Roger Federer to miss remainder of 2016 season due to knee rehab

Federer will miss the Olympics and 2016 U.S. Open.

Your teams on the go or at home. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.

Roger Federer will miss the remainder of the 2016 season as he continues to recover from knee surgery, he announced Tuesday. 

Federer will not participate in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and he will miss the 2016 U.S. Open—his second Grand Slam absence of the year after skipping the French Open. 

Federer, who turns 35 in August, underwent knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus earlier this year after injuring himself giving his kids a bath. In a statement released Tuesday, Federer said that after discussing his recovery from surgery with his doctors, he made “the difficult decision” to end his season. 

“The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover,” Federer wrote. “It is tough to miss the rest of the year.”

Federer, the world No. 3, was set to play singles and doubles for Switzerland at Rio 2016. He previously won the gold medal with Stan Wawrinka in the doubles competition at Beijing 2008, and he won silver in singles at London 2012. 

You can read Federer’s full statement below. 

In addition to the Olympics and U.S. Open, Federer will also miss out on the 2016 ATP World Tour Finals. 

Federer is coming off a semifinals appearance at Wimbledon, where he fell to Milos Raonic in five sets. 

- Stanley Kay