Roger Federer, Alexander Zverev and Stan Wawrinka to play Basel 2019
The ATP Tour had visited Basel for the first time in 1975 and it stayed in this picturesque town ever since, attracting some of the biggest names in the world of tennis. Bjorn Borg, Guillermo Vilas, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro have all celebrated here in the past but the hometown hero Roger Federer has stolen the glory from all of them, winning nine titles overall and reaching 12 consecutive finals between 2006-2018! The organizers of the Swiss Indoors will make sure to have the best possible field between October 21-27, confirming three leading stars that would headline the action.
The nine-time champion and hometown favorite Roger Federer will compete in Basel for the 19th time at the age of 38, more than two decades after he made a debut against Andre Agassi in 1998! Since then, Roger skipped Basel only in 2004, 2005 and 2016 and he is by far the most successful player at this prestigious indoor event, lifting the ninth trophy last fall against Marius Copil in the final, not playing his best tennis during the week but reaching the goal in the end in front of family and friends. Roger is scheduled to play the first match on Monday, October 21.
The three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka has been working on a comeback after two knee surgeries that pushed him out from the top-250, almost reaching the top-30 ahead of the clay season where we should expect more good tennis from him. Stan made his Basel debut 16 years ago and will compete again in October, opening the action on Tuesday and playing in front of the home fans for the first time since 2016, missing the last two editions due to injuries. Interestingly, Stan has won just 11 out of 24 matches in Basel so far, playing in two semi-finals and never having a chance to fight for the title.
Rotterdam finalist will try to change that in six months, improving his game after a long break and targeting top-20 return in the next couple of months. The world no. 3 and the ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev is the third signed player who will compete in Basel in October, returning to the Swiss Indoors for the third time and the second in a row. Back in 2014, the organizers provided a wild card for the 17-year-old who lost to Grigor Dimitrov in three sets, returning last year when he suffered an unexpected loss to Marius Copil in the semi-final, missing a chance to fight for the title against Roger.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2KbyFeO
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