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Ten-time Halle champion Roger Federer will return to his favorite tournament on June 21! The Swiss maestro will again step onto the Centre court to receive an honor, with the organizers celebrating his incredible results at the grass-court ATP 500 event.
Federer retired at the last year's Laver Cup, failing to recover following a nasty knee injury that ruined the closing stages of his career
. Roger's final singles match came at Wimbledon two years ago, and he competed in Halle a few weeks earlier, as many times in the previous two decades.Federer is 69-8 in Halle, lifting ten trophies from 18 trips to Germany and achieving 17 consecutive quarter-finals before the second-round loss in his final visit. Roger debuted in Halle in 2000 and lost to Michael Chang in the quarter-final.
Patrick Rafter and Nicolas Kiefer ousted him in the next two seasons, and the Swiss changed that in 2003 after lifting his first Halle title.
Roger Federer will be honored in Halle on June 21.
Federer embraced an incredible streak and secured five consecutive trophies until 2008, reaching another final a year later and falling to Lleyton Hewitt.
The Swiss dominated again between 2013 and 2015 and conquered the title without losing a set in 2017. Borna Coric halted him in the 2018 final, and Roger celebrated his tenth and last Halle crown in 2019. The Swiss competed at his favorite tournament for the last time in 2021, eager for one more strong push despite the pain in his knee.
Federer prevailed over Ilya Ivashka before falling to Felix Auger-Aliassime 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round, ending his streak of 17 consecutive quarter-finals! The young gun fired 13 aces and faced only one break point.
Federer converted it and won the opening set before losing ground in the following two. Auger-Aliassime converted three out of 15 break chances to emerge at the top and remain on the title course. The more experienced player defended all four break chances in the opening set and seized his only opportunity on the return to build the advantage.
Servers barely lost a point in the opening five games before Federer faced two break points at 2-3. He saved them with booming serves and brought the game home. The Swiss created his only break chance with a forehand down the line winner in the next game (150 km/h) and converted it with a backhand down the line winner for a 4-3 advantage.
Serving at 5-4, Roger fired two winners at 15-40 to erase break points and brought the set home with a volley winner for a boost. Felix lost only seven points behind the initial shot in set number two. He kept the pressure on the other side and seized the ninth break chance since the start of the clash to grab the set and gain momentum.
Federer struggled on serve in games four and six and fell on the fifth break chance to find himself 4-2 down. Felix closed the set in style and pushed even harder in the decider after losing only two points behind the initial shot!
The Canadian grabbed two early breaks to race into a 4-0 lead and emerged at the top with an ace at 5-2.
