20-times Grand Slam winner, Roger Federer, has undergone surgery to resolve a persistent knee problem with the tennis star set to be out of action until after the French Open.
The Swiss posted on his Facebook account that he underwent surgery on Wednesday and would miss a string of tournaments including the May 24-June 7 French Open.
"As a result, I will miss Dubai, Indian Wells, Bogota, Miami, and the French Open," he said.
He noted that he had intended to avoid surgery if possible but the problem refused to go away.
He will now target a return for the grass-court season and an assault on a ninth Wimbledon title after reaching the final in 2019 where he had two championship points before losing an epic final to Novak Djokovic.
"My right knee has been bothering me for a little while," added the world No 3 who reached the Roland Garros semifinals last year.
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"I hoped it would go away, but after an examination and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday."
"After the surgery,, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery.
"I can't wait to be back playing again soon, see you on the grass."
The 38-year-old was French Open champion back in 2009 but will now miss Roland Garros for the fourth time in five seasons giving his long rival Rafael Nadal - with 19 Grand Slams - opportunity to draw level with the Swiss on 20 majors.
Federer has only turned out for one tournament in 2020 which was the Australian Open where he got to the semifinals before being defeated by eventual champion Djokovic.
"We are disappointed not to see Roger again," tournament director Guy Forget told France Info.
"If he had taken this decision, then it was the wisest."
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