By Mark Winters
Halle, Westfalia, Germany – The first day of a professional tournament can be edgy. There are often surprises and occasionally, seeds are upset. Even worse, from time to time, “names” (meaning, the star players who sell tickets) are forced to pullout.
While occurrences of this sort obviously disappoint fans, they can go about turning the hair of Tournament Directors from its natural color to grey or worse… For journalists covering an event, announcements of this sort mean making adjustments and replaced emphasis, along with having to be creative in new and different ways.
This was the feeling almost overtaking (because it was raining) the pressroom of the Gerry Weber Open Media Center when shortly after 1:00 on Monday afternoon it was announced that Tournament Director, Ralf Weber and Roger Federer would hold a press conference in an hour. As 2:00 neared, journalists, television commentators and photographers began filling the large interview room. Time ticked by and 2:15 passed, too. Frank Hofen, the genial Media Director for Gerry Weber Open, stuck his head in the door and made a quick comment about the situation in German, and everyone laughed. (Those of us who weren’t German speakers made note of the jovial tone, and thought that was a good sign.)
The wait continued for yet another 15 minutes before Federer, who is in truth “Mr. Halle Tennis”, walked in the room with Weber and Hofen. He was dressed in a black warm-up and wearing his trade market baseball hat with the distinctive RF logo. (Another good sign.) He seemed relaxed; actually far too relaxed to be withdrawing from the tournament.
Hofen began, making a few introductory remarks. Weber followed saying, “I’m very happy Roger is back as the champion. I’m also very happy that we have a roof in these times. The weather is shaky and will be shaky for the next few days. Other tournaments have been affected by rain. Stuttgart, s’Hertogenbosch and Queen’s also wish they had our roof. It was a very good investment 23 years ago. We had a very good weekend with 30, 000 people at the qualifying and the show matches. I am looking forward to having a very successful week here in Halle.”
Then, it was “Federer Time.” He acted as if he was sitting in his backyard, visiting with friends from the neighborhood. He said, “I am very happy to be back at the tournament where I’ve been coming for so long. Seeing the progress, over the years, moving from a 250 to a 500 event, and like Ralf said, having the roof and seeing how the tournament has become more professional, is nice.”
He continued, “I am hoping that I can improve on what took place in Stuttgart. I got better as the tournament progressed. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t defeat (Dominic) Thiem, but I was pleased with the effort. I went back to Switzerland for a couple of days after the match, and flew here this morning. I am looking forward to practicing for the first time (in Halle) this afternoon.”
A back injury had forced him to miss Roland Garros so he returned to competition at Stuttgart. “I was fortunate to have an extra week on grass,” Federer said of playing last week. “It definitely came at the right time. I was feeling rusty because I’ve played so little in the last four months. In the past, I had come from Paris after being in the semis, the final or a win and I had a lot of confidence. Now, I am lacking matches, lacking practice and I lack confidence in moving because I have not played a lot of big points.”
Federer was funny, clever and as he always is, extremely personable. He began playing the Gerry Weber Open in 2000, and won his first singles title 2003. He continued his first winning streak until 2006. He was champion again in 2008 and then from 2013 to ’15. He was also a finalist in 2010 and ’12. Clearly, Halle must feel like his home court.
Asked if he remembered the first Gerry Weber Open match he played, Federer said, “Maybe Arnaud Clement or Magnus Larsson.” According to Greg Sharko, the ATP Tour’s statistical guru, whose real title is Director of Media Relations, in 2000, he defeated Clement 6-4, 6-2 in the first round and fell to Larsson 6-2, 6-3 in his next match.
Roger Federer is the top seed at the Gerry Weber Open and he is anxious to add a ninth Halle trophy to his splendid collection. There certainly must be a space put aside for such contingencies.