Rafael Nadal returns to the Queen’s Club in London for the first time since 2011. This was announced by the organizers of the traditional tournament via Twitter.
In the early summer of 2018, it will be exactly ten years since Rafael Nadal made a historic triple: First the success in Roland Garros (therefore the safest tip in men’s tennis every year), only a few weeks later Nadal’s first triumph in Wimbledon, in an epic final against Roger Federer.
In between, however, the Mallorcan has not only played warm on grass, but has also won the first and only time the traditional tournament in London’s Queen’s Club. Nadal will be competing there again this year, for the first time since 2011. This was announced by the world’s number one in a video message.
In the past few years, Nadal had been preparing for the race either in Germany (in Halle/Westphalia or Stuttgart, where he won the MercedesCup in 2015). Or travelled to Church Road without match practice. Last year in Wimbledon Nadal showed an impressive performance in the first rounds, but lost to Gilles Müller from Luxembourg in the last sixteen – 13:15 in the fifth set.
It is unclear how this will affect Nadal’s schedule in the clay court season. After all, the left-hander had announced a few days ago that his appointments on the courts would be a little scarcer. On the other hand, Nadal will be the defending champion at the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo and Madrid, as well as at the 500cc event in Barcelona. A relinquishment of Rome seems unlikely, even though Nadal’s only loss to Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals in 2017 was his only loss of ashes for the entire season.
The question regarding the Davis Cup encounter with Germany is also still to be clarified: The Spanish Tennis Association would probably meet its biggest star with the venue Mallorca, a week of training with competition conclusion on sand after the big tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami – Rafael Nadal’s arguments for that could be found.
In any case, the Queen’s Club is looking forward to the return of the 31-year-old, who first competed in London in 2006. At the moment it is rather unlikely that local hero Andy Murray will be able to win the tournament until the start of the tournament on 18 January. June is already fully fit again.