Swiss superstar Roger Federer and good friend Tommy Haas of Germany will be joining forces to compete at the Gerry Weber Open doubles event in Halle this week. The duo will have a tough task ahead as they will face two-time Grand Slam champions Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner in the first round.
“I think he was looking to play doubles and knew that I was also looking. We talked about it and he was ready to go, so I’m very excited about it,” Haas said.
“It’s our first time playing together. It’s great to do this at this time in our careers. I hope we can focus, as we’ll probably have too much of a good time out there. It will be nice to play in front of some very enthusiastic fans and have a good doubles match, against Melzer and Petzschner, who are Grand Slam champions. It should be fun,” he added.
Federer has rarely played in doubles event but he’s an efficient team player when he does. He won the 2008 Beijing doubles gold with compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka.
Aside from the doubles event, both Federer and Haas will be competing in the singles event. In 2012, Haas made a huge upset by defeating Federer in the final.
