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As recently as Christmas Day, the Grand Slam tournament declared that the Swiss crowd favorite would return to Melbourne and participate in the main tournament for the 22nd year in a row.
But on Sunday, Godsick stated in a written statement to the AP news agency in a text also posted on Federer’s website that this is not the case:
“He has made great strides with both his knee and his physique in recent months. But after consulting with his team, he has come to the conclusion that it is best for him in the long run to start competitive tennis after the Open. Australia”.
The 39-year-old Federer has not played a competitive match since losing the semi-final to Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in January this year. Since then, he has had surgery on his right knee.
According to the Basler Zeitung, the Swiss will skip next year’s gravel season and instead bet on Wimbledon, the Summer Olympics and the US Open, and the plan is for Federer to start playing competitions in late February.
The Australian Open starts on February 8 of next year. On Sunday, the tournament announced that former world coach Andy Murray received a wild card. The Briton, who has been the last five times but never won in Melbourne, is ranked 122 in the world.
Martin Yngve / TT
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