One of the most prestigious tournaments of the tennis season, the Wimbledon Championships, is not far away. The grass-court Grand Slam tournament takes place in a few weeks, where top players will battle it out for top honors. However, even before the start of the tournament, an unwanted fact was brought to light in which the name of Roger Federer cropped up.

The Swiss maestro is the most successful player in the tournament, winning an astonishing 8 titles. Despite this success, Federer never wanted to get acclimatized to the conditions in the UK before the tournament. Instead, he opted to play tournaments in Halle and skipped the prestigious Queen’s Club tournament in London. A major reason for this was the hefty taxation rules in the United Kingdom.

Recently, renowned sports agent Max Eisenbud was present on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, where he brought to light why Federer opted to play tournaments in countries like Germany before the Wimbledon Championships. He said, “When you get to the finals of Wimbledon, you spend x amount of days in the UK getting ready for it. And those days, they’ll proportional how much money you make, for how many days you were in. People need to be on top of that.”

Eisenbud further pointed out how the hefty taxation rules in the UK affected the players living in countries where there was no income tax. As a result of the UK’s taxation rules, a significant chunk of the prize money went into paying taxes and the players got a minimal sum as compared to the other tournaments elsewhere.

He went on to add, “Tennis players living in Monte Carlo and now Dubai, they don’t pay any income tax, but when they go into these countries, they get withheld all the prize money… There is a reason why Fed never got ready for Wimbledon in the UK.” However, Roddick interrupted and poked fun at Federer, saying, “I thought he was scared to play me on grass.” Nonetheless, Federer had a unique connection with Halle. He went on to win a record 10 titles there and once even made a surprise move for the tournament.

Roger Federer’s lifetime contract with Halle

The Swiss maestro last played in Halle in 2021, a year before his retirement. Federer remains the tournament’s most successful player ever and had a personal connection with the tournament. In 2010, the 20-time Grand Slam champion had begun talks to sign a contract with the tournament. While the tournament director had initially thought about a two or three year contract, he was surprised by the proposal from the Swiss maestro.

Ralf Weber, the tournament’s director then, went on to reveal, “It was a proposal from Roger. We met in Paris in 2010 to agree on a two or three-year contract with him. When he suddenly said: “I want to play in Halle until the end of my career”. Even his manager Tony Godsick was then surprised and so were we anyway. It was an absolute stroke of luck for us.” 

The monetary aspect kept aside, the tournament in Halle indeed helped Federer in his Wimbledon preparations. While the numbers speak for themselves, it was a win-win situation for the Swiss maestro, saving money in taxes and also going into Wimbledon fully prepared.