(Reuters) – Roger Federer says he is “in a really good place” with his recovery from last month’s knee surgery but clarified that he would not rush into returning to court.
The 40-year-old Federer, who shares the men’s record of 20 major titles with Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, had two knee operations in 2020 that kept him out of the tour for more than a year.
He returned to action in March but injured the knee again during the grass court season and said he needed more surgery in order to resume playing.
“It was a tough process to take that decision, just because I already had couple of knee surgeries last year,” Federer told American former world number one Jim Courier in an interview at the Laver Cup on Saturday.
“I was really unhappy with how things went at Wimbledon. I was just nowhere near where I wanted to be to play at the top, top level. But I tried my best and at the end, at some point, too much is too much. Now I’ve just got to take it step by step.”
Federer reached the quarter-finals at the All England club but lost in straight sets to Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz, failing to win a game in the third set.
The Swiss, who is a co-creator of the Laver Cup, made a late decision to travel to Boston for the fourth edition of the exhibition event featuring Team Europe and Team World.
Federer has been seen moving around on crutches and has received thunderous applause from spectators at the TD Garden arena during the three-day event concluding on Sunday.
“I’ve got to first walk again properly, run properly and then do the sidesteps and all the agility work and then eventually I’ve got to be back on the tennis court,” he said.
“But it’s going to take me a few more months and then we’ll see how things are at some point next year. I’ve got to take my time. I don’t want to rush into anything at this point.
“This is also for my life. I want to make sure I can do everything I want to do later on. There’s no rush with anything, so I’m actually in a really good place. I think the worst is behind me. I’m really happy.”
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
