Tennis legend Roger Federer announced on Wednesday that he will be out of action for the rest of this year and that he had to undergo an “additional arthroscopic procedure” on his injured right knee.

The 38-year-old hasn’t played competitively since losing the semi-final of this year’s Australian Open in January to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.

The tennis season has been under lockdown since March due to the coronavirus pandemic. The ATP Tour will not return till at least the end of July and there is a possibility that the French Open and US Open will be staged back-to-back in August and September.

Federer had injured himself during the first Grand Slam of the year and had gone off the ATP tour to recover. But he informed on Wednesday that his rehabilitation “experienced a setback” and he had to have an additional procedure.

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The 20-time Grand Slam champion’s announcement means this will be the longest he will be away from the tour since making his debut in July, 1998.

Federer had missed the entire second half of 2016 due to a knee injury before returning to win the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2017.

Here’s the statement by Federer:

Dear, fans, I hope you are staying safe and healthy. A few weeks ago, having experienced a setback during my initial rehabilitation, I had to have an additional quick arthroscopic procedure on my right knee. Now, much like I did up to the 2017 season, I plan to take the necessary time to be 100% ready to play at my highest level. I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but, I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season. All the best, Roger.

Earlier this week, Federer’s long-time coach Severin Luthi had said that the Swiss superstar’s recovery wasn’t going particularly well.

“Roger’s recovery is not going as well as we expected. It is slower than we thought,” Luthi was quoted as saying by The Sun. “I believe that we can see some action again from that month [September]. We are hoping for that.”

Federer, who won his first major trophy in 2003, lies just ahead of his longtime rivals Rafael Nadal (19) and Novak Djokovic (17) on the all-time list.

The biggest title he has yet to win is an Olympic singles gold medal.

The Tokyo Games — seen as Federer’s final opportunity to complete a career “golden” Grand Slam — have been postponed until next year because of the pandemic, and Federer will turn 40 on the day of the scheduled closing ceremony.

After the initial operation, Federer had originally planned to return for the now cancelled grass-court season this month. His last tournament match was on January 30 in the Australian Open semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Djokovic.

His last appearance on court was in front of 51,954 fans — touted by organisers as a world record for tennis — at a charity match against Nadal in Cape Town in early February.

Federer has got off lightly with injuries during a career in which he has won 103 singles titles, including all four majors. He is still six ATP titles short of Jimmy Connors’ all-time record of 109.

He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee – the first operation of his career – in early 2016 after suffering a freak injury while running a bath for his daughters.

But after failing to win a title that year Federer returned strongly in 2017, winning seven tournaments including the Australian Open and Wimbledon; his most prolific season in a decade.

Tennis ground to a halt in March because of the coronavirus, and the globetrotting sport faces an uncertain route to recovery given crippling travel restrictions.

In April, Federer said he was “devastated” when Wimbledon, where he has won a record eight titles, was cancelled for the first time since World War II.

Tour-level tennis has been suspended until the end of July at the earliest, with the US Open scheduled to start on August 24 and the rescheduled French Open on September 20. Federer has not won the title at either Flushing Meadows or Roland Garros since his only French Open triumph in 2009.

(With AFP inputs)