Roger Federer to sit out for the remainder of the 2020 tennis season

Roger Federer (Robbie Dale, Wikimedia Commons)

According to the ATP Tour on Wednesday, Roger Federer, the 20-time grand slam tennis champion, and one of the greatest tennis players of all-time, will miss the remainder of the 2020 tennis season. The reason for Federer’s absence is because he recently had a setback in rehabilitation after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery.

Federer, the native of Basel, Switzerland, initially had knee surgery in February. However, after the setback, he needed to have another medical procedure on his knee.

The fact that Federer has come to this conclusion is not a huge surprise. The tennis schedule for the remainder of the 2020 season is a time of uncertainty. Due to coronavirus, we just do not know if the U.S. Open and the French Open will take place in September. There have been 401, 983 reported cases of coronavirus in New York state alone. There are also 30, 724 deaths in New York state, 285, 875 active cases, and 44 new deaths as of Thursday.

The French numbers are better than New York at this time. In France, there have been 155, 136 total cases of coronavirus, and 29, 319 total deaths. However, there have been zero deaths reported in France in the last 24 hours.

The next major Federer would be scheduled to participate in is the 2021 Australian Open in Melbourne, in January. Remarkably there is no guarantee that will take place either at this time. But according to Mahalakshmi Murali of Essentially Sports,  there are plans to have the 2021 Australian Open take place with limited spectators, possibly only from Australia and New Zealand, and social distancing to exist among the fans in the stands.

Federer has won six Australian Open titles in the past. They came in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, and 2018. Federer’s 2018 Australian Open title where he beat Marin Cilic of Croatia in five sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, was his last career grand slam singles title to date.