Roger Federer undergoes knee surgery; Ruled out for a month

Roger Federer will be out of action for up to a month after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in Switzerland to repair a torn meniscus, his agent Tony Godsick has confirmed on Wednesday.

The 17-times grand slam champion sustained the injury the day after his semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the Australian Open.

In a media release Federer said that he would be forced to withdraw from two upcoming ATP World Tour 500 events, the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis championships in Dubai.

"I am so disappointed to have to miss Rotterdam and Dubai as they are two of my favourite tournaments on the ATP World Tour," said Federer, who is the reigning champion in Dubai having won the title for the seventh time last March.

"While this is an unfortunate setback, I feel grateful that up until now I have remained mostly healthy throughout my career," the 34-year-old Swiss added.

"My doctors have ensured me that the surgery was a success and with proper rehabilitation, I will be able to return to the Tour soon."

The world number three has won two Rotterdam trophies among his 88 titles.

Federer has rarely missed any tournaments for health reasons during his remarkable 18-year professional career.

In 2005 he was out of action for six weeks while he recovered from foot injury and during 2008 and 2013 he was troubled by a bout of mononucleosis and back problems.

Federer had been expected to leapfrog British world number two Andy Murray in the ATP standings in February while expectant father Murray takes a paternity break from the game.

However, Federer's injury setback ended those hopes and the Swiss is expected to make his comeback at the Indian Wells Masters in March.

Date: 3 February 2016, Source: Reuters

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Rod Laver believes Roger Federer can win another Grand Slam

Australian tennis legend Rod Laver believes Roger Federer still has another major victory in him despite the Swiss suffering yet another Grand Slam defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday.

Federer has been in search of a record-extending 18^th Grand Slam trophy ever since he won his 17^th at Wimbledon in 2012. But the World No.3 has been stopped in his tracks - losing to Djokovic in their last four major showdowns (Wimbledon final 2014 and 2015, US Open final 2015 and Australian Open semi-final 2016) - and many wonder whether Federer, at 34, can add to his tally.

Laver, who is the only player to complete the Grand Slam twice, in 1962 and 1969, believes Federer can still win another major.

“I tend to think so,” said Laver. “I thought even this time he looked like he was playing great tennis those two matches prior. So when you see that, you think ‘well, yeah, Roger’s got a chance’.

“So, yeah, somewhere around the line maybe Wimbledon is an opportunity for him to do that.

“He certainly knows the territory. He knows the competition. If he gets a good draw, and I think that’s always very big, there’s probably two, three, four guys that you would really rather not have to play. If they’re in the other half, you’ve got an opportunity.

“I think it’s possible. But maybe it’s a big stretch.”

Federer was destroyed in the first two sets against Djokovic in their semi-final on Thursday before he stopped the bleeding and took the third, eventually losing in four to the World No.1.

Laver paid tribute to Djokovic’s form and says there wasn’t much Federer could have done differently.

“Looking at the mistakes, I think Novak had maybe five mistakes in those two sets. It was just quite incredible the speed he was getting around the court and being able to hit great shots down the line, just an inch inside the line,” said the 77-year-old.

“I don’t think Roger was negative in hitting any groundstrokes. It looked like he was doing pretty well with the groundstrokes when he came to the net, but Novak had all the answers and he played beautifully.”

Date: 1 February 2016, Source: Sport 360

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