Roger Federer won't participate in Tokyo Olympics due to knee injury
Lausanne/UNI/Xinhua: Swiss tennis icon Roger Federer has pulled himself out of the Tokyo Olympics due to a "setback" with his knee, the 20-time grand slam champion announced on his social media on Tuesday.
"During the grass-court season, I, unfortunately, experienced a setback with my knee and have accepted that I must withdraw from the Tokyo Olympic Games," the 40-year-old wrote.
"I am greatly disappointed, as it has been an honor and highlight of my career each time I have represented Switzerland. I wish the entire Swiss team the best of luck and I will be rooting hard from afar."
Federer has competed in the Olympics four times and bagged a silver in singles at the 2012 London Games after losing to local player Andy Murray, and a gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Games, leaving the Olympic gold in singles category the only major prize in tennis that he has never won.
Federer's exit from the Tokyo Games has seen a long list of star athletes opting out, including Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Dominic Thiem, Simona Halep and Denis Shapovalov, with Novak Djokovic still "kind of 50-50" on his appearance in Tokyo.
The tennis tournament at the Tokyo Games is set to take place from Jul 24 to Aug 1.
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.