Roger Federer's Australian Open withdrawal due to family not injury - Tennis Australia official

ByEnis Koylu

Updated 07/01/2021 at 09:18 GMT

Roger Federer will skip the Australian Open for the first time since 1998 after withdrawing from the 2021 season's first Grand Slam after having two knee operations last year. However, Tennis Australia player relations official Andre Sa believes the real reason for Federer's withdrawal is the country's Covid-19 quarantine policy and family implications.

Andre Sa, the Australian Open director of player relations, has claimed that Roger Federer withdrew from the Australian Open due to his family and quarantine worries, rather than injury.

The 39-year-old has not played a competitive match since the 2020 edition of the tournament in Melbourne, having since gone undergone two knee surgeries and missed the remainder of the Covid-19-hit season.

Those competing in the Australian Open will not be exempt from coronavirus quarantine upon arrival Down Under, and Sa believes the strain on Federer's wife and four children was the real reason behind his withdrawal.

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“The main reason was the quarantine,” Sa told Ace BandSports.

“I talked to him a month ago and he had two options. He could come with the whole family and quarantine.

“The problem is that Mirka (Federer’s wife) and her children couldn’t leave the room. They would have to stay 14 days in the room.

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“The exception is only for players. He could go out, train, and come back, but the family couldn’t. Mirka did not approve the idea.

“The other option would be for him to come alone. Only there would be at least five weeks away from family and children.

“And then he said, ‘Dude, 39, four kids, 20 Grand Slams. I am no longer in time to be away from my family for five weeks.'”

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