Federer Has Knee Surgery, Will Miss French Open

Paris, Feb 20 (AFP) Roger Federer has undergone surgery to resolve a longstanding knee problem and said Thursday he would be out of action until after the French Open.

The 20-times grand slam winner revealed on his Facebook account that he underwent surgery in Switzerland on Wednesday and would miss a string of tournaments including the May 24-June 7 French Open.

"As a result, I will miss Dubai, India Wells, Bogota, Miami and the French Open," he said.

The 38-year-old explained that he had intended to avoid surgery if possible but the knee problem refused to go away.

"My right knee has been bothering me for a little while," said the world number three who reached the Roland Garros semi-finals last year.

"I hoped it would go away, but after an examination and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday."

"After the surgery the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery.

"I can't wait to be back playing again soon, see you on grass!" (AFP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)