Swiss tennis star Roger Federer is targeting a return to the sport in mid-2022, as he targets one final chance in the limelight before calling it a day.

The 40-year-old is working his way back from a persistent right knee injury that restricted him to just five tournaments in 2021.

Federer said the Australian Open in January was out of the question, while his participation in the French Open in May and June and Wimbledon in June and July, was highly unlikely.

“The truth is I would be incredibly surprised to play Wimbledon, which is to say that Australia does not even come into play,” he said in an interview published in the Swiss newspapers 24 Heures and Tribune de Geneve.

Federer had been out for more than a year with two surgeries on his right knee before getting back onto the tour in 2021.

But he played only 13 matches, and underwent a third operation on the knee following his quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon in July.

He said he was targeting a “return to competition in summer 2022”, but warned that “the next four or five months are going to be decisive”.

Federer has won 20 Grand Slam titles and sits second on the all-time list of ATP titles with 103. American Jimmy Connors has the most titles with 109.

Picture: Roger Federer – ATP Tour/Twitter

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