After skipping the Miami Masters to give himself a rest prior to the clay-court season, Roger Federer lost to Gael Monfils in the third round of Monte Carlo. But the world No. 2 doesn't believe there is cause for great concern.
"The only thing I need to do is go out on the court and practice, I need to play many hours and see what works best," the 17-time Grand Slam champion said. "We will analyze the practice I had on clay and those matches with (coaches) Severin Luthi and [Stefan] Edberg. We'll try to see what the problems are."
The 33-year-old hasn’t won a clay-court tournament since 2012, when he captured Madrid. "The important thing is to play well in practice and to play many sets." he said. "I'll be able to see what works and what doesn't work. I think I know a little bit how to play tennis. It's not like I'm starting from scratch.”
Federer added that he will go home to Switzerland to practice. In late April, he will play a new 250-level ATP tournament in Istanbul. But he hasn't decided if he will play the Rome Masters, which takes place immediately following the Madrid Masters.
"This is good time I should utilize in the right way," Federer said. "I'm looking forward to that. I'm playing Istanbul, Madrid. We'll see what happens with Rome. It was never sure I was going to play that anyway."