In his pre-tournament press conference at the Rolex Paris Masters, Roger Federer recalled he was invited to play an exhibition match in Saudi Arabia which will be held on December 22nd 2018 but that he declined to play it.

In the end, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic agreed to play there although now given the recent circumstances the event may not take place. Federer rarely plays exhibitions except for the Match for Africa and the Laver Cup.

He used to play Abu Dhabi until a few years ago and he also featured on the World Tennis Day in 2014, but now his plans have changed. 'They contacted me too, yeah. I prefer not to play,' Federer said on the chance to play in Saudi Arabia.

'Because I don't want to play. It's okay. I'm happy practicing. I'm happy doing other things, and I didn't want to play there at that time. So, for me, it was a very quick decision.' On his decision to play at the Rolex Paris Masters, Federer was asked if the close matches he won in Basel influenced his decision to come to France.

'Not really. I mean, It's definitely a way of winning a tournament for a change. Obviously, I have my titles. I didn't win them all outright, straightforward, no problem. I had to fight for a lot of them. But this one was sort of from the first match till the last match, I was a bit bumpy, but I was happy how I was returning, how I was fighting, how I was trying to figure it out in a different manner.

Yeah, I mean, look, I think I actually started playing better as the tournament went on. It's kind of logical, you know, that you always start feeling better as you go on. But for me, I don't know. I always want to keep the door open for Paris, and I'm happy I'm here.

And like I said, I would rather play on a nice court rather than going back to practice. I've already done enough practice this season. So I feel like if that helps me for London that's a great thing. And I have also not played in this city for some time.

That was the excitement today as well to it. But last week was special to win at home the way I did it, in a different manner. It was a good feeling, no doubt about it.' ALSO READ: 'Roger Federer should never play on clay again' - Andy Roddick