ROGER FEDERER LOVES TO PLAY @ HOME IN BASEL BY RICKY DIMON & ARE LEO & LENNY FEDERER IDENTICAL TWINS ?

Written by: Staff on 19th October 2014

ROGER FEDERER LOVES TO PLAY @ HOME IN BASEL BY RICKY DIMON & ARE LEO & LENNY FEDERER IDENTICAL TWINS ?

epa04441690 Roger Federer of Switzerland reacts after winning his semi final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Shanghai Tennis Masters in Shanghai, China, 11 October 2014. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL |

Federer, Nadal headline in Basel, World Tour Finals hopefuls battle for positioning

By Ricky Dimon

This is about as good as it gets when it comes to a pair of 500-point tournaments. Roger Federer will play in front of home fans as the No. 1 seed at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where Rafael Nadal’s comeback from a wrist injury and perseverance through appendicitis will continue. Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, and Grigor Dimitrov are also on board. In Valencia, meanwhile, World Tour Finals contenders David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, and Andy Murray lead the way.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal in action against France’s Richard Gasquet during their first round match at the Tennis China Open in Beijing, China, 30 September 2014. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL

Nadal, seeded second, will open with qualifier Simone Bolelli before possibly facing either Edouard Roger-Vasselin or qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The next highest seeds in the bottom half come with major question marks. Raonic has been dealing with a virus and was upset in Moscow by Ricardas Berankis, while a shoulder injury has plagued Ernests Gulbis throughout the fall swing. The hottest players anywhere near Nadal are No. 7 seed David Goffin and unseeded Steve Johnson; neither one can face the 14-time Grand Slam champion until the semis.

Federer could have tough match after tough match on a projected path to the final. Up first for the 33-year-old Swiss is Gilles Muller, who may be followed on the other side of the net from Federer by Jerzy Janowicz. Federer is on a quarterfinal collision course with Dimitrov, whose defense of his 2013 Stockholm title resulted in a runner-up finish to Berdych on Sunday. The host nation’s other top hope can also see trouble lurking. Wawrinka’s first-rounder will come against an in-form Mikhail Kukushkin, who pushed Novak Djokovic to three sets in Shanghai and is coming off a semifinal showing in Moscow. Ivo Karlovic is a potential quarterfinal opponent for Wawrinka.

Nadal is 3-0 lifetime against Bolelli. The former world No. 1 prevailed 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 five years ago in Rotterdam then cruised 6-3, 6-3 at the 2010 Doha event and 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 at the 2012 French Open, thus leaving him 2-0 in the head-to-head series on hard courts.

“It’s going to be one of the most dangerous first rounds in a 500 tournament that I’ve played in a long time,” Nadal cautioned. “I am not 100 percent sure what is going to happen. I haven’t practiced well enough or enough times. My body feels more tired than usual when I’m playing.”

Andy Murray of Great Britain returns the ball to David Ferrer of Spain during their final match of the Erste Bank Open ATP tennis tournament in Vienna, Austria, 19 October 2014. EPA/GEORG HOCHMUTH

Ferrer and Murray may be getting tired of each other, but it looks like they will just have to deal with it. Having already gone head-to-head twice in the last two weeks (they split meetings in Shanghai and Vienna), the perennial World Tour Finals contenders fell in the same half of the Valencia draw and are likely to collide again in the semifinals. Murray climbed to eighth in the race to London by beating Ferrer in the Vienna final. The Spaniard is still ninth, while Raonic fell to No. 10.

Berdych, who boosted his London chances with the Stockholm title but remained seventh in the race, is in a half of the bracket with Feliciano Lopez, John Isner, and Gilles Simon. Lopez reached the Shanghai semifinals and is always dangerous indoors. Simon went all the way to the Shanghai title match before succumbing to Federer in two tiebreakers.

Doubles teams who could use successful weeks in their bids on London are Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo (No. 1 seeds in Basel), Lukasz Kubot and Robert Lindstedt (No. 4 seeds in Basel), Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (unseeded in Valencia), and Eric Butorac and Raven Klaasen (unseeded in Valencia).

Butorac and Klaasen won the Stockholm title on Sunday and moved up to No. 8 in the race.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

EDITORS NOTE : ok it’s been months….. Can we tell yet whether the Federer boy twins are identical or fraternal ? Who wants to share that info with us ? We know all the kids are beautiful but we are just wondering. Robbie and Lynette Federer are the blessed grandparents of 3 sets of twins ( sister Diana has twins too ) .

P.S. Buy your Roger Federer 2015 calendar NOW ! We’ve sneak peeked it. It’s another brilliant effort by Papa Robbie Federer. See ad on our site or go to the Roger Federer Foundation. RF has a bunch of awesome signed “stuff” available. Great Christmas gifts for all the Federer fans out there.

Topics: Andy Murray, Atp, Basel, David Ferrer, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Leo & Lenny Federer, milos raonic, Rafa, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych, Valencia

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10sBalls_com says:

October 19, 2014 at 5:35 pm

@rogerfederer LOVES TO PLAY @ HOME IN #BASEL BY @RD_Tennistalk & ARE LEO & LENNY #FEDERER IDENTICAL #TWINS ? http://t.co/JEH6P6jTxU #tennis
RD_Tennistalk says:

October 19, 2014 at 6:05 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: @rogerfederer LOVES TO PLAY @ HOME IN #BASEL BY @RD_Tennistalk & ARE LEO & LENNY #FEDERER IDENTICAL #TWINS ? http://t.co/…