Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will kick off their Halle campaigns on Thursday. They are set for respective openers against Dustin Brown and Joao Sousa.
(1) Rafael Nadal vs. (WC) Dustin Brown
Nadal will be right back in action four days after winning his ninth French Open title when he takes the court on Thursday at the Gerry Weber Open. The top-ranked Spaniard generally struggles–understandably so–making the extremely quick transition from clay to grass without a week in between. He has a single match victory in two previous Halle appearances, having most recently lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the 2012 quarterfinals. Similarly, Nadal has made it past the Queen’s Club quarterfinals only once in five forays to that event (he won the title in 2008).
Up first for Nadal this week is Brown, whom the No. 1 seed has never faced. Brown did almost nothing on clay aside from a Houston upset of John Isner en route to the quarters, but his attacking style is always going to work better on grass. The 83rd-ranked German successfully qualified for Wimbledon each of the past two seasons and he reached the third round in 2013. This should be competitive in part because of Brown’s grass-court prowess, but mainly because of the fact that there is no way Nadal will be 100 percent physically or mentally. Still, the favorite should have enough left in the tank to get through at least one match this week.
Pick: Nadal in 2 losing more than 8 games
[polldaddy poll=8117604]
Joao Sousa vs. (2) Roger Federer
Federer and Sousa will also be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers on Thursday. The 32-year-old Swiss is coming off a French Open quarterfinal loss to Ernests Gulbis, but he will be well-rested and obviously motivated to succeed at what is basically a home tournament for him. Federer is 43-5 lifetime in Halle with six titles and he has made it to the final in eight consecutive appearances.
Sousa broke onto the scene last season and he has a decent 10 ATP-level match victories this year, but he also has 18 losses. Although the world No. 47 is a solid all-court player, he would obviously much rather contest this one on clay as opposed to grass. He opened his week on Monday with an impressive 6-4, 6-2 beatdown of Jan-Lennard Struff. Sousa will make Federer work, but this should be one-way traffic from start to finish.
Pick: Federer in 2 losing 5-7 games
[polldaddy poll=8117608]
Nadal in two 7-6, 6-4
sounds about right
Fari for the upset.
who?
Rastafari
Told ya. What can Brown do for you?
Fed will win it all at halle, and be a force at Wdon.
Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
https://twitter.com/augustazeight/status/476990378319818752/photo/1
Take it to the Reggae Man, Rafa, Vamos!!
Federer lost in the fourth in the French.
anyone watch the Hewitt match vs lopez? very disappointed in the result what happened?
Fed decides he likes this court so much he’s gonna drop the 1st set so it goes to 3……………
Baseline looks nicely worn already so Rafa should not have problems with his footing there…………
And the Fed wins in 3, beating a guy who has yet to win a match on grass…………….
Wimby should be played in July.
#Dumb
What I want to know is: why is Karlovic allowed to play tennis? Hi serve alone brings the game into disrepute, no?
The giants should only be used to warm up the crowd hitting serves against each other.
“against” or “at”
#PreshowEntertainment
#Dodgeball
Is Djoko favourite for Halle or Queens?
Djokovic is the favourite for the world cup.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.
Dr Ivo has been taken out by Lu in 2 TBs. Sigh of relief by all.
Looks like Andy’s out to Stepanek!
https://twitter.com/stroppadel/status/477116561195806721/photo/1
How log now for Rafa to start playing?
Worm baits Muzzard.
#BizarroWorld
I’m already fearful of how they will attack Amelie. It’s HER fault Muzzah lost.
#YokoOno?
Oh, they’re already 2-2 in the first set… sorry for the stupid question