Roger Federer considered retirement during recovery, team member confirms

Coach Ivan Ljubičić has revealed that Roger Federer discussed the possibility of retirement at the beginning of the year.

Federer underwent double knee surgery in 2020 and whilst recovering from the surgery at the start of 2021, the 20-time Grand Slam champion had discussed the possibility of retiring with his coaching team but ultimately decided against it, due to his strong passion for the sport.

Federer made a return in March at the Qatar Open but then suffered a setback with his knee in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in July. Hubert Hurkacz beat Federer 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-0, his heaviest defeat at Wimbledon.

The setback forced the 40 year old to withdraw from the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics and also miss the rest of the season.

Despite the conversation earlier in the year, Ljubičić has confirmed whilst speaking to Stats Perform that the Swiss number one has no plans to retire any time soon, saying “we have spoken and I can guarantee he wants to return to playing tennis.

“When he decides to stop he will retire, but I don’t think it’s going to happen all of a sudden.”

Federer is still competing with both current World number one Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the race to become the most successful men’s singles Grand Slam champion of all time. All three currently boast a staggering 20 Grand Slam titles each.

However, with Federer potentially missing the Australian Open through injury and Djokovic’s participation not yet being 100% clear due to the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination confusion, Nadal could have an opportunity to gain a slender advantage as he has said he plans to be there.

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