Can Federer break the Stuttgart curse?

Roger Federer recently won his first Mercedes Cup title in Stuttgart by defeating Milos Raonic in straight sets. The week of work got him back up to No. 1 but the victory may turn out to be a bad omen going into Wimbledon.

Since 2015, every Stuttgart champion has lost in the second round of the grass-court Grand Slam. That year also marked the tournament moving from after Wimbledon to a few weeks before. The unlucky 2015-2017 winners include Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Lucas Pouille. .

Nadal's loss came against Dustin Brown, Thiem fell to Jiri Vesely and Pouille tumbled out against Jerzy Janowicz.

Still, Federer, an eight-time Wimbledon champion, should have no problem breaking the curse. Since 2002, the Swiss has only departed the tournament early on two occassions, most recently in 2013 against Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.

For now, the 36-year-old has his sights set on defending his title in Halle, which he began with a win over Aljaz Bedene on Tuesday. If he can win the tournament, it will be his 10th Halle title and, fittingly, he would have a chance to secure his 100th career title at Wimbledon.