Federer Says ‘There’s No Rush’ To Return After Surgery
Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer says “there’s no rush” to return to the tennis court as he recovers from last month’s knee surgery.
Federer, 40, had two knee operations in 2020 that kept him out of the tour for more than a year. He currently shares the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
He returned to action in March but injured his knee again during the grass court season and said he needed more surgery in order to resume playing.
“It was a tough process to take that decision, just because I already had couple of knee surgeries last year,” Federer said in an interview at the Laver Cup tournament.
“I was really unhappy with how things went at Wimbledon. I was just nowhere near where I wanted to be to play at the top, top level. But I tried my best and at the end, at some point, too much is too much. Now I’ve just got to take it step by step.”
Federer reached the quarter-finals at the All England club but lost in straight sets to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, failing to win a game in the third set. The Swiss, who is a co-creator of the Laver Cup, made a late decision to travel to Boston for the fourth edition of the exhibition event featuring Team Europe and Team World.
Federer has been seen moving around on crutches and has received thunderous applause from spectators at the TD Garden arena during the three-day event concluding on Sunday.
“I’ve got to first walk again properly, run properly and then do the sidesteps and all the agility work and then eventually I’ve got to be back on the tennis court,” Federer added.
“But it’s going to take me a few more months and then we’ll see how things are at some point next year. I’ve got to take my time. I don’t want to rush into anything at this point.”
“This is also for my life. I want to make sure I can do everything I want to do later on. There’s no rush with anything, so I’m actually in a really good place. I think the worst is behind me. I’m really happy,” he concluded.
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.
