Federer loses No.1 ranking, will skip clay

Roger Federer certainly didn’t mince his words when summing up his loss to Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Miami Open on Saturday.

The top seed and defending champion was a notable scalp for the young Aussie, who at world No.175 was the lowest-ranked player to beat a world No.1 in 15 years.

Kokkinakis needed a wildcard simply to get into the qualifying draw in Miami. And he dealt Federer a shock 3-6 6-3 7-6(4) defeat.

> RELATED: Kokkinakis stuns Federer at Miami Open

The loss means Federer will surrender the world No.1 ranking to Rafael Nadal when the new rankings are released on 2 April.

“I deserve it after this match. That’s how I feel. Just so bad,” Federer said.

A reminder that Roger Federer had three match points against Juan Martin Del Potro in the Indian Wells final to remain at world No 1 until May 20th…

— Stuart Fraser (@stu_fraser) March 24, 2018

“I feel like I wasn’t feeling good. The ball, I wasn’t feeling. With my movement, things weren’t absolutely working. I feel like every time I had chances, something bad happened for me, wrong decision making by me, good decision making by him. Who knows what happened.

“It’s disappointing. Don’t know why I could never get to any level that I was happy with today. Sometimes you have these matches. Sometimes you find a way through. I just couldn’t get it done today.”

Federer said that, following Miami, he would make a decision regarding his participation in the upcoming claycourt season.

For fans of the Swiss champion, it was disappointing news.

“I decided not to play,” he said.

Did that include Roland Garros, a journalist asked, the Grand Slam event at which Federer claimed his one and only French title in 2009?

“Yes. That’s what I said. The clay is the French, as well, yeah,” he replied.

> ICYMI: Djokovic’s struggles continue with early Miami loss

That means we won’t see Federer in action for three months until the grasscourt season kicks off in June.

In that time, Federer insists he would not dwell on the defeat to Kokkinakis, his second in a row after falling to Juan Martin del Potro in the Indian Wells final – also in a third-set tiebreak.

“I’m a positive thinker. I feel like every match is an another opportunity. Especially after losing one,” he said.

“Clearly I’m down right now. I’m disappointed. I’m frustrated a little bit that I couldn’t find a way. It’s unfortunate how it goes.

“It’s pretty simple at the end of the day. You go back to the practice court or go on vacation, you really take a break, get away from it all. When you come back to the practice court to work, whatever it is, you do it at 100 per cent.”