Roger Federer to miss Australian Open after slow recovery from knee surgery

AFP via Getty Images
Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_28 December 2020

Roger Federer will miss the Australian Open, despite its delayed start, as he continues to recover from knee surgery.

It will be the first time during the Swiss great’s career that he has not played at the tournament, which does not begin until three weeks later than planned, on February 8, because of coronavirus restrictions.

Federer has not played a competitive game since losing to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of last season’s tournament and has since undergone two knee surgeries, but his rehabilitation has taken longer than expected.

In a statement, tournament director Craig Tiley said: "In the end Roger ran out of time to get himself ready for the rigours of a grand slam and he's very disappointed he won't be coming to Melbourne in 2021.

"The Australian Open has always held a special place in his heart - remember it was Roger who first called the AO the 'happy slam'.

"We wish him all the best as he prepares for his comeback later in the year and look forward to seeing him in Melbourne in 2022."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in