Roger Federer will kick-off his grass-court campaign at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart after confirming his presence in the tournament.
The 20-time grand slam champion has been included in the list of players playing in this year’s tournament, which will get underway on June 9th. Federer hasn’t played a competitive match since his shock loss to Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Miami Open. He since opted to skip the entire clay-court swing of the tour in order to rest his body. The second consecutive year he has done so.
“Excited to announce that I will be coming back to Germany for the Mercedes Cup in June. Looking forward to seeing you at the grass courts in Stuttgart.” Federer wrote on Facebook.
It is the third consecutive year that Federer has chosen to play in the ATP 250 event. In previous year’s he has endured disappointment in Stuttgart. In 2016 he went out in the semi-finals to Dominic Thiem. A year later he suffered a shock second round loss to Tommy Haas.
So far this season, the world No.2 has won 17 out of 19 matches played on the tour. At the Australian Open he won his 20th major title. Then in Rotterdam Federer briefly reclaimed the world No.1 position on route to the trophy. He was less fortunate during the American hard court swing in March. Settling for runner up in Indian Wells to Juan Martin del Potro before losing his first match in Miami.
There is yet to be an official statement from the Mercades Open concerning Federer’s return. On their Facebook profile, they have described the Swiss player as the ‘the greatest of all time.’ Federer has won 97 ATP titles so far in his career, which is the second highest in the Open Era. He is also the first player to win more than 20 grand slam singles trophies.
This year will be the 41st edition of the tournament. Held at the Tennis Club Weissenhof, other notable entrants include Grigor Dimitrov, Lucas Pouille, Hyeon Chung, Nick Kyrgios and Denis Shapovalov. France’s Pouille is the defending champion.
