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Federer Wimbledon 2021

‘Only Roger Federer has the answer,’ Boris Becker casts doubt over his return from third knee surgery


Roger Federer recently announced that he will undergo a third knee surgery which will rule him out until 2022, however Boris Becker has doubts whether the great Swiss will return to the playing courts.

Federer had a 15 month spell on the injury side-lines after having back-to-back knee surgeries in 2019, the 39-year-old returned in March and played five events before revealing he will require another knee surgery that will leave him out for many months.

Becker believes Federer is the only person with the answer on whether he’ll ever play again.

“Roger ended the year after his third operation on the same knee – at 40, it takes even longer to recover,” Becker told Eurosport. “Whether he will come back to the tour again is really a big question mark. Only he has the answer, only he has the solution.”

The German underwent surgeries on both hips in 2014, and hopes Federer will make a full recovery from this third surgery with his whole family life ahead of him.

“I wish him above all that he gets well again. That is the most important thing. The rest of his life is still ahead of him, and whether he plays tennis again or not is almost secondary,” Becker continued. “He has already won so much and doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone.”

The 20-time Major champion did insist that long-term health was his main priority.

“I’ll be on crutches for many weeks and also out of the game for many months, so it’s going to be difficult of course in some ways, but at the same time I know it’s the right thing to do because I want to be healthy, I want to be running around later as well again and I want to give myself a glimmer of hope to return to the tour in some shape or form,” Federer had said in his video statement.


Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.