Roger Federer will be returning to Rotterdam for the first time in seven years when the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament kicks off.
Rotterdam is the first ATP 500 tournament of the year and director Richard Krajicek has been able to pull in some star names for this year's edition. The former Wimbledon champion has secured a huge coup in attracting the 30 year old Federer who has not competed in Rotterdam since 2005 when he beat Ivan Ljubicic to win the title.
The Swiss star has signed himself up for an unusually busy February. He comes to this tournament on the back of Davis Cup action for his country against the United States and later in the month he'll be heading to Dubai.
The fast, low bouncing courts in Rotterdam will suit Federer down to the ground. He cleaned up during the autumn indoor swing, winning Basel, Paris and the ATP World Tour Finals and could legitimately claim to still be the best indoor player around.
So who could stop Federer this week ? Well Tomas Berdych and Juan Martin Del Potro have a chance. Berdych won Montpellier a couple of weeks ago and Federer fears his power. Likewise for Del Potro although he did get a bit of a schooling when they met in the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Dutch hopes rest mainly with Robin Haase who tends to rise to the big occasions and has done well in Rotterdam in the past, upsetting Andy Murray a couple of years ago.
