Roger Federer to skip French Open
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Roger Federer has decided to skip the French Open and the rest of the clay-court season in a bid to prolong his career. The Swiss ace, who won his 18th Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January, said he would instead start preparing for the subsequent grass-court season.
After following up his Australian Open crown with wins at Indian Wells in March and the Miami Open in April, Federer had announced that he would skip the clay-court season, in the buildup to the French Open. However, Federer has now decided to skip the second Grand Slam of the year in an attempt to continue playing "for many years to come".
"I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year. I need to
“Thus, my team and I concluded that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season.”
The world No 5 had missed the French Open last year owing to a knee injury, the first time he did not feature in Paris since his debut in 1999. However, the 35-year-old returned to court in typical fashion this year by beating Rafael Nadal in a memorable Australian Open final. And did an encore by beating the Spaniard once again to win the Miami Open.
While there is no denying that Federer will be sorely missed at Roland Garros, it’s perhaps best for the maestro to pick and choose his events in what is the latter half of his illustrious career.
Did you know, Federer is the only player to register at least ten titles on three different surfaces, he has 63 hard court titles, 15 grass court titles, and 11 clay court titles.
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