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Roger Federer Adds Istanbul to His Busy Calendar

Roger Federer confirmed the very rumors that he put the kibosh on when he announced his spring schedule last week. The 17-time Grand Slam champion will indeed be making the trip to the inaugural Istanbul Open this spring.

Federer announced the news on the tournament’s home page (see video above).

The news sets up a very busy spring for Federer on the red clay. After playing the Monte-Carlo masters, Federer will have a week off before playing Istanbul (begins 4/27), Madrid (begins 5/3) and Rome (begins 5/10) in successive weeks. After another week off, Roland Garros begins on May 24.

According to SI.com’s Courtney Nguyen, the last time Federer played four clay events before Roland Garros was 2008. Nguyen goes on to mention that Federer hasn’t played three successive weeks on clay since 2010, when he played Rome, Estoril and Madrid in succession.

Federer, who skipped Madrid last year to witness the birth of his second set of twins, also lost in the first round at Rome. He stands to make up a lot of ranking points if he has success on the clay. Even at Roland Garros, where he was knocked off by Ernests Gulbis in the quarterfinals last season, he could see a net gain.

Federer will have a shot to gain some ground on world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, but the Serb also missed Madrid last season, before winning Rome and reaching the final at Roland Garros.

Federer is currently 3,840 points behind Djokovic for the top ranking spot.

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