The Swiss Roger Federer, who is due to return to competition next week in Doha after 13 months without playing, will however not make the trip to the Miami Masters 1000 (March 24-April 4), the Miami Herald reported on Monday.
The Florida newspaper, which says it has obtained confirmation from Federer’s agent Tony Godsick of the information initially announced by the Swiss media RTS, adds that the winner of 20 Grand Slam tournaments has planned, after Doha (March 8-13), to continue in Dubai (March 14-20) and that he would then take a break.
The former world number one, who saw this Monday Novak Djokovic equal him in number of weeks (310) spent at the top of the ATP ranking, seems to have thus decided not to overload his boat for his return to the courts after two operations on the right knee.
No return of the “Big 3”
The one who was on the entry list of the Florida tournament, of which he has held the title since his victory in 2019, the 2020 edition having been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, has not played since his half. final lost at the Australian Open in January 2020.
Not feeling physically ready enough and reluctant to submit to a quarantine, he gave up going to Melbourne in February, where Djokovic retained his title, preferring to return to Doha, “A small tournament and not a big one, with all the stress that that implies”.
Reassuring his fans, who feared for the rest of his career, he assured, a month ago: “For the first time, I have the feeling that my knee is ready for competition again”.
His package is a blow to the organizers of the Miami tournament, who hoped to reunite the former “Big 3” with Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, if the first recovers from his abdominal pain and the second from his back problems, while the Indian Wells Masters 1000, the other big spring tournament in the United States, has been postponed.
On the women’s side, Serena Williams and the Japanese Naomi Osaka, winner of the Australian Open, are also expected.
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