"Imagine if there is Roger Federer" - Geneva Open organizers hopeful of attracting the Swiss legend this year
Organizers of the Geneva Open, an ATP 250 series event, are hopeful that Roger Federer will take part in their tournament this year.
The Geneva Open is scheduled to be held from 16 to 22 May. The event returned to Geneva in 2015 for the first time since 1991, and is held at the Tennis Club de Geneve (at the Parc des Eaux-Vives) - the oldest and largest tennis club in Switzerland.
After the cancelation of the tournament last year due to the pandemic, 2021 will mark the sixth edition of the Geneva Open since its return.
Roger Federer has played only one event - the Qatar Open in Doha last month - since the 2020 Australian Open. He is on the official entry list for the Madrid Masters in early May, but not on the entry list for the Rome Masters the following week.
Roger Federer has never played the Geneva Open but has dominated the Swiss Indoors event in Basel, winning it 10 times thus far. And Geneva tournament directors Thierry Grin and Rainer Schuttler recently claimed they have been in touch with Federer for a long time to get him to play in the country's claycourt event too.
"It is clear that we dream of it (Roger Federer playing the Geneva Open)," Schuttler said. "For six years, we talk every time with Roger Federer's team in the hope that he will play the Geneva Open once. We hope that this year can be the one."
"We work towards having the strongest field possible," Grin added. "So imagine if there is Roger Federer..."
(Quotes have been translated using Google Translate)
More players have expressed interest to play Geneva Open after Roland Garros delay: Tournament Director Thierry Grin
The Geneva Open was originally scheduled to be held in the week prior to the French Open. But with the French Tennis Federation's decision to postpone Roland Garros by one week, the Geneva tournament will now have a one-week gap from the claycourt Slam.
Thierry Grin revealed that more players have expressed their interest to compete in the Geneva Open this year after the announcement of the Roland Garros delay.
"In recent days, we are approached by more players, who are aware that in case of coming to Geneva, they would not have to play in Paris the following week," Grin said. "Selfishly, we rejoice at the change of dates desired by the French."
Grin also claimed that it is essential for the tournament to be held in 2021 after being canceled in 2020, since the tournament does not have the deep pockets of a Masters 1000 or ATP 500 series.
"It was essential for us to do so, because we are neither a Masters 1000 nor a big ATP 500 which could still afford to skip a year," Grin added. "The sports industry is also suffering, and it is not only the players, but everyone: the coaches, the physios, the organizers, etc."
The 2019 edition of the Geneva Open was won by Alexander Zverev, while Swiss Stan Wawrinka won the event in 2016 and 2017.