Roger Federer is facing “many months” on the sidelines, and will miss the US Open, after confirming he is set for another knee operation.
The Swiss legend had two bouts of knee surgery last year, and had been working on a rehabilitation programme to get back to action.
Federer made a return to tennis earlier in the summer, and advanced to the quarter finals of Wimbledon before losing to Hubert Hurkacz.
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His aim was to appear at the US Open later this month, but has been forced to concede defeat and will undergo an operation.
Taking to Instagram, Federer said: “I just wanted to give you a bit of an update [on] what’s been going on since Wimbledon. As you can imagine, it’s not been simple. I’ve been doing a lot of checks with the doctors as well on my knee, getting all the information as I hurt myself further during the grass-court season and Wimbledon.
That’s just not the way to go forward, so unfortunately they told me for the medium to long term to feel better, I will need surgery. I decided to do it.
“I’ll be on crutches for many weeks and also out of the game for many months, so it’s going to be difficult of course in some ways, but at the same time I know it’s the right thing to do because I want to be healthy, I want to be running around later as well again and I want to give myself a glimmer of hope to return to the tour in some shape or form.”
Twenty-time major winner Federer turned 40 earlier this month, and conceded that time is against him in a bid to return to the top of the sport.
“I am realistic, don’t get me wrong. I know how difficult it is at this age right now to do another surgery and try it,” Federer said. “But I want to be healthy, I will go through the rehab process I think also with a goal while I’m still active, which I think is going to help me during this long period of time.”
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