Switzerland’s Roger Federer lies on court after falling during his match against Canada’s Milos Raonic.
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Shocking his fans, Swiss Tennis star Roger Federer on Tuesday announced that he will miss the upcoming Olympics and the rest of the season due to knee injury.
Federer, 34, said on his Facebook page he was “extremely disappointed” to not be representing Switzerland in Rio and it was “tough” to miss the rest of 2016.
The 17 times Grand Slam victor has endured a troublesome campaign which included withdrawing from the French Open due to a back complaint, although he did reach the Wimbledon semi-final before losing to Milos Raonic.
Federer says he intends to play on the ATP World Tour for another few years, and needs to give his body time to recover.
He has also failed to add to his 88 titles this year, his longest drought since 2000. Federer, who has won 17 grand-slam titles, claimed doubles gold alongside Stan Wawrinka in Beijing in 2008, but lost to Andy Murray in the final at London four years ago.
However, the former world number one insisted he would channel his focus on making a full recovery for next season, after recently announcing he would play in the Hopman Cup ahead of the Australian Open.
“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″, said Federer, who will turn 35 next month.
Federer often has spoken about how much the Olympics mean to him, in part because he met his wife, Mirka, when both were athletes at the 2000 Sydney Games.
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The 17 time grand slam victor said he needed more time to recover in order to prolong his career.
