Roger Federer reveals reason Rafael Nadal made the RIGHT choice with injury decision

The 37-year-old insisted the only reason Nadal should have faced him on that day was if it was to be his last ever tennis match.

Nadal has long suffered from the knee condition and had another flare-up in his quarter-final match. He pulled out of the tournament after that, which resulted in Federer having a rest ahead of the final against Dominic Thiem.

Unfortunately for Federer it wasn’t enough to help him secure his 101st career title as Thiem won, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 in little over two hours on Sunday to claim his first Masters 1000 title.

Thiem’s victory over Federer saw the young Austrian bypass the Swiss legend in the rankings, as the 25-year-old returns to a career-high No 4.

Federer slipped to No 5 in the rankings while Nadal remains at No 2, despite withdrawing from the tournament in California through injury.

“The pain he must feel, especially when he played with it from the beginning of the match pretty much, I think that’s just not worth it taking any chances,” Federer said about Nadal.

“If it maybe was the last match of his life, okay, you find a way somehow to just play through it.

“But this is not this match. He knows his knees too well that he needs to be smart about his decision-making here.”

Despite losing in the final of Indian Wells, Federer said he is feeling “confident” about the upcoming Miami Open.

“I have been playing every single day for the past three weeks,” he said after the final.

“I can be very happy and proud of that fact.

“I feel really good, so why shouldn’t I go into the tournament and to the event confident?”

As for Nadal, he admitted the knee injury is affecting the amount of time he can play and train and that it is something he has had to deal with for quite a while.

“I have this since a long time ago,” Nadal said.

“Some moments are better; some moments are worse. Always stays there.

“And always reminds me, limits me to practice less the way that I want and to play less than I want.”

Nadal is expected to take some time away from the game to recover and is hoping to return in mid-April for the Monte Carlo Masters.

“What I’m gonna do is come back home and try to do a smooth transition to clay,” Nadal added.

“Try to be 100 per cent for the first event. That’s gonna be Monte Carlo for me.”