Federer pulls out of Halle tournament
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BERLIN (Reuters) - Roger Federer pulled out of the Halle grasscourt tournament on Monday a day after losing the French Open final to Rafa Nadal, tournament officials said on Monday.
Nadal racked up a record-equaling sixth French Open beating his rival in four sets on Sunday.
"After talking with my team this morning, I feel that it is too big a risk to take a chance and aggravate it before Wimbledon," said the five-times Halle champion in a statement to tournament organizers who were left fuming.
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"All the plans throughout the year were almost exclusively focused on Roger's start here," said tournament director Ralf Weber. "He also never indicated that there could be health problems there. I made my disappointment clear to his management."
The small Halle event is seen as a lower-key Wimbledon preparation event than the Queen's Club tournament in London.
(Writing by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Ed Osmond)