After losing to Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis by3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)  at the Miami Open 2018, Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer announced that he will be staying away from French Open 2018. “I decided not to play the clay season. I am trying to figure things out now, I have some time. I’m a positive thinker, every match is another opportunity. You take a break, get away from it all, and get back to practice court and work,” said Federer.

Now, Federer’s old rival Rafael Nadal has taken a dig at him and said, “He says he will love to play against me again in best-of-five sets on clay. He said that a couple of days ago - and I thought he would play Roland Garros. Then a few days later he says he will not play in one event, so there's a little bit of controversy with that," Nadal said.

With Federer not playing the French Open 2018, it is very likely that he will lose the No 1 spot on the ATO rankings. It is very likely that Federer’s opponent Nadal will occupy the number 1 spot. As per ATP, Nadal has beaten Federer 23 times in 38 matches on all surfaces. On the clay court, Nadal and Federer have played 57 times and the former has won 72.5% of the matches. Last year, Federer skipped the clay court season as he wanted to focus on Wimbledon. Talking about Nadal, he has been suffering from hip injury and is waiting to make a comeback to competitive tennis.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 18, 2018 10:54 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).