Stockholm

Stockholm (/ˈstɒkhoʊm, -hoʊlm/;Swedish pronunciation: [ˈstɔkːˈɔlm, ˈstɔkˈhɔlm]( pronunciation)) is the capital of Sweden and the most populous city in the Nordic region, with 921,504 people living in the municipality, approximately 1.4 million in the urban area, and 2.2 million in the metropolitan area. The city is spread across 14 islands on the coast in the southeast of Sweden at the mouth of Lake Mälaren, by the Stockholm archipelago and the Baltic Sea. The area has been settled since the Stone Age, in the 6th millennium BC, and was founded as a city in 1252 by Birger Jarl. It is also the capital of Stockholm County.

Stockholm is the cultural, media, political, and economic centre of Sweden. The Stockholm region alone accounts for over a third of the country's GDP, and is among the top 10 regions in Europe by GDP per capita. It is an important global city, and the main centre for corporate headquarters in the Nordic region. The city is home to some of Europe's top ranking universities, such as the Karolinska Institute and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and hosts the annual Nobel Prize ceremonies and banquet at the Stockholm Concert Hall and Stockholm City Hall. One of the city's most prized museums, the Vasa Museum, is the most visited non-art museum in Scandinavia. The Stockholm metro, opened in 1950, is well known for its decoration of the stations; it has been called the longest art gallery in the world. Sweden's national football arena is located north of the city centre, in Solna. Ericsson Globe, the national indoor arena, is in the southern part of the city. The city was the host of the 1912 Summer Olympics, and hosted the equestrian portion of the 1956 Summer Olympics otherwise held in Melbourne, Australia.

Stockholm Open

The Stockholm Open (currently sponsored by If) is a tennis event on the ATP Tour held in Stockholm, Sweden in the end of October or beginning of November each year. The tournament is owned by The Royal Lawn Tennis Club of Stockholm 40%, SALK (Stockholm Public Lawn Tennis Club) 40% and Tennis Stockholm 20%.

The first Stockholm Open was held in 1969 and it has been played each year ever since. The tournament is played on indoor hard-court and features both men's singles and doubles tournament. In 1975, 1979, and 1980, a short-lived women's competition was held, which was played on carpet.

History

In March 1969 the World Championship Tennis organization made a request to former tennis player Sven Davidson to organize a tournament in Sweden. This led to the inaugural edition of the Stockholm Open in November 1969 in Kungliga tennishallen in Stockholm. It has been held there ever since except for the years 1989 to 1994 when it was held in the Ericsson Globe Arena. Between 1970 and 1989 it was a major ranking tournament of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour as part of the Grand Prix Super Series (except from 1981 to 1983, when it was briefly downgraded).