- Former world No 1 taking time in recovery from knee injury
- Swiss great ‘won’t retire all of a sudden’, says Ivan Ljubicic
Roger Federer will almost certainly miss the Australian Open for the second year in a row, with the Swiss maestro said to be recovering slowly from a third round of knee surgery in 18 months. But Federer’s long-time coach Ivan Ljubicic has played down fears the tennis world has seen the last of the 20-times grand slam champion, who turned 40 in August.
Federer has played just 13 matches in 2021 and not one since suffering a straight-sets quarter-final loss to Polish young gun Hubert Hurkacz in July. The six-time Open champion’s latest four-month lay-off comes after he spent a year on the sidelines following his record-setting 15th semi-final appearance at Melbourne Park in 2020.