The chances of Roger Federer playing at the US Open appear to be fading after he confirmed there is still a lot of uncertainty concerning his fitness.
The former world No.1 hasn’t played a competitive match since his quarter-final loss at the Wimbledon Championships back in July. Since then he has pulled out of tournaments in North America due to a knee injury that has troubled him in recent months. Last year the Swiss maestro underwent two surgical procedures on his knee during what ended up being a 13-month absence from the Tour between February 2020 and March 2021.
Providing an update on his current health during an interview with Blick newspaper, Federer confirmed that he will be speaking with doctors this week. It is understood that what they say will influence when he will return to tennis again and if he will try to participate in the US Open. Although the prospect of him playing in the final Grand Slam of the season doesn’t look overly promising.
“I was on vacation. I haven’t done anything for a while, because of the knee. I had to let everything sink in after Wimbledon. This week I’m still meeting my doctors and my team and then we’ll see how it should go on. At the moment, everything is still a little uncertain.” Said Federer.
As one of the oldest players in the sport, Federer admits that the dilemma he is currently facing concerning injury is a stark difference from the past.
“It’s difficult. It used to be different. The questions were simple: What is my ranking? What is my next tournament? Today it’s trickier: How would I feel if I started training again? What can I achieve? What are my goals? How do I reconcile everything with the family? What does the rest of the team say? Today I am much more attentive than before, the attitude is different. It’s really completely different than it was ten years ago.” Federer explained.
Whilst he is in the closing stages of his career, there is a concern that should the knee continue to be troublesome it may force Federer to pull the plug earlier than expected. Although there is currently no suggestion to say that this could be the case.
Recently the 20-time Grand Slam champion celebrated his 40th birthday. How he marked the milestone was with a party surrounded by his friends and family. Federer says he also did some karaoke but admits he was ‘amazingly bad.’ The question is how did he feel the day after his party?
“I was doing surprisingly well. It was a bit like the Millennium, when it was thought that computers would no longer work. I woke up in the morning as a 40-year-old and noticed that everything is still the same as the day before. I was relieved. It’s all OK.” He assured.
“I suddenly feel very far away from my 20s. I was just a child back then. Now at 40 I feel like I have to be more serious. You used to look at 40-year-olds and they were mega old. Now suddenly I’m one of them too.”
During his record-breaking career, Federer has won 103 ATP titles, spent 310 weeks as world No.1 and has earned more than $130M in prize money.
