Ivan Ljubicic was at the Monte Carlo Masters and spent some minutes at the Sky Sport Studio during the commentary match between Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev. Ljubicic explained that Roger Federer is currently in South Africa for his Foundation, and next week they will start practicing again.

He also commented on the decision to skip the clay-court season: 'This year it was easier since that in 2017 it worked. Last year Roland Garros was in dispute until the last minute, Roger had also ordered balls to practice and he was sad to skip it.

This year we took a definite decision and we didn't even order balls. Roger played so much and he needs to take a break. He is not a 18-year-old anymore', the world No. 2's coach said. The next step is the grass-court season: 'He will be back in Halle, for Stuttgart we have not decided yet', Ljubicic revealed.

'In Miami he was tired, but who knows what would have happened beating (Thanasi) Kokkinakis: he may have recovered after the day off. Federer has always been careful with his schedule, he stopped in order to recover also when things were going well and he also took tough decisions.' ALSO READ: Rafael Nadal: '25-second shot clock is good only for business'