By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, February 3, 2016

Roger Federer underwent arthroscopic knee surgery yesterday that will sideline him for at least the rest of this month.

Federer suffered a torn meniscus the day after his Australian Open semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic, he announced in a Facebook post today. Federer returned home to Switzerland where he underwent knee surgery yesterday.

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"While this is an unfortunate setback, I am encouraged and grateful that my doctor said the procedure was a success," Federer said in the Facebook post. "I am looking forward to attacking the rehabilitation process this afternoon with my team and working hard to get back out on tour as soon as possible."

The 17-time Grand Slam champion has withdrawn from next week's Rotterdam tournament as well as Dubai, which begins on February 22nd.

A year ago, Federer defeated Djokovic, 6-3, 7-5, to collect his seventh career Dubai title. He thumped his 9,000th career ace in the final joining Goran Ivanisevic, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlovic as the fourth man to reach 9,000 aces.

The third-ranked Swiss trails Andy Murray by 150 rankings points for the world No. 2 spot.

Murray already announced he is taking the month of February off in order to be with wife Kim, who is expecting the couple's first child.

The 34-year-old Federer, a two-time former Rotterdam champion, was in prime position to pass Murray and regain the world No. 2 ranking with a solid performance this month.

Federer's Facebook post is here:

Federer is targeting a return at Indian Wells, which begins March 7th, though it's uncertain if he will fully recover in time. Federer was runner-up to Djokovic in the 2015 Indian Wells final.

After Indian Wells, Federer's next scheduled event is Roland Garros. He has not played the Miami Open since 2014.