Nadal to play Halle 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/oct/12/rafael-nadal-queens-club

Nadal is breaking with his traditional Wimbledon warm-up next year and playing Halle instead. Although Halle is Federer's preferred patch, TMF has withdrawn twice lately, and with most of the top names choosing Queens over the German tournament, this would seem to be a very good move from the TD of to lure Nadal to Halle - it is a very nice appearance fee indeed!

Other news - Djokovic is not playing the Hopman Cup this year, although this competition was part of his successful preparations for 2008 and 2011 Australian Open. He is still down to play Basel and WTF so presume that injury is healing, though obviously not in time for Shanghai.

I saw that - I detected a sense of real frustration with Fed from the TD this year at Fed's last-minute pullout (he's done that before in 2007 and 2009).

Fed's been their mainstay since 2003/4 and this feels like they've turned a page and decided that Nadal is a more reliable person to do a deal of that sort with than Fed - as he hardly ever scratches from a tournament unless something's seriously wrong.

I think that this is a very interesting development.

Am I right to recall that Halle also has a roof over the show court? If so, I can see two advantages to playing there rather than Queens - there's less chance of the end of the tournament being delayed, and there is potentially the opportunity to play on that unusual thing, an indoor grass court.

Obviously Murray will always favour Queens, with it being a home country event, and it allowing him to live at home for about a month between the end of the FO and the end of Wimby, but everyone else has more of a free hand.

Fed's got a very interesting decision if he want's to play a grass warm-up.

Running to Queen's would look more than a little funny, but it's been made pretty clear to him that Halle think he's not their best friend anymore - will his ego accommodate that?

Thus far he's never had to play a big name in the Wimbledon run-up and has been able to have a nice untroubled tune-up - now he will either way. It's a big sign of the times.

barrystar wrote:Fed's got a very interesting decision if he want's to play a grass warm-up.

Running to Queen's would look more than a little funny, but it's been made pretty clear to him that Halle think he's not their best friend anymore - will his ego accommodate that?

Thus far he's never had to play a big name in the Wimbledon run-up and has been able to have a nice untroubled tune-up - now he will either way. It's a big sign of the times.

Yes it will be interesting, but I think Halle is right to assume that Fed will pull out now more often than he plays at Halle. I can't remember the reason in 2007, presumably tiredness after the RG final, but the 2009 withdrawal was that he was really overcome with emotion and fatigue after finally winning RG, and this year he made the final of RG again. He manages his schedule carefully and as he gets older I think it is reasonable to assume that he might make last minute withdrawals from this event again - very frustrating for the tournament, so it is a smart move to entice Nadal and give the crowd the opportunity to see one of the modern greats at this event.

Fed has a lifetime deal with Halle.

laverfan wrote:Fed has a lifetime deal with Halle.

Really laver - that's interesting! Well how lovely for Halle that they may get Fed and Rafa.

laverfan wrote:Fed has a lifetime deal with Halle.

Well, you learn something new everyday. So he'll be there then, barring a pullout.

It's still interesting that they've stumped up the cash to ask Nadal along - the pike in Fed's nice little lifetime trout pond. My speculation is that it's a sign of Fed's waning power.

Edit - they signed the lifetime deal last year when Federer said,

“I am delighted,” said the World No. 1. “It feels a bit like I am getting married. I wanted to plan more long-term. I want to build up friendships and I get on really well with Ralf and Gerhard Weber.”

Did they say that they might invite a muscle-bound latino into the marriage bed

ps - World No. 1 eh? Times have changed have they not?

This event could be fun to watch! Nadal v Federer on grass. They will be able to charge twice as much for tickets. Hope BBC abandon Queens and cover Halle instead. I Know I Will...

The Swiss will love to see him there but will probably be disappointed if Roger makes the final and then gets his usual beating by Rafa.

sportslover wrote:The Swiss will love to see him there but will probably be disappointed if Roger makes the final and then gets his usual beating by Rafa.

Fed leads on grass court H2H.
I wonder if Rafa is thinking of avoiding Djoko before Wimby

JuliusHMarx wrote:

sportslover wrote:The Swiss will love to see him there but will probably be disappointed if Roger makes the final and then gets his usual beating by Rafa.

Fed leads on grass court H2H.
I wonder if Rafa is thinking of avoiding Djoko before Wimby

He may be, that's probably his 750,001st reason for playing at Halle.

The Grass H2H is entirely historic. Barring a miraculous performance by Fed the only surface where I think Fed would get Nadal these days is fast indoors.

It could be closer for Fed over best of 3 - I don't think he has the speed of footwork to stay with Rafa over 5 now.

Either way, with Rafa going out early for the last two years at Queens, he will be more concerned with grass court practice but not exhausting himself after (in all likelihood) a 7th RG final and before Wimbledon.

I agree with you Hawkeye - with Fedal at Halle, it will be frustrating to only have coverage of Queens!

After his efforts at RG so far, Rafa has had issues with the Queens tourney anyway. I wonder if switching to Halle buys him much, except the appearance fees. Travel-wise Queens is better than Halle for Rafa.

2006 QF (Hewitt), 2007 QF (Mahut), 2008 W (bt. Djokovic), 2010 QF (Lopez), 2011 QF (Tsonga) is an interesting record. (5 events)

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Rafael-Nadal.aspx?t=pa&y=0&m=s&e=311#


Federer has a better record at Halle, but is older now.

2000 QF (Chang), 2001 QF (Rafter), 2002 SF (Kiefer), 2003 W (bt. Kiefer),
2004 W (bt. Fish), 2005 W (bt. Safin), 2006 W (bt. Berdych), 2008 W (bt. Kohlschreiber), 2010 F (Hewitt). (9 events).

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Roger-Federer.aspx?t=pa&y=0&m=s&e=500#

laverfan

Both Halle and Queens are just warm up events. It might matter to the fans if Nadal or Federer go out in early rounds but I doubt it will concern them.

But if they both find themselves in the final that I'm sure would be a different thing.

Remember when Nadal and Djokovic reached the final at Queens. That was no warm up match! If anyone thinks that Djokovic played his best this year they should try and watch that match.

Look in your Times today, and it's largely about Tax. In the UK we like to tax sportsmen on a share of their overall earnings reflecting the amount of time they spend working in the UK, put very roughly if it's a week they pay 1/52 of annual sponsorship and so-on. A top player would normally play 3 weeks in the UK for Wimbledon and WTF and Nadal is saying that a 4th week at Queen's actually costs him more than he can earn at the Tournament including appearance money. When the WTF contract comes up for renewal this universal tax charge is one of the big sticking points in negotiations. If we want something 'prestigious' like the Champions League Final or the Olympics the government normally agrees to exempt them.

Nadal has played Halle before, in 2005, and lost to Alexander Waske.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Players/Head-To-Head.aspx?pId=N409&oId=W300