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Monte Carlo - Swiss strategist Roger Federer was not lingering in the past after going down 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters to Gael Monfils on Thursday.
With a leisurely five weeks until the start of Roland Garros on May 24, the world number two is planning ahead to his next ATP appearance at the new Istanbul clay event starting April 27.
"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," said the 17-time Grand Slam winner who has never claimed the title in the principality.
"We will analyse 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 important thing is to play well in practice and to play many sets.
"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 will assess his next moves back home in Switzerland and could well bring in another young player as a temporary sparring partner over the coming days.
"It's the very beginning of the clay court season. It's going to take me some time to feel 100 per cent comfortable.
"But it was a good week for me anyways to come here and practice with the best, play a couple of matches.
"At least it gives me some information, if I'm trying to be a bit positive right now.
"I'm going to go back to Switzerland and practice really hard, you know, from whatever the plan's going to be from tonight on until Istanbul.
"This is good time I should utilise in the right way.
"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."
Results on the fifth day of the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday (x denotes seeded player):
Third round
David Ferrer (ESP) bt Gilles Simon (FRA) 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1
Novak Djokovic (SRB x1) bt Andreas Haider-Maurer (AUT) 6-4, 6-0
Grigor Dimitrov (BUL x9) bt Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI x7) 6-1, 6-2
Milos Raonic (CAN x4) bt Tommy Robredo (ESP x16) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
Gael Monfils (FRA x14) bt Roger Federer (SUI x2) 6-4, 7-6 (7/5)
Marin Cilic (CRO x8) bt Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x11) 6-3, 7-6 (7/5)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x3) bt John Isner (USA x15) 7-6 (8/6), 4-6, 6-3
Tomas Berdych (CZE x6) bt Roberto Bautista (ESP x12) 7-6 (9/7), 6-4
