Federer Suggests He'll Play French Open For First Time 2015

Federer skipped the last two French Opens for rest, but he said he'd like to make a return to Roland Garros this year.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Roger Federer is already talking about a return to the French Open in the wake of his stunning fourth-round loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas at Melbourne Park.

Federer hasn't played on the clay of Roland Garros since his quarterfinal loss in 2015. He was injured in 2016 and skipped the clay season in each of the next two years.

Speaking in French at a news conference after his title defense ended, Federer said he felt like he wanted to play on clay.

''I'm at a moment where I think it would be nice to do it,'' the 37-year-old Federer said. ''I can say I have missed it, I did the right thing skipping it last year, the year before as well, and the year before that I was injured. So I felt I wanted to do it again.''

Just one of his 20 Grand Slam titles has been on clay - in 2009 when he beat Robin Soderling in the final. He lost the three previous French Open finals to Rafael Nadal.

Federer said he wants to avoid having a long break in the middle of the year before the grass season.

''I feel that it is not really necessary,'' he said. ''So that's how this was decided.''