Tennis: Roger Federer to skip French Open

Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer has announced that he will sit out the rest of the clay-court season, including the Grand Slam tournament in Roland Garros later this month. The 35-year-old has won eighteen major tournaments so far and has revealed that his decision was due to his desire to play tennis at the highest level "for many years to come". Federer, who has won the Australian Open at the start of the season, will now try to prepare for the grass-court season and the Grand Slam tournament in Wimbledon. "I need to recognize that scheduling will be the key to my longevity," Federer said. "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. I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year." This is the second consecutive French Open that Federer misses, last year he was injured and sat out the tournament for the first time since 1999. Federer has claimed three titles this year: the Australian Open and the Masters 1000 tournaments in Miami and Indian Wells. He has won the French Open just once, in 2009, so he probably chose to focus on his recovery instead of playing a tournament that he had very little chances of winning. He has a much better record at Wimbledon, he has won the tournament no less than seven times before and played another three finals. Last year he lost to Milos Raonic in the semi-finals at Wimbledon. Roger Federer is 3/1 at Bet365 to win the title at Wimbledon this year.