LONDON — Roger Federer will be out of action for up to a month after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery in Switzerland to repair a torn meniscus, his agent at TEAM8 Tony Godsick told Reuters Wednesday. The 17-time Grand Slam champion suffered the injury away from a tennis court the day after his Australian Open run ended in the semifinals last week.
Federer has withdrawn from the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February.
“I am so disappointed to have to miss Rotterdam and Dubai as they are two of my favorite tournaments on the ATP World Tour,” said Federer, who is the reigning champion in Dubai having won the title for the seventh time last March.
“While this is an unfortunate setback, I feel grateful that up until now I have remained mostly healthy throughout my career,” the 34-year-old Swiss added.
“My doctors have ensured me that the surgery was a success and with proper rehabilitation, I will be able to return to the Tour soon.”
The world No. 3 has won two Rotterdam trophies among his 88 titles. Federer has rarely missed any tournaments for health reasons during his remarkable 18-year professional career.
In 2005 he was out of action for six weeks while he recovered from foot injury and during 2008 he was troubled by a bout of mononucleosis and back problems.
Federer had been expected to leapfrog British world No. 2 Andy Murray in the ATP standings in February while expectant father Murray takes a paternity break from the game.
However, Federer’s injury setback ended those hopes and the Swiss is expected to make his comeback at the Indian Wells Masters in March.
Halep postpones surgery
World No. 3 Simona Halep decided to postpone an operation on her nose to play in the Fed Cup against defending champion Czech Republic this weekend, the Romanian tennis federation said Tuesday. Halep announced last month she would skip the match in Cluj-Napoca and tournaments in Dubai and Doha, hoping to return to defend her title at Indian Wells in March.
“It’s a great advantage to have Simona Halep in our team,” Romania captain Alina Tecsor said. “But let’s not forget that the Czech Republic has a strong team, with players in the top 10, so chances are somehow equal.”
Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru will miss the match against the Czechs due to injury. The Czechs will be led into their World Group opener by world No. 9 Petra Kvitova and 13th-ranked Karolina Pliskova with Barbora Strycova and Denisa Allertova completing the lineup.
