The quest for success at Junes Wimbledon grass court championship has led Rafael Nadal to enter the Aegon Championships at Queens Club in London beforehand. This year Wimbledon will start on 29 June, three weeks after the French Open at Roland Garros finishes.
Nadal has announced he will compete in the Aegon, which runs from 15-21 Jun, rather than play at Halle in Germany as he has done in years past.
Im happy to be back. Queens is a great event, I always enjoyed it, I had some great feelings there, the atmosphere of the club, tennis club, real tennis club, is really special and I really enjoy. The court, the grass courts, are unbelievable and I am just very pleased to be back there, Nadal told the Aegon organisers.
It will be Nadals first appearance at Queens Club for four years. He won the event back in 2008 and has a good record of success at Wimbledon in the years when he played at Queens Club.
I enjoyed being at Halle, Nadal said, speaking at the Indian Wells tournament a week ago. The results have not been perfect in Halle for me. And I want to try again in Queens as the courts are a little bit more similar to Wimbledon and thats why my decision.
Each time he played at Queens Club in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 Nadal reached the Wimbledon final. He won the singles title in 2008 and 2010, and is looking for another title.
This year there is a week between the end of the French Open, the start of the Aegon and the start of Wimbledon which will be attractive to players looking to switch to their grasscourt game in time for Wimbledon.
The truth is in grass, most of the players have not the chance to play a lot of matches before Wimbledon so if you are able to play a couple of matches and get some confidence on that surface before, that helps to arrive there with better feeling, said Nadal.
In recent years Andy Murray has won the Aegon three times with Marin Cilic winning in 2012 and Grigor Dimitrov this years defending champion.
