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Swiss tennis ace Roger Federer has supposedly withdrawn from next month’s Miami Open as part of his ‘comeback plan’. The 39-year-old, who won the previous edition of the tournament in 2019, won’t be able to defend his title in 2021. Federer’s agent Tony Godsick wrote an e-mail to confirm about the unavailability of the tennis star for Masters 1000 event, scheduled to begin on March 24. He stated, "After Doha and maybe Dubai, (Federer) will go back and do a training block to continue to slowly work his way back out on tour.”
Roger is an incredible ambassador for the sport: James Blake
Miami Open Tournament Director James Blake admitted that he would have loved to see the defending champion return to Miami. However, he added that he understands Roger would need to tailor his travel and playing schedule to properly work his way back to 100 percent fitness, coming off an injury.
Talking about the 39-year-old, Blake said, “Roger is an incredible ambassador for the sport, so the longer he is able to play on tour, the better it is for all of tennis.”
Federer will return to court after a gap of 1 year
The 20-time Grand Slam winner has been out of action since last year’s Australian Open. He has had two operations on his right knee in the previous season and has since been recovering from them. The 39-year-old is finally slated to make a comeback in a hard-court tournament in Doha, Qatar commencing on March 8. The Swiss star also expressed his excitement about his return through a tweet.
The current World No. 5 is also expected to participate in another hard-court tournament in Dubai, UAE starting on March 14. However, he will return to training after the two tournaments to ensure complete recovery. Federer currently has 103 tour-level titles in professional era of men’s tennis. He only needs 7 more titles to surpass legendary player Jimmy Connors, who has 109 titles.