Roger Federer’s announcement is clear: he wants to become the world’s number one again. What’s coming to him is mostly out now.
Federer’s starting point is clear: If he reaches the semi-finals in Rotterdam, he will be back on Monday, 19 March, with a finalists’ meeting in Rotterdam. February, again the number 1 in the world – and can extend its 302 record weeks at the top.
In the meantime, it is also clear who he has to beat, at least for the most part. At the start Federer will meet a qualifier, after which the winner of the match Karen Khachanov would wait for him against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Among them are Robin Haase against Thiemo de Bakker and Tallon Griekspoor against Stan Wawrinka – one of the four would be a potential quarter-final opponent and thus the opponent for the number 1.
A match between Federer and Alexander Zverev would also be possible in the semi-finals. He is seated at position three and starts against David Ferrer. Grigor Dimitrov, number two in the tournament, starts against Yuichi Sugita.
Further games with German participation: Mischa Zverev against Tomas Berdych and Jan-Lennard Struff against Viktor Troicki, the winners of the two matches play against each other in about two games.
The Rotterdam fixtures at a glance: Main field, Qualification