Roger and out?

So Roger Federer, has like everything else Swiss, been entirely clinical and efficient in winning Halle for a fifth time. He didn't even have his serve broken, let alone drop a set. Yet surely anyone who knows anything about tennis must be considering the idea that for all of Roger's success in Germany, he's shirking away from the prospect of a high-quality field at Queens to maintain his record on grass.

Halle is ultimately a warm-up tournament to Wimbledon, and playing there almost guarantees that Federer has three or four matches preparation. But I don't consider playing Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final as a test for Roger. In his run to the final, the highest ranked player Federer played was Marcos Baghdatis, who is ranked at 18. And when you total the rankings of the top eight seeds in each of the respective tournaments, it clearly demonstrates the gulf in quality - at Halle, the top eight seeds' rankings total 133; at Queens, they total 79.

Federer is definitely still the man to beat on grass - you can't have his record on the surface and not go to Wimbledon as favourite - but Nadal and Djokovic have proven with the ease of their transition onto grass that the gap between them is far closer than before. Judging on the quality of the tennis played by Nadal and Djokovic in the final, I think Roger would have struggled to beat either of them out there on the day. It's clear that these three have taken men's tennis to another level, and it's a pretty safe bet that the Wimbledon winner will come from this elite group.

It'd be fantastic for Federer to play Queens at some point in his career; loyalty, contracts and the fact that Queens has lost its sponsorship and therefore might not be able to offer the same prize money as previously, may dictate that Roger stays in Halle. But to be the best, you have to beat the best, and Roger can't honestly say that he's done that this week.