Roger Federer Has Announced He Won’t Play Tennis Until 2021 Due To A Knee Injury

Roger Federer has announced he will be out of action for the rest of the 2020 season due to a knee injury. The 20-time Grand Slam champion needed an extra operation on his right knee and plans to be back in 2021, when he will turn 40.

Federer, who turns 39 in August, is the all-time men’s leader with 20 Grand Slam titles and recently landed the top spot on the annual Forbes list of the highest-paid athletes with $106.3 million in pre-tax earnings. The Swiss ace is the first tennis player to take the No. 1 rank since the list debuted in 1990.

Federer was last seen beating rival Rafael Nadal in a charity match in South Africa in February.

Prior to that, he lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open in January.

In February, he announced that surgery on his right knee would keep him out of the French Open, but that he expected to be ready for Wimbledon, which he has won eight times and nearly won for an ninth time last summer before failing to convert double-match point against Djokovic.

Although he has essentially lost a year of play, he may not end up missing much. Wimbledon, where he stands the best chance of winning each year among the majors, was canceled. The Olympics, where Federer was planning to play and was seeking that elusive gold medal in singles, was pushed to 2021.

The U.S. Open remains in limbo and is expected to announce its plans within the week. As it stands, both Nadal and Djokovic have expressed concerns about playing in the event due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the limitations that flow from it.

The French Open, where Nadal has won 12 times, has been rescheduled for late September. The Laver Cup, Federer’s pet event, was pushed to 2021.

Nadal, 34, owns 19 career majors, and Djokovic, 33, has 17. They are hot on Federer’s heals for supremacy in the men’s game.

Indeed, Federer has said it’s “obvious” both men will surpass him.

“I think the way it’s going, obviously, Rafa and Novak will win more,” Federer told Howard Fendrich of the Associated Press last January, “because they’re that good. And the season they had (in 2019), again, shows that there is more to come for them.”

The “Big Three” of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic have won the last 13 Slams dating to the 2016 U.S. Open when Stan Wawrinka captured the title.

Now everyone who follows tennis, including Federer, is curious how long this “Golden Age” can last.

“I honestly think it’s going to be quite exciting to see how much longer can they go. How much more can they win? They might have some more incredible years ahead of them. That’s my assumption,” Federer told the AP. “It’s a bit of a golden time for tennis right now, no doubt.”

By saying he looks forward to being back on tour for the “start of the 2021 season,” it means fans can hope to see Federer back at the Australian Open in January, an event he has won six times, most recently in 2017 and ‘18.

Still, he will turn 40 in 2021 and will again be a sentimental favorite to contend for major titles.