Hard hit for the tennis ace. Roger Federer announced this Sunday, August 15, in a video posted on Instagram, that he was going to undergo knee surgery, which will translate into “many months of absence” and leaves the hypothesis of an end of career.
The 40-year-old Swiss, who has not played since Wimbledon, notably missed the Tokyo Olympics and thus is withdrawing from the US Open. “I want to give myself a ray of light to return to the circuit in one way or another,” he explained. “I am realistic, please understand me. I know how difficult it is at my age to have another operation. I’ll try ”to get back on the circuit, Federer added. “I want to be healthy. I will continue the rehabilitation process,” he insisted.
The former world number one played just 13 matches in 2021, with a mixed record of nine wins and four losses in five tournaments. His 2020 season, with six games played, had been interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic and marked by two knee operations.
Doubts about his participation in the US Open were allowed after the man with twenty Grand Slam titles gave up the Masters 1000 in Toronto and Cincinnati, in the wake of his loss at the Olympics, which could have been his last challenge before the end of his career. career.
This season, the Basel native had withdrawn before the round of 16 at Roland Garros, in order to prepare for Wimbledon, his favorite tournament that he won eight times but was released in the quarter-finals.
Asked after the London tournament final won against Nadal in 2019 about his possible career end, Federer had indicated to discuss it regularly with his wife for the sake of family balance.
