Federer out rest of season! Huge news

He was never right after the knee injury- that's clear now. Federer has announced he will not be at Olympics and has to miss rest of entire season. Rehabbing knee and docs told him was only way to prolong his career. I'm sure it's more to it than this-- that fall at Wimbledon? the back? Whatever- it's clearly a huge blow to tennis and Federer.

Who would have thought that a slip in the bathroom bathing the kids could lead to the downfall of the might Fed.

Makes his run at Wimbledon all the more impressive IMO.

Well, well ..... the guy whose name for so many years never appeared alongside the word 'injury' in the same sentence has finally been sidelined.

And what an irony if - as you say - this all dates back to that slip in the bathroom. But of course not the first time a healthy athlete has been forced out in the most mundane of circumstances. Seem to recall (amongst others) a top footballer doing some significant damage to himself when reaching for the TV remote controller.

It could very likely mean that the SF run at Wimbledon will prove to be his last Slam challenge of real note. His sense of frustration at not closing things out v Raonic will haunt him, and who knows what might have happened if he had gone through to meet Andy. I know many will say that Andy's form was such that the final outcome would have been no different ; but the fact is Fed has (should that now be had ...?) a way of unsettling Andy in Slams and it's not inconceivable that he could have done so once again.

I think he's at an age where he cannot stay top ten after this.

In his own words, apparently posted on FB within last hour

Dear Fans,
I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season. Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year. The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year. However, the silver lining is that this experience has made me realize how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries. The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans remains intact. I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.
Thanks for your continued support.
Roger

Obviously there are no guarantees he can sustain himself at the top level but it is encouraging that he took this decision in order to extend his career. The passion he has for playing tennis does appear to be genuine.

You also have to say that he must still have a lot of belief in himself if he can make a Grand Slam semi final carrying two significant injuries. I wouldn't agonise too much about the defeat to Raonic _ I doubt he would have had a prayer against Andy and really he was a bit fortunate to come through against Cilic. I think better opportunities for #18 came against some of the recent finals against Djokovic and Flushing Meadows 2014 - although in fairness Cilic was superb that night.

It would be a considerable shame if the bathtub incident marked the beginning of the end. As recently as Melbourne this year I thought his level was still extremely high and clearly the #2 behind Djokovic. I thought if he could sustain that sort of level for one or two more years he'd be good enough to take advantage of any Djokovic slip up. Perhaps Wimbledon was that last chance - but I really hope it wasn't.

He receives more than enough praise and I can understand how fans of other players may sometimes get frustrated at that. But I've grown up watching him and have been inspired by Federer to take up this sport. The day he finally retires will almost feel like a day of mourning.

theslosty

re your last paragraph, when Fed withdrew from the French, a few on here looked back to the last time RF was not in a Slam, which was USO 1999. You are right, that for fans in their 20s, they simply have grown up watching him and it is hard to remember a time that was pre-Federer (unless you are properly old like me... ).

Hopefully this break will allow him to come back and compete at the highest possible level (given his age) for at least another couple of years. I'm sure that winning slam #18 is the ultimate goal, but also I'm pretty certain that the 35 year old Federer is enough of a realist to know that this is looking increasingly unlikely.

It's a tragedy: A bathmat! a bathmat! My kingdom for a bathmat!

Some say why is it the tennis forum of 606v2 has fewer commentators and fewer comments than in the past.  Well I'll explain.  In the beginning there was a great gnashing of the teeth and then came fat Dave from the band of Nal.  But he was only the messenger for behold unto the land didst arise the Federman from the Mountains who didst clean up in an era of the weak.  But then from the South Island came the Mallorcan One who didst join him in battle and sent his balls into orbit beyond the moon. And from the Earth did spring the fan boys and the fan girls who gathered themselves into two corners and called themselves the Federerlites and the Nadalites and all was good.  But from the East and West didst come the young pretenders the Djock of Vic and Andy the Scot, who quickly took the Hill from the Man of Hen.  And though they didst position themselves into the remaining corners the behemoths of the Swiss Cheese and the Paella didst snap their whippers.  But alas it came to pass and so did the Mallorcan One who's knees didst grind to dust and so didst the Swiss Mountain One who went all clippety clop with the age that waits for no-man.  And thus didst the interest of the Earthlings wane ... Book of 606

Very sad news, and it is to be hoped that this is not the end of a brilliant career. On the bright side, his fans might get something of an extension of his tennis life, as he might want to go on for a while longer should he come back reasonably fit.
In the meantime, we'll have some practice in getting used to a Fed-less tour. All a bit depressing, but life goes on.

dummy_half wrote:

...........................................

Hopefully this break will allow him to come back and compete at the highest possible level (given his age) for at least another couple of years. I'm sure that winning slam #18 is the ultimate goal, but also I'm pretty certain that the 35 year old Federer is enough of a realist to know that this is looking increasingly unlikely.

I'm sure you're right - both as regards his motivation to continue competing (his own statement highlights this), and his true prospects for #18. Perhaps the latter is no longer a goal as such, and it's now more about spending a couple of more years or so on the biggest courts.

Post-injury 'comebacks' are of course totally unpredictable and it remains to be seen whether he can perform at a level that comes anywhere close to the standards he sets for himself.

There are older players still on tour of course, but none of them has the same sort of mileage on the clock. Even across the entire Open era, only Connors has more match wins than Federer. Connors  did play for several more years than Federer has done to date (although it must be said that Jimbo was not exactly choosey about where he played, or the quality of the field.... !)

As an aside, I believe this marks the end of another Federer streak : 15 consecutive seasons with at least one official ATP title.

sfp : yep, life goes on

Where will he be ranked at the start of next season?  Thinking he will drop around 3500 points so will end up currently 11th or 12th. (edit - actually he has 2100 odd race points, that would leave him 16th)

He will need some kind draws when he comes back I'd guess.  See no reason why he can't compete at the top level when he comes back...you never know Wimbledon may have been the start of the Djokovic decline.  

I wonder if he'll just play the slams, plus Cincy, and a few selected other masters and 500's (Basel etc).

G82. He'll need a reasonable schedule, I think. You can't just pitch up and compete only in the big tournies, although Serena managed it with good success a while back.
At the moment I'm just hoping he can come back in any guise. He's the sort of guy who's likely to want a long farewell "tour" and going into retirement like this without the pizazz and hype of an "Ole Blue Eyes is Back" finale is going to be the mother of all anti-climaxes.

Agree with fred, the last time Feds tried to cut back markedly on his schedule was 2013, and he had his worst year to date. Players need to play matches to stay sharp.

Sad news about the injury. I honestly don't see him coming back and being competitive at the highest level unfortunately. Simply put, recent history with Nadal, Murray and indeed Feds himself tells us that it can take quite a while to get over a serious injury and start playing confidently again, and at Fed's age I don't think he has that time. That's not to say he won't be a solid top 15-20 player next season, maybe even top 10, but don't see him getting back to the top 5...

There is no telling exactly how good he will be when he comes back. Age related decline will continue and surely with the complications from what was supposed to have been a minor surgery- he's going to lose some explosiveness.

We all saw how rusty he was coming back, and experts and fans alike were saying the few matches he had played for the year had left him not "match tough" which was a disadvantage. Now he will have to enter the AO truly cold and rusty, so that's prob a write off. Losing semifinal points there will drop him further. He'll also have to play an extra match in the Masters which won't help either with his mileage. It's def a real mountain to climb and would be a monumental achievement to get back to top 5 at this point. Then again- Fed is a master at monumental acheivements- so who knows.

My real guess is he will pick and choose spots to make runs that are important to him.

The fact he dropped Brisbane when he desperately needs points to play Hopman cup again shows he's not in it for ranking anymore.

Hopman cup could be a smart move TBH, it gives you a bit of match practise, and importantly you're guaranteed at least three singles matches (and some mixed doubles), whereas if you enter Brisbane, get a first round bye and then lose to someone who's more match sharp, used to conditions and playing decent stuff you've only had one match.

Fair point about the likelihood of him dropping a chunk of AO points first up, which will see him drop a few more places. Will be interesting to see where he ends the year ranked. At the moment:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/rankings/singles-race-to-london

Goffin will surely overtake him. Tsonga probably should, RBA also with his consistency. Not sure Cuevas will, he's barely picked up a point since RG. In theory he could slip down to about 20, but I expect he'll end up somewhere around the 13-15 mark.

That's devastating news for Fed. It looked as though he was gradually getting more comfortable and moving better at Wimby and I wonder if the fall against Raonic really set him back.

Probably a good call to end the season now though, rather than risk rushing back. Gives him a good period of time to make sure he's fully healed.

I imagine he will play a reduced schedule - probably Hopman Cup, AO, one of IW & Miami, one clay masters, RG, Halle, Wimbledon, Cincy, USO, Basel, Shanghai/Paris, WTF (if he makes it).

Didn't Cuevas reach the final on a grass tournament? Nottingham?

I think he'll end up between 13 - 18.

Not quite the same without him. I was looking forward to a great Olympics battle with Novak and Andy

Very worried about his future, as Mad alluded, if Rafa and Andy needed a minimum of 18 months to get back to their best, then what chance a player in their late thirties

Still, it is Roger!!

Shame we won't at least see him in the doubles. As for singles, when 2020 Olympic gold is a really, really long shot, so I think it's fairly safe to say that this will be the biggest title he will never win.

Interesting he says he says he wants to play on for a "few" years. That to me suggests perhaps three, or maybe even four. However at this stage in your career you have to keep your long term health in mind otherwise you end up with a 50 year old body at the age of 40 if you're not careful. Miles on the clock.

I'd be tempted if I were him to even consider to skip the Australian Open and French Open as well - grinding out best of 5 over and over again just to lose in perhaps the semi final if he's on good form - and just play enough events (from February onwards) to keep the fitness and form and game in shape ahead of Wimbledon and the US Open.

For the first time though, I feel moderately confident in saying he will probably never win a slam again. Before Wimbledon I thought he would just as likely win one more as none at all, but I now I think no more has to be the favourite.

His next slam, if it's the Australian Open, would mark 7 years since winning AO 2010, with only one slam in that period.

I think it's pretty unlikely he will win Australian Open 2017 if he plays that, coming back from injury at a slow slam he hasn't seriously threatened at in recent years, and likewise it will be a major long shot at the French Open. So Wimbledon 2017 is likely going to mark 5 years without a slam.

A lot of people in his position would have retired by now.

To be fair, not many people retire when they are still making slam finals and SF (at least not in the men's game). What's been most impressive about Fed in recent years has been his ability to keep that level of play and make adjustments to his game to challenge at the highest level. A lot of players after breaking the slam record and being overtaken by younger players wouldn't have maintained the motivation.

I wouldnt write him off next year. He's going to face some tough early draws but I'd imagine the plan for this year factors in quite a long period of training post-recovery. The important thing is for him to be injury-free.

Well some people did, Agassi I think won slam in 2003, slam final in 2005, retired 2006.
Sampras won slam, then retired.
Borg was still making slam finals and maybe even holding French Open title when he retired (in the simplest version of that story).

The record of players coming back after long absences is not great:

Borg took 6 months off after the 1981 US Open final and made a half-hearted failed comeback attempt in 1982 and 1983.  He tried again in 1992, 1993 much to our dismay (he actually lost a boat load of qualifiers, including the Citi Open in 1992 to Thomas Hogstedt, Madison Keys' current (and Sharapova and Bouchard's former) coach. He was 26 when he paused.

John McEnroe took 6 months off in 1986 to have a (shotgun) wedding to Tatum O'Neal, and promptly lost in the 1st round of the US Open to Paul Annacone.  Never won another major, nor reached another major final.  He was 26 when he paused.

Mats Wilander left the tour for six months after winning 3 of 4 majors and reaching #1 - he never won another tournament (let alone another major).  He was 23 when he paused.

Now, I should point out that he's injured, while the above 3 were burned out, but they were younger than Federer when they paused.  There are examples of players who've had success after pausing:  Agassi played sporadically in 1997 and 1998, and won two majors upon his return to the tour in 1999.  Nadal paused 6 months in 2013, and also won two majors (and everything else) upon his return to the tour.

However, generally speaking the record is not good, the players who paused and returned were younger than Federer, and as such, my guess is this is the beginning of the end for him.  I'm sorry to say that, because I really enjoy his game, but that's my assessment.

I suppose the one thing that still gives me hope is that Federer's performances and results in 2013 were much worse than they have been in 2016. After the end-of-season break he did re-emerge as Djokovic's main challenger in 2014 and 2015.

Providing all goes reasonably well with the rehab I still expect him to come back as Top 10 player. Even if he doesn't play enough tournaments to actually break the top ranked 10 he is still good enough to reach Slam quarter finals. Anything on top of that would be a surprise and a bonus.

I am about the same ago as Federer and on one level I feel as fit and healthy as ever. My weight, running form, and diet for example all better than in my 20s. And yet the other day I was struggling to put eye drops in because I was getting this pain in my back every time I tipped my neck back. The brain still might want to go on, but the body can only go so far.

I also on Tuesday went for a 7-hour mountain walk and had very stiff body for the next two days which in the past would only have been the case if it had been a 10 or 15 hour walk. Things catch up with you.

One thing brought up on another blog is whether Federer will qualify for a protected ranking after this?If yes, it would be very interesting to compare the intent of the law with the letter, because Federer benefitting the same way Baker and Haas have strikes me as not equivalent.

Why would he need a protected ranking? Unless he's out a lot longer than currently scheduled, he will still be a top 20 player on his return and protected rankings don't affect seeding.

I was so looking forward to seeing Federer and Hingis in the Olympic doubles.  His run at Wimbledon was as unexpected as it was heartwarming - hope we see him back so he can take his final bows (whenever) in style.

He might be out till Next year but he ain't losing his time.
A quite entertaining video featuring Rod Laver as well (can't find the direct link so putting one to an article instead)

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/roger-federer-goes-back-in-time-in-new-commercial-w434827

Love it, excellent