Play Audio Clip Listen to audio clip. Roger Federer isn’t likely to play the Australian Open in January and hopes to return to competition in February of 2018, his coach Severin Luthi told Swiss site “Blick”.
Federer retired from tennis in January after a fourth round loss to Serbia’s Dusan Lajovic at the Australian Open, but Luthi is confident that he’ll make a full recovery from his knee injury and return to action in 2018.
Luthi says he’s not worried about the men’s tour schedule, which is rife with scheduling issues, but that they are working with the governing bodies to try and find a solution.
Federer could potentially have a Masters 1000 event in Madrid, but no negotiations have yet been finalized. Luthi said there are a lot of factors involved and that the best thing is for Federer to be more selective about his tournaments in 2018.
Federer and Luthi announced last month that they would return to their joint-coaching role after spending time apart during Federer’s season off.