If Roger Federer is looking for a little confidence pick-me-up early in his comeback, there’s no better place to be than the Gerry Weber Open in Halle. Federer has won this grass-court ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament eight times, more than any other event.

“The history I have here, having come and played well so often, definitely should help me to play good tennis this week,” Federer said Sunday. “I love playing here. Yes, I think I can come in here with good confidence.”

Federer opens against World No. 68 Yen-Hsun Lu, against whom he has a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head record, winning all seven sets they have played. Lu has a 28-34 tour-level record on grass and enjoyed his most memorable moment on the surface in 2010, when he stunned Andy Roddick 9-7 in the fifth set in the Wimbledon fourth round.

Federer will be a heavy favourite against Lu, but after his surprise defeat to former World No. 2 Tommy Haas in Stuttgart, the Swiss won’t take the match lightly. “It’s important for me, especially after the Stuttgart week, to come here and make sure I win my first-round match and get going. I want to take the right decisions on the tennis court. I don’t want to question myself too much. I’ll have the right focus and mindset, that point-by-point mentality. That was a little bit off in Stuttgart, understandably so. I have to learn from that week and move forward in a better way.”  

Federer won the tournament five consecutive years between 2003-07 and most recently in 2015. Last year he suffered a surprising semi-final loss to then World No. 38 Alexander Zverev, who one year later finds himself inside the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.  Federer has a potential second-round meeting with Zverev’s older brother, Mischa Zverev, whom he defeated 6-0, 6-0 five years ago in Halle. But Zverev is a far-improved player whose serve-and-volley game is well suited to grass. And the German on Monday will break into the Top 30 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time in his career.

Despite his opening-round defeat to Haas last week in Stuttgart, where Federer returned after a two-month sabbatical, the Swiss said that he had not second-guessed his decision to skip the entire clay swing after beginning the season 19-1, with titles at the Australian Open and the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level in Indian Wells and Miami.

“It could have been better in Stuttgart, but then again I had match point,” Federer said. “It wasn’t like I lost 6-2, 6-2 and everything was terrible. A comeback is never simple, especially on grass where margins are so slim. It’s a serve or a passing shot or a return that determines the outcome of the match. That’s what it ended up being against Tommy, even though I felt I should have found a way home, having been a set and a break up.

“Considering how well I felt going into Paris, it was surprisingly easy to take the decision and after making it I never had any regrets watching it or following the results. I never thought ‘If only I was part of the tournament.’ I was looking ahead to the grass season and enjoyed the time with my friends and family at home.

“It was a decision that was taken within a couple of days. It wasn’t something I saw myself doing weeks and months ahead of the tournament. For a long time the schedule was to play Paris but all of a sudden I just felt that I wouldn’t be comfortable doing it. I didn’t want to compromise the goal of the grass-court season, Wimbledon, the US Open and beyond.

“I felt that the French Open may potentially have a negative effect on what’s to come. It may have been helpful, but I felt there was more risk that it would go the other way. Based on health, that’s why I decided to skip.

“But it’s not a trend that I might follow in the future. I don’t know what the future holds. This was just a one-off decision.”

When Federer began his break after Miami, he had a significant lead over Rafael Nadal in the Emirates ATP Race To London, which is an indictor of which player will finish the season year-end No. 1. But after his stunning clay-court season, when he won a 10^th title in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros – in addition to winning Madrid – Nadal has opened a massive 2,870 point lead over his rival.

Nadal has withdrawn from The Aegon Championships to rest, giving Federer the opportunity to close the gap by 500 points should he win a ninth Halle title. The seven-time Wimbledon champion could pick up 2,000 points by winning the title at the All England Club.

Fourth seed Gilles Muller won his second ATP World Tour title on Sunday at the Ricoh Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, prevailing over third seed Ivo Karlovic in a battle of big serves 7-6(5), 7-6(4).

“I think we should make a suggestion to the ATP that we just start with the tie-break next time!” said Muller. “It’s always tough to play Ivo and I’m glad I could beat him. I had many friends and a lot of family coming, so it’s been a great week here.”

The match between the 38-year-old Karlovic and 34-year-old Muller was the oldest singles final on the ATP World Tour since Hong Kong in 1977, when 42-year-old Ken Rosewall defeated 30-year-old Ilie Nastase. Muller (34 years, one month) is the second-oldest winner in the tournament’s history, right behind 2016 winner Nicolas Mahut (34 years, five months).

Muller is the second player to reach an ATP World Tour final on all three surfaces this year, joining Stuttgart winner Lucas Pouille. After losing his first six finals, Muller won his first title in Sydney in January (d. Evans). He followed that up with his first clay-court final last month in Estoril (l. Carreno Busta). Muller’s outstanding season led to a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 26 on 8 May.

The Luxembourg native takes the lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Karlovic 2-1. Muller also prevailed in two tie-breaks in last year’s semi-finals in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, but Karlovic got revenge by saving three match points to win the final in Newport.

Muller continues to excel in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, having reached the final last year (l. Mahut) and semi-finals in 2015 (l. Goffin). He picks up 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for €105,045.

Despite the loss, Karlovic extended his all-time aces record by hitting 64 this week, putting him at 12,003. The Croatian reached his first ATP World Tour final since winning Los Cabos last August, but drops to 8-10 in championship matches. Karlovic leaves with 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and a cheque for €55,325.

“It was an excellent week. I’m really happy,” said Karlovic. “Gilles had an unbelievable week and it’s nice he could win on Father’s Day!”

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There were no break points in today’s final, with Muller surprisingly out-acing Karlovic (22 to 19). The fourth seed grabbed an early mini-break and the first-set tie-break and rode it to an early advantage. Karlovic led 4/3 in the second-set tie-break, but Muller won the final four points to prevail in one hour and 32 minutes.

Frenchman Lucas Pouille hit 29 aces to win his second title of the season on Sunday, coming back to beat Feliciano Lopez 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart. Pouille has now won three titles and improves to 3-2 in ATP World Tour finals.

The 23-year-old right-hander also won the inaugural Gazprom Hungarian Open on clay in April. Last September, Pouille won his maiden title at the Moselle Open in Metz. 

“I think I took a little bit more of the opportunities than him. He had some break points and didn’t make them, and I had only one or two and I made them. So I think that made the difference,” Pouille said.

The MercedesCup final was his first grass-court title match but Pouille was ready for the occasion. Lopez broke him in the first set to take the opener but Pouille responded, saving all four break points in the second set and eking out the tie-break to even the final.

At 2-2 in the third set, after one hour and 43 minutes, Pouille saw his first break point and converted when Lopez netted a forehand. Serving for the match, the Frenchman struck his 29^th ace to win his first grass-court title.

Pouille, who accepted a late wild card into the event, was nearly out of the tournament in his opening match. He had to save a match point against German Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round.

Perhaps that – saving a match point early in the tournament – is key to Pouille winning titles this season. In Budapest, he saved two match points in his opener against Czech Jiri Vesely. Pouille will receive 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points and €112,460 in prize money.

“Of course if you win the first tournament of the grass season you’re very confident, but I know that every week is different and every player is tough to beat. I will need to focus again for next week and be ready to play my first round in Halle,” Pouille said.

The 35-year-old Lopez was trying to win his third grass-court title. The Spaniard falls to 5-11 in title matches and 2-2 in grass-court finals. Lopez’s previous grass-court crowns came in 2013-14 Eastbourne.

“It was a very good week for me overall. It’s tough for me to be happy after such a close match, but he deserved the win today,” Lopez said. “I’ve been very loyal to this tournament. I grew up watching all my friends win this tournament, but everyone here has made it even better than it was in the past.”

The left-hander was going for his first title since last July in Gstaad. He will receive 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points and €59,230.

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Second seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares completed a perfect beginning to their grass-court seasons on Sunday, beating fourth seeds Mate Pavic and Oliver Marach 6-7(4), 7-5, 10-5 to win the MercedesCup doubles title in Stuttgart.

Murray/Soares dropped only four points on their first serve (44/48) and saved both break points. Neither team broke in the first set but Marach/Pavic won the final three points of the tie-break to claim the opener.

In the second set, Murray/Soares broke at 5-5 then served out the set to even the final. The duo ran away with the match tie-break, sprinting to a 6/1 lead before clinching their second crown of the season.

“Very tough win. The court is playing fast, so not easy. Everyone is serving well so not many chances,” Soares said. “We stayed strong, kept serving well and played a great game at 5-5 to break and played a great ‘breaker.”

Murray/Soares also won the Abierto Mexicano Telcel title in Acapulco in March. In January, they fell in the Apia International Sydney final (l. to Koolhof/Middelkoop). They have won five titles since coming together at the start of last season.

“We had a few close losses this year and it was nice to see it through and get it over the line and get another trophy,” Murray said.

Murray has now won 18 tour-level doubles titles; Soares, 25. They will receive 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and split €34,160 in prize money.

“That’s amazing,” Soares said of winning his 25^th tour-level doubles title. “To be honest, never thought I’d reach these numbers. Twenty-five is amazing. Hopefully I can make it to 50.”

Marach/Pavic were playing in their first ATP World Tour doubles final as a team. They started playing together in March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Miami.

Marach falls to 15-19 in ATP World Tour doubles finals; Pavic, 6-11. The finalists will receive 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and €17,960.

Casper Ruud is soaring both on and off the court these days. The #NextGenATP star, who is projected to rise to a career-high World No. 108 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, enjoyed a break from the action at the Open Sopra Steria de Lyon to take flight in an indoor skydiving simulator.

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#NextGenATP @CasperRuud98 enjoys some time away from the court at the #ATPChallenger in Lyon, taking part in an indoor skydiving simulator. pic.twitter.com/R4Y7wKpR65

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 17, 2017

“It was so much fun,” said Ruud. “More than I expected actually. I had a day off and the tournament helped us set it up so it was very cool.”

Ruud and his coach Pedro Rico visited the iFly facility in Lyon on Thursday, taking part in the free fall activity. Following a 30-minute video training session, they practised with a supervisor who instructed them on the falling position and some sign language to use in the wind tunnel. They each had two one-minute jumps to get the basic floating position and then one to move up and down with the supervisor.

Ruud boasted another strong result on the ATP Challenger Tour this week as he continues his push towards the Top 100. The Norwegian teen advanced to his fifth quarter-final of the year, before succumbing to Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in three tight sets.