Should Federer Play Monte Carlo?

I would say no. He should stick to his original schedule. But there are 1000 points on offer. What should he do?

I think he should play. It is a good way to get practice playing on clay and he does have an outside chance of winning since Rafa has had injury problems as of late. I know Djokovic is another favourite to win Monte Carlo should he enter, but Novak has always been a better matchup for Roger than Rafa has been.

I agree, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

According to some of his close fans from his website- he's on family vacation on luxury yacht somewhere, and won't even pick up a racquet until his normal training block starts in a couple of weeks.... Hence, I don't see him playing Monte Carlo.

I am sure he feels he rest and time away will lead to better success in the biggest tournaments coming up, and thereby he will gain more points that way than risking burnout and fatigue by adding to his schedule now to chase pnts.

That's a shame in a way - but you're right he's always managed his schedule impeccably, so in the long run let's hope it's all good.

Its a pleasure to watch him in action when he is on full flow, on the other hand I prefer him to enjoy his vacation and time off rather than playing a tournament heartless just for few points, he won't beat Nole let alone Rafa with that mindset.

It was really difficult to watch when TMF went AWOL in that match against Roddick. So, yes definitely, I sincerely hope the break does him a lot of good.

I think he should. I know better than him.

He should not play, he somehow never finds inspiration/motivation under the champagne bar.

Federer isn't looking at this Summer. He's looking at 2014/2015, and avoiding stress on the body is essential. The last thing he needs is the back to go again.

It's the smart move.

I hadn't considered that BB, of course the back must be a factor.

He has played plenty between Dubai, Rotterdam and IW. MC is one of the 'slowest' clay on tour. He has Rome and Madrid prior to FO.

I think he should rest.

I think he should play, on the basis of doing no training in advance for the tournament and using this tournament as practice for the other tournaments and then see what ranking points he could pick up. But I guess he's already made his decision not to play. You can already see the entry list on the Monte Carlo website, if anyone wants a look. Djokovic is playing this year.

Real story has to be whether Nadal can break his losing streak against Djokovic on this his favoured tournament and surface. Djokovic is only 2 wins (MC and RG) away from achieving complete domination over Nadal.