Andy Murray had Roger Federer hope before knee surgery announcement

Roger Federer to miss US Open and undergo knee surgery

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Andy Murray said he was hoping for Roger Federer to “get fit” ahead of the US Open before the Swiss star announced he was undergoing yet another knee surgery. Former world No 1 Murray is the only member of the Big Four in the draw in Cincinnati this week with Djokovic and Nadal pulling out as Federer now expects to miss “many months” of the tour.

Speaking ahead of the tournament where he’s a wildcard, the current world No 105 admitted that it felt weird to not have his biggest rivals alongside him at one of the biggest tournaments.

He said: “It’s a different landscape, for almost all of my career those guys have been there but things are changing. Bodies are breaking down instead of [the top] players being overtaken by tennis.”

He admitted that it meant other players could take advantage of the Big Three’s absence and win a big title, adding: “It gives a big opportunity for other players to win the title when those guys are not playing.”

While their withdrawals also open the draw up for Murray, whose ranking has dropped as he continues his comeback from a hip resurfacing, he admitted it would be a shame not to see the big names at the US Open.

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“I hope all of them get physically fit and ready for the US Open. But that is looking unlikely unfortunately for Roger and Rafa,” he said.

“It would be a shame if they missed the Open this year.”

Unfortunately for the two-time Wimbledon champion, his comments came before Federer announced this evening (August 15) that he would be undergoing another knee surgery after suffering a setback with his ongoing injury during the grass court season.

The current world No 9 has played just five tournaments since he shut down his 2020 season after the Australian Open to have two knee surgeries.

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He looked good at Wimbledon until he fell to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals as the Pole won 6-3 7-6(4) 6-0, and later revealed he had suffered a setback with the ongoing injury before pulling out of the Olympics.

Federer had also joined Djokovic and Nadal in withdrawing from Toronto and Cincinnati, where Murray said he hoped to see his rivals back in New York, but he is now expecting to miss “many months” as he has a third surgery.

Taking to Instagram today, he shared a video saying: “As you can imagine, it’s not been simple.

“I’ve been doing a lot of checks with the doctors as well on my knee getting all the information as I hurt myself further during the grass court season and Wimbledon.

“It’s just not the way to go forward so unfortunately for the medium-to-long term to feel better I will need surgery.

“I decided to do it. I will be on crutches for many weeks and then out of the game for many months.”

Murray has also had his own setbacks this year, being forced to pull out of the men’s singles event in Tokyo after tearing his quad muscle, though he continued to play in the men’s doubles with Joe Salisbury.

“It was hard and frustrating to have to miss the opportunity to play in another big event again. It was tough because I obviously felt like I had built up some sort of momentum during Wimbledon,” he said.

Speaking ahead of his opening round in Cincinnati, where he will face a qualifier from the strong field of winners who came through, he said: “Since then I have been back and practising and building up. I arrived nice and early on the Monday and have just been preparing since.”

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