The clay court season is nearly upon us, and several players have already organised their line-ups at tennis hits Europe for the first time in 2026.
Jack Draper has signed up for the Barcelona Open, while Emma Raducanu has added Linz to her clay court schedule.
There are feweer Masters events on the clay for the WTA Tour, which makes some of the smaller events even more appealing for the bigger stars.
Coco Gauff has added Stuttgart to her schedule and she’s been joined by 13 other stars from the top 20 of the rankings.
The Stuttgart Open announces bumper line-up
The Stuttgart Women’s Open is the second WTA 500 event of the clay court season and it has attracted all four of the top players in the rankings.
Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek, and Gauff are set to play the German event, with Sabalenka and Gauff looking to win the event for the first time.
Aryna Sabalenka or Iga Swiatek… who do you prefer? 🤔
They will be joined by three more top 10 players, as Jasmine Paolini, Elina Svitolina, and Mirra Andreeva are also set to play.
Five more stars from the WTA Tour top 20 will also feature, with Ekaterina Alexandrova, Linda Noskova, Karolina Muchova, Clara Tauson, and Elise Mertens also on the sign-up list for Stuttgart.
They will be joined by a typically star-studded set of wild cards, with Laura Siegemund, Eva Lys, and Ella Seidel receiving instant access into the main draw.
The last five Stuttgart Open winners
The Stuttgart Women’s Open has often been one of the players’ favourite spots of the entire season, and it has been voted as such in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.
The list of winners over the years has been star-studded, too, with players such as Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, and Lindsay Davenport lifting the trophy.
Is Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina the best rivalry in women’s tennis right now?
If not, who is?
In the last five years, the tournament has been won by Swiatek on two occasions, as well as Rybakina, Jelena Ostapenko, and Ashleigh Barty.
Stuttgart Women’s Open winners since 2021
World number one Sabalenka, meanwhile, has reached four finals in the last five years without winning the event.
