Roger Federer officially ends 2016 season, to skip Rio Olympics

Swiss Maestro Roger Federer has officially pulled the plug on his 2016 season! In a development that surprised fans, the world number three announced via his official social media accounts that he won’t be representing his home country Switzerland in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio which takes place in less than two weeks time. This also effectively means that he won’t be competing throughout the remainder of the season.

“Considering all options after consulting with my doctors and my team, I have made the very difficult decision to call an end to my 2016 season as I need more extensive rehabilitation following my knee surgery earlier this year. The doctors advised that if I want to play on the ATP World Tour injury free for another few years, as I intend to do, I must give both my knee and body the proper time to fully recover. It is tough to miss the rest of the year.” – the 17-time Grand Slam champion said.

The Swiss superstar missed this week’s Rogers Cup in Toronto stating that he needed more time off following his semifinal run at the Wimbledon Championships a few weeks prior. He was slated to compete in singles, doubles (w/ Stan Wawrinka) and mixed doubles (w/ Martina Hingis) in Rio prior to this announcement.

“However, the silver lining is that this experience has made me realize how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries. The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and of course you, the fans remains intact. I am as motivated as ever and plan to put all my energy towards coming back strong, healthy and in shape to play attacking tennis in 2017.” – Federer ended.