. The conditions there are usually on the heavy side, but the altitude helps the ball travel faster. As the stats show, that combination places Munich roughly in the middle of the pack in terms of court speed compared with the rest of the clay-court calendar.

Past Winners 

2025: Zverev d. Shelton

2024: Struff d. Fritz

2023: Rune d. Van de Zandschulp

2022: Rune d. Van de Zandschulp

2021: Basilashvili d. Struff

Zverev and Kohlschreiber has won this tournament 3 times and Rune twice.

Weather

Next week in Munich, daytime conditions look typically spring-like: temperatures mostly range between 12–18°C (54–64°F), with a cooler start to the week and a milder finish; humidity will generally sit around 55–75% during the day, occasionally higher during showery periods; expect light to moderate winds around 10–20 km/h (6–12 mph); and while Monday to Wednesday bring a higher chance of intermittent rain, conditions should turn drier and brighter from Thursday onwards.

Player Quotes

Altmaier, 2026: "I arrived here on Thursday to prepare for the altitude. You either have to train a lot or play many matches to gain confidence in these conditions. With every round you win, you start to feel better."

Shelton, 2025: "It was tough conditions, going from cold weather to really warm today. Compared to yesterday, it went from no bounce to a lot of bounce."

"When you get hot weather over here in Europe, the clay plays really fast. But if it’s cold and heavy, you can swing for the fences and it only goes five feet. The weather is so much more of a factor — it affects how the ball flies through the air and comes off the ground."

Marozsan, 2025: "Last time we played in Monte Carlo, it was much faster. Here, because it was very cold, the balls were very slow and there were a lot of long rallies."

F. Cerundolo, 2025: "The ball bounces a lot. It’s a little bit fast, not too much."

Struff, 2025: "Normally German clay is a bit tricky because it’s very heavy. But here it’s flying through the air more because of the altitude, and I would say clay is my favourite surface. I can play on all surfaces, but if you gave me one surface to play on, it would be clay — fast clay."

M. Zverev (tournament director), 2025, when asked about the new center court: "Every court is different. Every time you even come to the same places, something changes. Patrik Kühnen played here a few days ago and he said that when you hit the ball, the sound the ball and the racket make is very unique, different to other Center Courts. That will change a few things here and there. "The temperatures will play a big role. Today we have 20 degrees Celsius, it feels like super warm. But maybe in a week from now it could be much cooler and it might be little wet. It feels like you are playing in different seasons. Like always, it will be challenging but players are ready. It’s a big and very important tournament these days. You will have a 6,000 people cheering you on and they not gonna let you down."

Draper, 2024: "We played an amazing level in the first set. Conditions were rainy, the court was slow. It was tough to come out and play in a certain way. In the second and third set, the sun comes out, feeling better and better. It was a challenge and we both had to stay mentally good. I am really proud of the way I played."

Thiem, 2024: "I like playing at altitude. I arrived here pretty early on Friday and had some good practice sessions over the last couple of days." 

Fritz, 2023: It’s extremely nice here and I am excited to play. I played in Barcelona in the past and I wanted to play here. There is a bit of altitude here, which is good for my game and I thought it would be also a good preparation for Madrid." 

Hanfmann, 2023: “I love this court very much. I really like it here. It's close to my practice court in Munich. The altitude is great.” 

Zverev, 2023: "I feel very comfortable here in Munich, although it's pretty cold and that's not good for me. I hope the weather will get better, because I also won both of my tournaments in warm temperatures.” 

Heliovaara (Finnish doubles player), 2022: “Munich is located just over 500 metres above sea level, which makes the ball fly a little further than usual and that always takes a while to get used to. However, the weather is still quite cool and humid at this time of year, which slows down things a bit, though it's always good to get used to the conditions as quickly as possible. 

Summary

The conditions in Munich are quite unique. 

The altitude makes the ball travel much faster, but at the same time, there's usually humidity and cold, which makes the surface heavier. So it's very important to know what kind of day we'll have. On contrary, if it's hot, with the altitude, the conditions can be really fast.

First days of the week will be more humid, so the conditions will be slower.

So, we can sum it up as “fast through the air, slow on the ground” when wet and very quick overall when hot.

These are unusual conditions, and adapting to the surface—and therefore arriving in time to practice—is more important than in other tournaments.

Draws

Here’s the links to the draws, that you can check it anytime to follow the latest updates and see which players advance through each round.

Main draw: https://www.protennislive.com/posting/2026/308/mds.pdf

Qualifying draw: https://www.protennislive.com/posting/2026/308/qs.pdf