Roger Federer says he should know by “April/May” whether he can return to tennis, and revealed that he still is unable to run as he tries to make his way back from multiple knees surgeries.
“To give you a little bit of an update maybe I have I think a very interesting and important next sort of months ahead of me," the 20-time major champion said when asked about his potential return to tennis in an interview with Credit Suisse.
“I feel like I will know a whole lot more coming April, you know, where my body is going to be."
Federer, 40, hasn’t played single losing in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon last summer to Hubert Hurkacz, dropping the final set 6-0.
He has barely played over the last two years and has now dropped to No. 30 in the world.
“Until now I wasn’t really allowed to run yet and do the heavy workload with jumps and stop-and-gos so I hope that that’s all going to start hopefully in a couple of weeks and then we’ll see how the body will react to that,” he said. “And that’s obviously what I will need to return to the tennis court.”
He added: “So I think this question is better answered maybe by April / May but for now of course the drive is there, I’m really motivated to do my work when I’m allowed to do.
“I did it all again this morning, I’m back in the gym again tomorrow and I’m working as hard as I’m allowed to so it’s still good times even though it’s a little bit slow because I would love to do way more but the doctors and everybody’s holding me back a little bit.”
Federer provided his update in the wake of his longtime rival Rafael Nadal winning a record 21st Grand Slam title this past weekend at the Australian Open. Nadal, 35, surpassed Federer and Novak Djokovic, who remain at 20 major titles. Federer said he watched some of the final with Daniil Medvedev, but not all of it because he had family obligations.
“That is no problem,” he said of Nadal setting a new record. “I'm the first guy to be happy for anybody who breaks any record, because I know how hard it is to do.”
