What’s the story?
18-time Grand Slam champion and 3-time Madrid Open winner, Roger Federer has confirmed his participation in the prestigious tournament. Federer will join the other three members of the Big 4 – Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray – who have also put their names in the hat.
In case you didn’t know...
Federer has won the Madrid Open thrice in the past – in 2006, 2009 and 2012. He has been in scintillating form this season as well, claiming his 18th Grand Slam title at Melbourne before sweeping the Indian Wells Masters. He is currently in the quarter-finals of the Miami Masters and well on course to sweeping the Sunshine Double for the third time in his career.
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Djokovic, who is the defending champion in Madrid, will hope to get his season back on track after disappointing runs in the Australian Open and Indian Wells Masters. Nadal, meanwhile, will be gunning for his fifth title at Madrid while Murray will be looking to improve from his run to the final last time around.
The heart of the matter
The 45 players who have gained direct entry are listed below. These include the current top 44 and Tommy Haas who has made use of his protected ranking.
#1 Andy Murray
#2 Novak Djokovic
#3 Stan Wawrinka
#4 Kei Nishikori
#5 Milos Raonic
#6 Roger Federer
#7 Rafael Nadal
#8 Dominic Thiem
#9 Marin Cilic
#10 Jo-Wilfred Tsonga
#11 Gael Monfils
#12 David Goffin
#13 Grigor Dimitrov
#14 Tomas Berdych
#15 Lucas Pouille
#16 Nick Kyrgios
#17 Jack Sock
#18 Roberto Bautista Agut
#19 Pablo Carreño Busta
#20 Alexander Zverev
#21 Ivo Karlovic
#22 Richard Gasquet
#23 John Isner
#24 Albert Ramos-Viñolas
#25 Gilles Simon
Tommy Haas (protected ranking)
#26 Pablo Cuevas
#27 Sam Querrey
#28 Steve Johnson
#29 Gilles Muller
#30 Fernando Verdasco
#31 Philipp Kohlschreiber
#32 David Ferrer
#33 Mischa Zverev
#34 Juan Martín Del Potro
#35 Joao Sousa
#36 Feliciano López
#37 Paolo Lorenzi
#38 Viktor Troicki
#39 Benoit Paire
#40 Fabio Fognini
#41 Marcel Granollers
#42 Diego Schwartzman
#43 Daniel Evans
#44 Bernard Tomic
In addition to this, four players will be given wildcards and seven will have to come through the qualifiers.
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Author’s Take
Clay is not Federer’s strong suit so it is surprising he has not opted out of the event (players can opt out of 3 Masters 1000 events). With Nadal back to form and Djokovic and Murray suddenly looking shaky, a Fedal final is on the cards yet again.
Update: Federer subsequently announced that he wouldn’t, in fact, be playing the Madrid Masters – much to the disappointment of his fans.
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