Former world tennis master Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Australian Open, which he will miss for the first time in his career as he must continue his recovery after two knee surgeries, announced Monday (December 28th) the tournament organizers.
Roger Federer, 39, had been off sports since February but had resumed training recently and was on the list of participants for the Australian Open, which begins on February 8. “Finally, Roger did not have time to prepare for the rigors of a Grand Slam and he is very disappointed not to be able to come to Melbourne in 2021”tournament boss Craig Tiley said.
Moreover, his health concerns had even pushed Federer to consider the end of his career. “Retirement time is approaching and I know I will miss the circuit. It would have been easy to retire now, but I want to give myself a chance to still enjoy tennis ”, declared the Swiss in July in the German press, shortly after undergoing – in full suspension of the circuit because of Covid-19 – a second arthroscopy of the right knee in four months and ended his season.
New health measures
In mid-December, he admitted not being sure to participate in the Australian Open. “It’s a race against time. Of course, it would help if I had a little more time. But it will play out very little ”, he said at an award ceremony in Switzerland. “I would have hoped to be at 100% by October. But I am not at this level even today. It may be very fair ” for the Australian Open, he added.
The Australian Open was due to start on January 18, but tennis organizers and governing bodies have had to postpone the tournament dates at the request of Australian authorities to put in place unprecedented health measures to prevent the spread of the Covid -19.
Players will need to arrive in Australia from January 15 to observe a two-week quarantine period in a “Sanitary bubble” secure set-up around Melbourne Park, the tournament site. They must therefore stay in hotels reserved for them and must not stay outside these establishments more than five hours a day for their training.
