When Roger Federer advanced to his 11th Wimbledon semi-final earlier this month, there was hope that he’d put his February knee surgery and injury plagued year behind him. But the knee is apparently still bothering him, and today Federer announced that he would miss the rest of the season, including the upcoming Olympics and the final major of the year, the U.S. Open.
From his Facebook page:
I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season. Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year. The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year. However, the silver lining is that this experience has made me realize how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries. The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans remains intact. I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.
Federer last won a major in 2012, at Wimbledon, though he advanced to two major finals last year and two major semi-finals this year. Since then Novak Djokovic has risen to the top of the sport, winning seven majors, with Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray each picking up three, and Stan Wawrinka each winning two.
But if Federer does indeed play a few more injury-free seasons, I wouldn’t bet against him adding to his major title haul.