After skipping the entire clay season including Roland Garros, Roger Federer is heading to Stuttgart, Germany to play at Mercedes Cup, his first ATP event since Miami. Having more than two months spent away from the ATP Tour, he witnessed Rafael Nadal's tremendous race on clay and now he'll attempt to level the game with some dazzling tennis on the grass court. Ranked 5th in the world, he still could be in some distress if the draw will hand him a harsh path. Just imagine how it would look to have Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic in the same half of the draw.
As a warm-up to Wimbledon, the 35-year-old Swiss booked himself a couple of events. The first one is being held this week in Stuttgart while the upcoming display of Federer' magic is set to take place in Halle at Gerry Weber Open.
Wimbledon is the highlight of the upcoming month
The dust shake after the clay swing might take awhile given the circumstances but that won't be an issue for Roger Federer. While others could use some time to recover after enduring multiple battles over the past months, Federer is all in for Wimbledon, the very place where his legend started 14 years ago. Last year, he went back from that knee injury to reach the semis at this event before losing in a dramatic fashion to Milos Raonic.
Now, the circumstances are a bit different with Federer having few extraordinary results in the first part of 2017. A Grand Slam title (his 18th throughout the career) and two Masters 1000 in a row (Indian Wells and Miami) are samples of how dangerous this player remains after all these years. Having plenty of time to recover and to work on a winning strategy for Wimbledon, he is by far the main favorite to win his 8th title there.
Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray pose as the biggest threats
Roger Federer can brag about with 91 ATP titles won throughout his career including 18 Majors. In 2017, his numbers are quite solid as he scored 19 wins and one single loss. Regarding his chances at Wimbledon, the draw could have a crucial impact. Of course, there is also the possibility of Federer breezing past any kind of opponent the draw may bring.
Back in January at the Australian Open, he had to deal with Tomas Berdych in the third round and Kei Nishikori in the fourth.
Andy Murray is the defending champion at Wimbledon and the current world no. 1 is gathering momentum after reaching the semis at Roland Garros. Moreover, Rafael Nadal would love to extend the glorious momentum and would probably be thrilled to fight against Federer. The Spaniard lost all their three encounters in 2017 and what better place to take revenge rather than the enemy's own temple. And, as always in the past few years, there is Stan Wawrinka who could sneak in produce some extended damages. Probably, for the first time in years, Novak Djokovic is not the player to put the money on. The Serb is miles away from his peak of form.
