By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Roger Federer has ended his 2016 season saying he needs "extensive rehabilitation" following knee surgery earlier this year.
Photo credit: Mercedes Cup
This is not the birthday celebration his fans envisioned: Roger Federer will not play again in 2016.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion has pulled the plug on his 2016 season to rehab his surgically-repaired left knee.
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In a Facebook post announcing his decision, the 34-year-old Federer said he needs "extensive rehabilitation" following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus in February.
"I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year," Federer said. "The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year."
Federer's full statement is here:
Federer, who celebrates his 35th birthday on August 8th, will miss the Rio Olympic Games and the shot for the first Olympic singles gold medal of his career.
The third-ranked Swiss, who has played in four Olympics, was scheduled to partner Stan Wawrinka in doubles, reprising their gold-medal winning doubles partnership, and form a dream team with fellow former world No. 1 Martina Hingis in mixed doubles.
Injury and illness have plagued Federer this season, limiting him to a 21-7 record. On February 2nd, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
A planned return in Miami was scrapped as Federer came down with gastroenteritis. A lower back injury forced Federer to withdraw from Madrid and Roland Garros, snapping his Open Era-record streak of 65 straight Grand Slam appearances.
Despite the physical issues, Federer advanced to Grand Slam semifinals at the Australian Open, losing to eventual-champion Novak Djokovic, and at Wimbledon where Federer fought off three match match points brilliantly rallying from a two-set deficit to edge Marin Cilic, 6-7 (4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (9), 6-3, and advance to his record-tying 11th Wimbledon semifinal and 40th Grand Slam semifinal.
The elation from that thrilling comeback gave way to deflation as Federer squandered a two sets to one lead before a surprising stumble to Milos Raonic in the Wimbledon semifinals.
Federer took a rare tumble to the turf in the fifth set of his Wimbledon semifinal loss, remarking afterward he was both inspired by his run and curious to see how his body would react after the fall.
"Actually, it's very encouraging for the season, hopefully for the rest of my career," Federer said at Wimbledon. "Not that I was worried it was going to end somehow, but I was insecure coming into Wimbledon. I must tell you. I mentioned that a lot beforehand.
"For some maybe not that clear, for others very clear. It's been a great run for me here, I must say. I just hope with the slip I had in the fifth, I'm going to be fine tomorrow and beyond. I mean, curious in a weird way to find out what's the deal now."
It's a curiosity the tennis world now shares with Federer.