Roger Federer announced on Sunday that he will have further knee surgery and that he “will be out for many months,” a move that raises fresh doubts about his tennis future at the age of 40. The ruling automatically disqualifies him from the US Open, which begins in two weeks and in which he has won five times. Federer had two knee operations in 2020, when he only played six times and has only played 13 matches in 2021. “I’ll be on crutches for many weeks and out of the game for many months,” Federer stated in a video broadcast to his Instagram account. Federer has won 20 Grand Slam titles.

Federer continued, “I want to give myself a ray of hope to return to the circuit in some shape or form.”
“Don’t get me wrong: I’m a realist. I understand how tough it is to undergo another operation at my age. I’ll give it a go. I want to be fit and healthy, and I want to be active.”
He’d previously withdrawn from the Tokyo Olympics in order to rest his knee.
Federer withdrew from this year’s French Open after reaching the fourth round, and was knocked out of Wimbledon in the quarter-finals by Hubert Hurkacz of Poland, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 6-0.
That was only his 14th loss at the All-England Club in 119 matches, and it was the first time he had lost in straight sets in the event since losing in the first round to Mario Ancic in 2002.
It was also the first and only time he had ever lost a set 6-0 at Wimbledon, and only the third time at a Grand Slam.
Federer said he was learning to adjust to the fact that recovering from niggles takes two weeks rather than two days after turning 40 last weekend.
“It used to be different. The questions were straightforward: where do I stand in the rankings? What is the date of my next tournament? “, he told Blick magazine.
“Today’s challenge is more difficult: how will I feel when I resume training?” What are my objectives? How do you reconcile this with your family? “What do the other members of the team have to say?”
I’m a lot more excited now than I was before, and my attitude has changed. It’s a very different world now than it was ten years ago.”
The 2018 Australian Open was Federer’s most recent major title.
He was far into his 36th year and the second-oldest man to win a Grand Slam.
Novak Djokovic has won eight more majors since then, while longtime rival Rafael Nadal has won four.
Both have equaled Federer’s total of 20 Grand Slams.
If Federer decides to retire after 23 years on the circuit, he would leave behind a resume that includes 103 championships (only Jimmy Connors has more), 310 weeks at number one, and more than 130 million dollars in prize money.