King of Queen's: Nadal heads list of Wimbledon challengers

LONDON—Until 1922, defending Wimbledon champions got a bye into the final while the rest of the field battled it out for the right to play them for the title. This year's Artois Championships, the annual men's warm-up held at Queen's Club in west London, looked a lot like one of those pre-1922 “challenge round” tournaments: Everyone but Federer.

Except for five-time champion Roger Federer, every serious contender for the Wimbledon title played Queen’s. Four-time French Open champ Rafael Nadal was there, as was Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic, and two-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick. Plenty of darkhorses were also in the mix: Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion; David Nalbandian, the 2002 Wimbledon finalist; Briton Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, and Mario Ancic (the last man to beat Federer at Wimbledon.

Some up-and-coming prospects like Latvian Ernests Gulbis and Kei Nishikori, the Japanese newcomer also sounded warnings. Gulbis gave Murray a battle in the third round while Nishikori, playing in his first-ever grass-court tournament, took a set off Nadal and was afterwards called a future top-tenner by the Spaniard.

When the dust had settled at the end of the week, Nadal was not only the last player standing but the one who had taken down the other two top contenders for Federer’s Wimbledon crown - Roddick and Djokovic.

Queen’s is not just about bragging rights and getting your name on the enormous silver trophy alongside most of the grasscourt greats of the past 30 years. It’s also about scouting the opposition. And after two tight but decisive beatings by the Spaniard, both Roddick and Djokovic know that Nadal will be a daunting challenge at the All England Club in a weeks’ time.

“It’s not exactly a surprise that he's an extremely capable grass court player. He's proved that,” said Roddick after losing 7-5, 6-4 to Nadal, who had never won a grass title before last week but has reached the Wimbledon final each of the past two years.

SOURCE: Tennis.com - Read the rest of the article here