Roger Federer will have surgery on his right knee again and will be away “several months” from the circuit

The tennis world suffered an unexpected blow this Sunday. Roger Federer, the greatest active legend on the ATP circuit, announced on his social networks that in the next few days he will undergo a new operation on his right knee and that he will be out of competition “for many months”.

The Swiss, who turned 40 on August 8, had undergone two surgeries on the same knee in 2020 that kept him away from the courts for more than a year. Federer had already announced shortly before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games that during his participation in Wimbledon – which ended in the quarterfinals with a tough loss in straight sets against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz – he had suffered a setback in the joint that has it. to mistreat since the 2020 edition of the Australian Open.

However, Federer – and especially his parishioners – remained hopeful of returning to activity before the launch of the US Open, the last Grand Slam of the season, which will begin on August 30.

The champion of twenty majors -share the honor with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal- said present at the last edition of Roland Garros, although he retired despite winning his third-round match. Then, after losing in the round of 16 in Halle, he played at Wimbledon. Then he missed the Olympics and the American tour prior to the American Open.

“Hi everyone, I’m Roger, I hope you are all well. I want to give you a little update on how everything has been since Wimbledon. As you can imagine, it has not been easy, I have been doing many checkups on my knee with the doctors, gathering information. I listened to my body during the turf tour at Wimbledon, and it is not the way to continue ”, started Federer in a video that he posted on his Instagram account.

He continued: “Unfortunately, to feel better in the medium to long term I will need to have surgery, so I decided to do it. I will be on crutches for several weeks and off the game for several months. It’s going to be difficult in some ways, sure, but at the same time I know it’s the right thing to do, because I want to race tomorrow and I want to give myself a bit of hope to get back on the tour in a certain way.

In this way, Federer said goodbye to the United States Open, a tournament that he won five times. His intention is to fully recover and return in optimal competitive conditions. “I am realistic, make no mistake, I know how difficult it is to have surgery again at this age, but I want to be healthy, face rehabilitation, make it active, which is something that will help me at this time,” acknowledged the former world number 1 that today it remains, despite everything, in the ninth step of the world ranking. Ycerró: “Thank you, it is not enough, for the messages you send me. They are incredible, many of you suffer with me, you wish me the best, you want to see me playing and smiling, I am fine and I appreciate it. I will keep you posted as I move forward with recovery, I wish you all the best and see you soon. Take care, bye! ”.

So far this year he has only played 13 games of which he lost four. It was after a 2020 that he did not go blank thanks to his passage in the Australian Open, where his path ended in the semifinals against Serbian Novak Djokovic. The new step through the operating room leaves the future in the air.

The full message

“Hi everyone, I’m Roger, I hope you are all well. I want to give you a little update on how everything has been since Wimbledon. As you can imagine, it has not been easy, I have been doing a lot of checkups on my knee with the doctors, gathering information. I listened to my body during the turf tour at Wimbledon and it’s not the way to go. “

“Unfortunately, to feel better in the medium to long term I will need surgery, so I decided to do it. I will be on crutches for several weeks and out of the game for several months. It is going to be difficult in some ways, sure, but at the same time I know what it is. right, because I want to race tomorrow and I want to give myself a bit of hope to get back on the tour in a certain way. “

“I am realistic, make no mistake, I know how difficult it is to have surgery again at this age, but I want to be healthy, face rehabilitation, make it active, which is something that will help me at this time.”

“Thank you, it is not enough, for the messages you send me. They are incredible, many of you suffer with me, you wish me the best, you want to see me playing and smiling, I am fine and I appreciate it. I will keep you updated when I progress with the recovery, I wish you all the best and see you soon. Take care, bye! “