Daily Mail

A FINAL FAREWELL TO FEDERER?

The Swiss master will have been out of action for a year after his Aussie Open withdrawal. So, is it…

- By MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspond­ent @Mike_Dickson_DM

ROger Federer has participat­ed in the last 22 Australian Opens, so his absence from February’s reschedule­d edition will perturb his global legion of fans.

The 39- year- old Swiss has withdrawn, citing the continuing wait to fully recover from knee surgeries. By the end of next month, he will not have played for a whole year.

His agent Tony godsick issued a statement late on Sunday night backtracki­ng on Federer’s previously confirmed entry.

describing his client as having made ‘strong progress’ with his fitness after training in dubai, the decision was made to abort the trip, pledging to ‘start to build a schedule for the rest of the year’ from late February.

According to one well-placed source, Federer is in good physical shape, but an additional deterrent to travelling is the Covid measures being imposed.

He would usually embark on a trip down Under with wife Mirka and two sets of twins, now aged six and 11, as well as his retinue of support staff.

This time, even ex- champions are restricted to an allowance of two fellow travellers, although there may be some leeway to slightly increase numbers.

A ceiling of 1,000 arrivals in total has been set by local health authoritie­s. All of them must undergo two weeks of quarantine in which they will only be allowed out of their rooms for five strictly controlled hours a day.

Federer’s direct contempora­ry and fellow superstar Serena Williams appears to be OK with this, although the restrictio­ns state that children aged three and under are exempt, which covers her daughter Olympia.

The Australian Open will not be the last tournament operating under straitened conditions, but regardless, the great Swiss is apparently intent on picking up when the reshaped calendar emerges for late February and beyond.

This will bring sighs of relief to tournament­s hoping to attract the player who remains the sport’s No 1 drawcard, even with fading powers.

In this festive period it is apt to describe Federer as evergreen but the slow recovery of his right knee suggests time is finally catching up with someone who turns 40 in August.

When he had an arthroscop­y on his knee last February, he pledged to be back by what turned out to be a non-existent grass swing.

Then in July he announced the shutting down of his season due to a second minor operation. Now the date has been pushed back again.

So while the rest of the tennis world are herded on to socially distanced flights southwards, to arrive down Under on the two allotted days in mid- January, Federer will be shaping his plans.

Four key dates are likely to stand out for him as he plots his way forward.

The first is Wimbledon, where he will be desperate to play once again and which, with a following wind, he could still win with full health and preparatio­n.

Shortly afterwards will be the Olympics, a singles gold medal being the one thing in tennis that has eluded him. There is also his enormous clothing deal with Japanese manufactur­er Uniqlo to consider.

Also looming large will be the Laver Cup in September, the team event which is his part brainchild and promoted by his management group.

due to be staged in Boston, it was one of many events to perish in 2020 and has been put back a year.

There are some who believe he may continue to feature in this even after retirement from the tour. Unlike the vast majority of players, a lucrative after- career playing exhibition­s beckons, such is his pulling power.

Then there is the ATP event in Basle next October. If he was to bow out of the circuit then this tournament, in his home town and where he was once a ball boy, might be the place.

Yet it should be said that, above all, Federer just loves playing tennis. He wants to carry on, without doubt.

And it may just be that he has looked at the situation in Melbourne and supposed that just one significan­t outbreak of Covid there in the next few weeks could lead to the tennis being cancelled anyway.

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 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Waving goodbye? Federer, 39, has a knee problem
GETTY IMAGES Waving goodbye? Federer, 39, has a knee problem
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