Tennis idol Roger Federer is making slight progress in his comeback attempt after a long injury break.
“It’s progressing slowly,” said the 20-time Grand Slam winner on Saturday on the Swiss TV station “SRF”. The 40-year-old has not played a match since his quarter-final exit at Wimbledon in July 2021.
He then underwent knee surgery for the third time since 2020. In the world rankings, Federer is no longer in the top 50 for the first time in 22 years.
After the grass classic in Wimbledon, he will even disappear completely from the ranking on July 11, because the ATP will not award world ranking points there due to the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian players and will cancel the points from the previous year without replacement.
With a view to his announced comeback at the end of September, Federer urged patience. “I had surgery at the end of August and people ask me, ‘How is it?’ I always have to answer that it needs a little more time,” he said.
“I just have to be patient”
He is currently concentrating on his physical fitness to avoid overexertion, and he goes to the gym five to six times a week. “I just have to be patient, I’m making progress all the time,” said Federer, who celebrates his 41st birthday on August 8th.
After the Laver Cup (September 23rd to 25th), the duel between Team Europe and Team World, in which he is a co-organiser, Federer wants to be back at the tournament in his hometown of Basel (October 24th to 30th) for the first time Open ATP tour.
At the same place, the Swiss had his last tournament victory so far in 2019.