Roger Federer remains optimistic that his professional career is not over, despite revealing he will undergo a third surgery on his knee in the past 18 months.
The 20-time Grand Slam singles champion, who turned 40 just over a week ago, posted a video to Instagram updating his followers on his physical health situation, which will see him miss the US Open later this month.
“As you can imagine, it’s not been simple (since Wimbledon),” said Federer, who fell 6-3 7-6(4) 6-0 to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarterfinals at the All England Club.
“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. And 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.
“So I decided to do it. I’ll be on crutches for many weeks and then 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 also to return to the tour in some shape or form.”
Federer has struggled with his physical health since Australian Open 2020, where he made it through to the semifinals before losing to Novak Djokovic.
Just a few weeks later he underwent right knee surgery and then in June he required a second procedure on that same knee.
After a year out of the game to rest and recover, Federer returned to the tour in March 2021 but has managed to play only 13 matches in five events.
He won one match in Doha before losing in the quarterfinals to Nikoloz Basilashvili and retreated for another two months before appearing again on clay, where he reached the fourth round at Roland Garros – only to withdraw ahead of his clash with Matteo Berrettini.
“After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation, it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery,” he said at the time.
Yet the subsequent grass-court season brought more physical difficulties, and culminated in his first 6-0 set loss in 13 years.
After that loss to Hurkacz, Federer revealed: “The (surgery rehab) process was incredibly slow. The goal was to compete already for Wimbledon last year. I barely made it sort of for this year.”
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Federer, whose last major title came at AO 2018, understands that at his age, and after more than 20 years on tour, another comeback presents a monumental challenge.
“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 in his video.
“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.”