Federer aims for grass season return

PARIS • Swiss maestro Roger Federer announced yesterday that he underwent surgery to resolve a long-standing knee problem and would be out of action until after Roland Garros.

He will be missing the French Open for the fourth time in five years. He will also not be present in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami - all premier hard-court events - as well as an exhibition match in Bogota, Colombia that was rescheduled for next month owing to anti-government protests last November.

The 2009 French Open champion revealed on his Facebook page that he had intended to avoid surgery but the problem refused to subside. The 20-time Grand Slam winner said: "My right knee has been bothering me for a little while.

"I hoped it would go away, but after an examination and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday.

"After the surgery, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery. I can't wait to be back playing again soon, see you on grass."

In 2016, Federer also underwent knee surgery and ended up having to sit out the second half of that season to fully recover. With the world No. 3 turning 39 in August, there will again be concerns over his fitness.

At the WTA Dubai Championships, the run of upsets continued yesterday as Czech second seed and world No. 3 Karolina Pliskova bowed out 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 to unseeded Elena Rybakina.

The Kazakh stunned Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the last 32 and continued her giant-killing ways to move into the semi-finals.

Top seed Simona Halep needed four match points to see off Tunisia's Ons Jabeur on Wednesday, squeezing into the quarter-finals 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (9-7).

Roger Federer will miss four of the five French Opens since 2016, including this year.

The Romanian yesterday faced Belarusian seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka. The result was not available at press time.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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