Steve Johnson has picked the tournament he much preferred playing out of Queen’s and Halle

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Preparations for Wimbledon are well underway, as the Halle Open and Queen’s approach the final rounds on the men’s side.

Jannik Sinner lost in the early rounds in Halle, losing to Alexander Bublik in a shocking upset for the world number one.

His French Open final conqueror, Carlos Alcaraz, has reached the latter stages of Queen’s, where he aims to regain the title he clinched in 2023.

The two tournaments, both ATP 500 events, have their pros and cons as Wimbledon tune-ups, which former American player Stevie Johnson discussed recently.

Stevie Johnson picks the tournament he preferred playing out of Queen’s and Halle

On the Nothing Major Podcast, when deciding which tournament he prefers, Johnson said: “Queen’s for sure. It is the best tournament, I think, one of the best of the year.

“They have everything you could possibly want there in an event, and selfishly, we spend 90% of our year in a hotel basically, and for us, the four of us always got a house.

“We would get a house, our families would come over, so it was nice to play that Queen’s week because you could get a house for a month. You could rent it for a month, and you felt like you were at home.

“You didn’t have to be in a hotel room. You could cook meals. You kind of have this different vibe for the grass season, so I enjoyed playing Queen’s more when I did get into it.

Obviously, that cut was always a bit stronger, so sometimes I was on the edge of both, and I would sneak into Halle and I would play that one, just because I would rather play main draw 500 than a qualies of a 500.

“It was nice because that week was pretty low stress compared to Wimbledon.

“So you would go into London a bit, go to dinner, take it a bit more relaxed because once you get to Wimbledon, it does get pretty stressful, just with the environment, but both tournaments are really well done. But completely opposite from one another.”

The warm-up tournaments each Wimbledon winner played since 2015

Alcaraz, the champion at Wimbledon for the last two years, has played at Queen’s in preparation for both of his triumphs in SW19.

Prior to that, Novak Djokovic, who won four consecutive Wimbledon titles from 2018 to 2022, emerged victorious in three of those campaigns without playing at a warm-up grass event in singles.

In 2019, 2021, and 2022, he went straight from the French Open to the All England Club, but in 2018, he played at Queen’s, where he made the final.

Roger Federer was the last Wimbledon champion to play at the Halle Open, having won both tournaments in 2017.

In 2016, Andy Murray won the Queen’s title and then went on to win his second crown in South West London, defeating Milos Raonic in the final that year.

The 2015 Wimbledon winner, Djokovic, also won the title that year without playing a grass-court tournament beforehand.