Federer to miss French Open after knee surgery

LONDON: The 20-time grand slam champion went under the knife in Switzerland on Tuesday and will not return to action until the grass-court season at the earliest. Federer, 38, wrote on Twitter: “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.”

Federer, who won his solitary Roland Garros title in 2009, withdrew from the tournament in 2016 through injury and then opted to miss the clay-court season in both 2017 and 2018.

“As a result, I will unfortunately have to miss Dubai, Indian Wells, Bogota, Miami and the French Open. I am grateful for everyone’s support. I can’t wait to be back playing again soon, see you on the grass!”