Saturday 22 April 2017 16:27, UK
Roger Federer must make a decision on whether he will play or miss this year's French Open to help his bid to be world No 1, says Fabrice Santoro.
Federer won a record-extending 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open earlier this year before winning back-to-back Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells and Miami.
Federer has opted to play very little if at all on clay before he begins his bid for another Wimbledon title this summer.
But former French star Santoro, who holds several ATP records but never won a Grand Slam singles tournament, says Federer must make a decision soon if he is to target the year-end world No 1 position.
"He knows that he has a chance to be number one at the end of the year, and for that he has two goals, Wimbledon and the US Open," Santoro told Sky Sports.
"If he can win a second Grand Slam then he will be close to number one in the world.
"The French Open is not one of his goals, that's for sure, and we know that at almost 36 years of age it would be very competitive on clay, even though his game has become more and more aggressive.
"Maybe [Novak] Djokovic and [Andy] Murray will not be fantastic in Paris next month but they could be fantastic later on in the year at Wimbledon or the US Open.
"So maybe Federer is reflecting on this in his mind and along with his coach, his wife and the rest of his team to take the decision as to whether or not to play the French."
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