With two weeks between the end of the French and the start of Wimbledon, there’s barely a grass court season. Certainly, there’s no Masters 1000 series tournament played on grass.
The men either enter Queen’s Club, now called the AEGON Championships (formerly the Stella Artois Championships) or Halle, more properly called the Gerry Weber Open.
Seeds at Queen’s:
1. Andy Murray
2. Andy Roddick
3. Gilles Simon
4. Gael Monfils
5. Marin Cilic
6. James Blake
7. Marat Safin
8. Mardy Fish
9. Ivo Karlovic
10. Feliciano Lopez
11. Paul-Henri Mathieu
12. Jeremy Chardy
13. Ernests Gulbis
14. Mikhail Youzhny
15. Lleyton Hewitt (pictured)
16. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
Two notable absences. Rafael Nadal is not playing due to a knee injury. It is currently unknown whether he will play Wimbledon, but he is hopeful. This leaves the top seed as Andy Murray. Nadal was defending champion.
Novak Djokovic has decided to play in Halle instead of Queen’s this year.
Halle (Gerry Weber Open) is played in Germany. The seeds:
1. Roger Federer
2. Novak Djokovic
3. Fernando Verdasco
4. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
5. Radek Stepanek
6. Dmitry Tursunov
7. Tomas Berdych
8. Robin Soderling
9. Rainer Schuettler
10. Nicolas Kiefer
11. Jurgen Melzer
12. Victor Hanescu
13. Igor Kunitsyn
14. Philipp Kohlschreiber
15. Viktor Troicki
16. Simone Bolleli
Roger Federer is defending champion. He will decide today whether he will defend his title. The top 8 seeds get byes in both tournaments, so he isn’t scheduled to play until tomorrow. He has indicated he is drained from the emotional victory at Paris.
Players such as Sampras and Agassi have always marvelled how Borg won the French and Wimbledon back-to-back for three consecutive years. The transition from the slowest courts to the fastest courts in such a short span of time tests anyone’s skill and versatility. It’s perhaps a testament to both Federer and Nadal that they’ve met three times in the French and Wimbledon finals.
Three players looking to bounce back on grass are Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, and Novak Djokovic. Murray lost in the quarters of the French, Novak in the 3rd round, and Roddick lost in the 4th round. They should all be eager to improve their performance on grass.
ADDENDUM: Roger Federer has decided not to defend his title at Halle citing exhaustion and being overwhelmed winning the French.