Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

The posh alpine Gstaad ATP event now has a top corporate supporter to match as the Swiss Open takes on private bankers J. Safra Sarasin as a main sponsor. The July 16-24 tournament was won by Austrian Dominic Thiem in 2015.

The elite village in the Alps south of Bern has been a favored holiday haunt of Europe’s jet-setters for decades, with the tennis tournament just part of a summer of sport and cultural offerings.

Tournament officials touted the expected success of the new relationship, which takes effect for the upcoming edition at an event featuring a stadium assembled each year in the ice hockey rink in the center of the village of 2,500 located at 1,050 meters altitude.

“It is an honor for to have such a renowned and experienced partner for our event,” said tournament director Jeff Collet. “This association will allow us to further develop this tournament, and become an institution in Switzerland.”

The small tournament has had its share of bad luck, with the good times of more than a decade ago fondly remembered as the golden period when the rising Roger Federer played – and received a cow as a gift as he arrived after fist winning Wimbledon in 2003 before losing the final to Jiri Novak.

Recent appearance contracts with Stan Wawrinka have produced inadvertent disappointment, with the Swiss forced to withdraw for the last two years with injuries, leaving the 32-man field bare of top household names in the sport.

The 2016 edition is coming together slowly, with confirmed participation from Swiss world No. 15 Gilles Simon, whose only previous appearance was a first-round loss in 2014. Also on board: Spain’s Feliciano Lopez and Argentine Juan Monaco (losing finalist two years ago) to Pablo Andujar.

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.