For the first time in his career, the 39-year-old Swiss, recovering from two knee operations, will not participate in the prestigious Melbourne tournament next February.
Le Monde avec AFP
Former world No. 1 Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Australian Open, which he will miss for the first time in his career because he must continue his recovery after two knee operations, tournament organizers announced on Monday (December 28th).
Roger Federer, 39, had ceased all sports activity since February but had resumed his training recently and was on the list of participants for the Australian Open, which begins February 8. “Ultimately Roger didn’t have time to prepare for the rigors of a Grand Slam and he is very disappointed that he cannot come to Melbourne in 2021,” tournament boss Craig Tiley said.
Besides, his health concerns had even pushed Federer to consider the end of his career. “The time to retire is approaching and I know that I will miss the circuit. It would have been easy to retire now, but I want to give myself a chance to still enjoy tennis,” said the Swiss in July in the press German, shortly after undergoing – in full suspension from the circuit because of Covid-19 – a second arthroscopy of the right knee in four months and ended his season.
Unpublished health measures h2 >
And in mid-December, he admitted that he was not sure he would participate in the Australian Open. “It’s a race against time. Of course, it would help if I had a little more time. But it will play out for little,” he said at an award ceremony in Switzerland . “I would have hoped to be at 100% by October. But I’m not at this level, even today. It may be very fair” for the Australian Open, he added .
The Australian Open was originally scheduled to start on January 18, but tennis organizers and governing bodies have had to push back tournament dates at the request of Australian authorities to put health measures in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Players must arrive in Australia from January 15 to observe a two-week quarantine period in a secure “health bubble” set up around Melbourne Park, the tournament site. They must therefore stay in hotels reserved for them and must not stay outside these establishments for more than five hours a day for their training.