Hyderabad: Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer on Wednesday announced that he will miss the 2020 season after undergoing his second knee operation in a matter of months.
The 38-year-old said he needed follow-up arthroscopic surgery "a few weeks ago" after undergoing a similar procedure in February.
Twenty-time Grand Slam singles champion will take his time to be 100 per cent fit to hit the court. Federer is looking forward to make comeback in the 2021 season.
- — Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 10, 2020 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 10, 2020
">— Roger Federer (@rogerfederer) June 10, 2020
"I hope you are staying safe and healthy. A few weeks ago, having experienced a setback during my initial rehabilitation, I had to have an additional quick arthroscopic procedure on my right knee. Now, much like I did leading up to the 2017 season, I plan to take the necessary time to be 100% ready to play at my highest level. I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but, I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season," Federer said in a statement on Twitter.
Federer struggled with injury at this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne, where he lost in the semi-finals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, and subsequently underwent surgery on the knee in February.
With professional tennis shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic it remains to be seen how many tournaments Federer will actually miss.
The Swiss also had knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in 2016 and missed the second half of that season.
When he returned to the tour for the 2017 season it looked like he had never been away, winning the Australian Open to end a near five-year Grand Slam title drought and adding the Wimbledon title later that year.
The last of Federer’s record 20 Grand Slam singles titles came at the 2018 Australian Open. The closest he has come since was at Wimbledon last year when he lost in the final.
