Federer pulls out but plans to play on
Roger Federer insists he plans to play ‘‘for another few years’’ despite announcing he’ll sit out the rest of the tennis season, including the Rio Olympics and US Open, to protect his surgically repaired left knee.
Federer wrote on his Facebook page that he needs more extensive rehabilitation following the knee surgery he had in February following the Australian Open.
‘‘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,’’ Federer said.
The owner of a record 17 men’s grand slam singles titles, Federer will turn 35 next month and he has not won a grand slam in the past four years.
However his agent, Tony Godsick, also insisted there was no suggestion of retirement and indicated Federer intended to be back at the Australian Open in January, telling the AP the plan is to ‘‘be ready for the start of next year.’’
Federer often has spoken about how much the Olympics mean to him, in part because he met his wife, Mirka, when both were athletes at the 2000 Sydney Games. Federer won a silver medal in singles for Switzerland four years ago in London, and he teamed with Stan Wawrinka to win a gold medal in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In Brazil, Federer was expected to play singles, doubles with Wawrinka, and mixed doubles with Martina Hingis.
In his statement Tuesday, Federer wrote: ‘‘The silver lining is that this experience has made me realise how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries.’’
And he added: ‘‘I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.’’