Roger Federer to miss rest of season to let knee recover

Roger Federer will sit out the remainder of the season after consulting his doctors. Picture: Clive Brunskill/Getty

Roger Federer will miss the rest of the season, including the Rio Olympics and US Open. The 34-year-old said he had been advised not to play again this year in order to fully recover from the knee surgery he had in February.

“I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season,” the 17-time grand slam champion said on his Facebook page.

Federer, who had surgery for the first time after suffering a freak knee injury running his daughters a bath, missed the French Open with a back injury, but returned to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon, losing to Milos Raonic.

He said that after consulting his doctors “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. 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.”

He added: “The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans, remains intact.”