Hindi na makapaglalaro sa buong season, gayundin sa Rio Olympics, si tennis superstar Roger Federer dahil sa pangangailangan nang mas mahabang rehabilitation program sa naoperahang kanang tuhod.

Inamin ni Federer na isang maling hakbang ang pagpapatuloy niya sa Tour sa kabila ng kanyang kalagayan nitong Pebrero. Hindi na nakasali sa French Open ang 17-time major champion dulot nang pananakit sa likod.

“I’m extremely disappointed to announce that I will not be able to represent Switzerland at the Olympic Games in Rio and that I will also miss the remainder of the season,” pahayag ni Federer sa kanyang mensahe sa Facebook.

“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.

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“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.”

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“The silver lining is that this experience has made me realise how lucky I have been throughout my career with very few injuries,” sambit ni Federer, nagwagi ng gintong medalya sa doubles katuwang si Stan Wawrinka noong 2008.

“The love I have for tennis, the competition, tournaments and... 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.”

(Isinalin ni Lorenzo Jose Nicolas)