Roger Federer is the first seed at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle and he is the favorite at this year's event. If Federer wins this tournament, that momentum will likely carry him into Wimbledon. He has stated a few times that his main goal of the season is to win Wimbledon once again and he will be willing to do whatever it takes to deliver.
He needs to get some wins under his belt
The grass season has always been a priority for Roger Federer. This year, he has been even more focused, skipping the clay season altogether in order to rest his body and be ready for Wimbledon.
He had two warm-up tournaments scheduled on grass. His first stop in Stuttgart was not successful though. He was defeated by his good friend, the 39-year-old veteran Tommy Haas, in his first match.
In Halle, he should be very careful not to let a similar scenario happen to him. Although he is regarded as one of the top favorites to win Wimbledon, coming into The Grand Slam without winning some matches on the surface would not help his cause. A noteworthy point is that the Gerry Weber Open is one of the very few tournaments that do not offer their top seeds a free pass to the second round. If Federer reaches the final, he will amass five matches before traveling to London. This seems to be good news for him as he has played just one match on grass this year.
Draw
Roger has a reasonable draw which can help him step up his game gradually as he advances in the tournament. His biggest potential threat for winning the title, home-favorite Alexandre Zverev, is not in his half of the draw. Kohlschreiber and Haas, who are among the few to have defeated him on grass, are not in his half of the draw either.
Interestingly, he has not lost a single match on grass to any of the players in his top-half of the draw.
He will open his campaign against Yen-Hsun Lu. The Chinese veteran has never managed to take a set off him. He has had some success on grass though, including reaching the 4th-round of Wimbledon in 2010. Roger is not taking him lightly.
"It is important for me to come here and make sure I win my first-round match and get going", he said in his last interview.
In his second round match, he will probably go head to head with the older Zverev brother, Mischa, whom he famously defeated 6-0, 6-0 at the same venue a few years ago. Having improved his serve-and-volley game, Mischa could be a threat. Roger knows that he can win this matchup by executing his normal game plan well. If he gets to the quarters, Lucas Pouille will be his next customer. They often practice together and there are no secrets in his game to hurt Federer. If Nishikori can find his form, He could be the next in line to meet Federer in the semis.
On the other side of the draw are Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem who are the heavy favorites and one of them could be the potential final opponent for Federer. Either way, Federer will meet someone he has lost to on grass last year and this will be a good test for him prior to Wimbledon.
