Roger Federer, currently 34 years old, announced a few days ago that he had suffered a knee surgery. The surgery took place a few days away from the Australian Open semifinals elimination. Federer announced that he would be absent from the Tennis court for about a month. The 3rd place holder in the ATP ranking will not attend the tournaments in Rotterdam and Dubai.
His schedule is shortened even more in 2016
At the end of last year, the Swiss player announced the list of tournaments he was to attend in 2016. He was supposed to play in 16 ATP tournaments, including the 4 Grand Slam tournaments and the Olympic Games. The clay court tournaments, with the exception of Roland Garros, vanished from his list. But after the injury, the list of tournaments will drop to 14 in the best case scenario, if his recovery takes place as scheduled. Federer is thus expected to return to the ATP circuit in early March, the tournament in Indian Wells, Florida most probably being the first tournament he is to attend.
The knee injury may shatter his dream of triumph at the Olympics
The news about the unfortunate event came as a shock to his devoted fans, but also to tennis lovers in general. Federer organized his schedule so as to be in the best possible physical shape at the Olympics in Rio. As he announced time and again, the gold medal in the singles is his last great dream.
However, an injury may weigh enormously at his age. The recovery period does not guarantee a return to optimal shape. In this respect, it is enough to look at Nadal’s situation, who since the 2014 injury has struggled tremendously, without much success, to return to his prior physical yield. Knee, shoulder and wrist injuries are the most harmful ones in tennis.
For the enthusiasts of this sport, another case in point would be the one of Juan Martin del Potro, the young hopeful of men's tennis. The Argentine player had enormous potential, in 2009 winning the US Open after defeating Federer in the finals, in an almost surreal match. However he had to retire from the circuit for almost a year after suffering a wrist injury, and afterwards he was not able to return to the output which had pushed him to the 4th place in the ATP ranking.
In light of these examples and taking Federer’s age into account (most players of his age retire from competitions), the possibility that Federer withdraws from the ATP circuit greatly increases.