Rafael Nadal pulls out of grass event while Roger Federer confirms his full schedule

Roger Federer will return for the grass-court season, while Rafael Nadal faces race to be fit in time for Wimbledon.

Good news first: Roger Federer is returning after his break in time for the grass-court season. Still hoping to be fit and ready for Wimbledon, Rafael Nadal’s pulled out of a warm-up grass event.

The first quarter of the year was all about Federer’s return from the abyss, coming back with a vengeance by surprising all the critics who had written him off as past his prime. His answer: he beat the #nextgen players and Top 10’s in all three of the major titles he easily collected, including the elusive 18th grand slam in Australia and the two Masters 1000 hard court titles.

Witnessing the Swiss player employ his gorgeous all-court game with new weapons (hello, lethal backhand!) simply dazzled fans during the hard court season. At 35 years old, he showed that age was just a number. Then, just like that, poof! He said adios for now, after the Miami title victory, and decided to rest up and participate in activities like Pippa’s wedding in England or deliver bunny chocolates to hospitals in Switzerland.

Leaving us with the other tennis king, Nadal. In the Miami Open trophy presentation, Federer told the Spaniard, “the clay-courts are around the corner, so I’m sure you are going to tear it into pieces over there.” And boy did he ever!

If Federer was dominant on the hard courts in Australia and the U.S., Nadal killed it all over Europe all spring long. He set the bar by winning his first “La Decima” at Monte Carlo, also the first Masters 1000 tournament on the orange clay. Not a bad start. He did the same in Barcelona and won the next clay Masters 1000 trophy in Madrid. The culmination of the season came with a glorious decade’s worth of wins at Roland Garros. Really, does anyone even doubt the 31-year-old is truly the “king of clay?”

Both players have breathed life into the captivating rivalry #fedal, granting tennis — and sports fans, really — everything it could ever want. Once relegated to the dustbin of history, with new weapons and new fire, they’ve come back from the brink of obscurity to sweep all the competition aside.

The grass-court season starts this week and it should provide a fascinating blank slate for the two legends. Federer’s preferred surface is hard court or grass, which he’s dominated this year so far, including three victories over the Mallorcan native. Nadal has claimed all the clay majors. They now sit one grand slam a piece and two Masters 1000 titles each, with Nadal having won one more ATP title. Rafa has moved up to the No. 2 ATP rankings spot, with Federer staying at No. 5, one spot down from the No. 4 he achieved after Miami.

The contest between these two legends will hopefully continue on the grass courts. Seeing the great rivals play is like a drug for legions of fans, you just can’t get enough. Like Federer, Nadal will also be pacing himself in order to be able to compete in the tournaments he wants to play and to keep playing longer. As of now, he’s pulled out of the next grass event he was scheduled to play, Queen’s Club. He is still on the roster for Wimbledon.

Federer plays at the Mercedes Cup this week, one more event than he usually plays. Having sat out the European clay, he’s eager to get back and with a new hair cut in tow, he’s now unveiled that he plans to play the entire rest of the season.

“There are no more breaks now, I’ve had enough breaks,” Federer said to ATP. “I’m a practice world champion now and that’s not who I want to be. I want to be a champ on the match courts.”

The race for grand slams and Masters 1000 titles will continue. Both players jumped up in the rankings, with Federer starting out at No. 17 and Nadal at No. 9 at the beginning of the year. It’s very conceivable that the legendary rivals could be back right where they were five years ago, No. 1 and 2 by the end of the year.

“It’s going to be an epic finish to the end of the season,” Federer said in a press conference in Stuttgart. “Quite exciting actually for the ATP Tour.”

Who knows what the grand slam tally will be then? There are two more left. If Roger Federer picks up where he left off a few months ago, he could be looking at an unprecedented 20 grand slams at best, or Rafael Nadal could get to one short of Fed’s current total. Or some variation of either. At any rate, the race for tennis greatness between the two will continue to be tight, fascinating and hard-fought. 2017 really has turned out to be a captivating year for tennis.