Roger Federer's Australian Open participation 'unlikely'; coach updates on retirement plan

The buildup to the Australian Open 2022 has not been on a positive aspect following the standoff over COVID-19 vaccination. Australian Premier Daniel Andrews has already announced that unvaccinated players will not be allowed to take part in the tournament which is why Novak Djokovic's participation is also in doubt. Former World No 1 Roger Federer is also likely to miss the first Grand Slam tournament of the year for the second year running, not because of the vaccination status, but due to the operated knee.

Roger Federer injury: Former World No 1 likely to miss Australian Open

According to The Guardian report, Roger Federer will almost certainly miss the Australian Open 2022, with the Swiss maestro is still said to be recovering from his third round of knee surgery in 18 months. Overall Roger Federer has played just 13 matches in the 2021 season and not even a single match since suffering a straight-sets quarter-final loss to Hubert Hurkacz at Wimbledon 2021. Ivan Ljubicic during the interview also played down Roger Federer retirement rumours from tennis. Talking about Roger Federer injury his coach Ivan Ljubicic told Sky Sports TV.

“Roger Federer is very unlikely to play the Australian Open. He is 40 and doesn’t recover as fast as before. But he wants to compete again and won’t retire all of a sudden. We will be able to see Roger again next year. I don’t know when exactly, but he is undergoing rehabilitation. He is recovering slowly, he is not in a hurry.”

While Roger Federer may not play the first Grand Slam tennis tournament of the new season, Rafael Nadal however had signalled his intention on being part of the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic gives an update on playing tennis at Australian Open 

Recently during the Paris Masters, World No 1 Novak Djokovic was asked about his participation in the Australian Open following  Australian Premier Daniel Andrews statement over non vaccinated players. Novak Djokovic is yet to reveal his vaccination so far and he recently said that his decision to travel for the Australian Open will depend on the rule laid by the organisers.

He had said, "Well, I'm going to decide on whether I go to Australia or not after I see the official statement from Tennis Australia. Right now, we don't have any official announcement or statement. So until that's out, I won't be talking about this anymore, because I don't want to be part of the stories about the assumptions and what-ifs.

Novak Djokovic further said, "When official condition requirements to travel to Australia and play in Australia are out, then obviously I'll see what I personally do with that, and also the bigger group of the players, you know because the situation is obviously different in Australia than most parts of the world."