The 11-times Grand Slam winner makes his debut in the Doubles on Wednesday before taking his Singles bow on Thursday - Praise and compliments in the press: “Catapulted into seventh-heaven.”

“We are delighted that you are here. And we congratulate you from our hearts for your seventh French Open victory”. Those were the words with which tournament director Ralf Weber greeted the Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal on Tuesday afternoon at precisely 14:24 in HalleWestfalen. Weber and Nadal cut a cake together in front of the Sportpark Hotel - the cake bore the number seven on a red court, marking Nadal’s record number of Grand Slam victories at Roland Garros. And on the other side, there was a green court symbolising Nadal’s participation in the 20th GERRY WEBER OPEN this week.