Hey all, just a quick update here to let you know that Jeremy Chardy has pulled out of Basel with an injury (neck pain I believe) meaning that Roger will now play German Benjamin Becker.
I think this is a much easier match than Chardy so it's a nice start to the tournament. Like Roger, Becker is 31 years of age and currently sits at number 80 in the world. He's only won 1 career title and hasn't made it past the second round in a slam this season.
Fed has played him twice and as you may have guessed leads the H2H 2-0. They last played on clay in Madrid but the first victory came on the hard courts of Tokyo. Roger hasn't dropped a set against him either so look for a bit of a whooping tomorrow.
Becker is on the downswing of his career and really peaked in 2007, he still didn't make it past the first round of a slam that year but he did finish a career high 38 in the world. He also took Safin to 5 sets in the first round of the Australian Open.
Since then he's not really done much and he's only ever beaten two players in the top 10; Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco and I think pretty much everyone has beaten those guys at some point so you can't read much into it!
Federer vs. Becker Highlights from Madrid 2010
I think we maybe seeing bakery products tomorrow folks. 6-1 6-2. Allez les suisse! And in case you are wondering Roger's match is on at 18.30 local time.
Becker is definitely a better match than Chardy. Fed should make quick work of him.
By the way, Becker was the guy who sent Agassi into retirement.
Yeah should be over quicktime I think. Probably his best surface is a hard court but I think Roger’s variety on an indoor court is going to discombobulate him.
Yeah I remember that match now, his best performance at a slam ever I think. Agassi was already done though, was like down at 30/40 in the world or something.
Oh yeah, plus Andre had just come off that thrilling win over Baghdatis.