Tennis news - 'Roger Federer has not even hinted at retirement' - coach Ivan Ljubicic

The 41-year-old Croat, who has worked with Federer since 2015, provided an update on his fitness and prospects of returning to the game in 2021 amid speculation about retirement.

The world number four, who will turn 40 next August, underwent knee surgery in February and was not set to play any part in the clay-court season even before the coronavirus crisis shut the circuit down.

Ljubicic revealed that the Swiss has not even hinted to him about retirement as yet, and that the lockdown has not affected his plans for the season too much.

"Roger is recovering, he is doing rehabilitation after the surgery," Ljubicic told Sky Sport in Italy.

"For us it doesn't change much with everything. The bad luck that we had with this situation, the programme is the same even if there was no virus.

Ljubicic also offered his thoughts on when tennis should return and what steps the sport would need to go through to reach that point.

"The governments of the various countries will tell us when we will be able to travel around the world again," he said.

"Probably those with more experience will be able to better manage the return to the field, but in reality we do not know what will happen.

"The players like playing continuously, and the results in Australia, often with many surprises after a month of no play, prove it every year "

While it may seem inconceivable to many that Federer would not have at least discussed retirement with his coach at the age of 38, it simply demonstrates the mindset that he still has. When fully focused on maximising opportunities to win Grand Slams, there is little room for thoughts beyond that.

Many had hinted that 2020 could be a farewell season for the Swiss with the Olympics and a final tilt at Wimbledon and the US Open after recovering from knee surgery and skipping the clay-court season once again. But the coronavirus crisis has pushed everything back and surely Federer would not accept having his career peter out in underwhelming fashion.

It seems certain that Federer will now simply look to recover from his knee surgery, with additional time off afforded by the current lockdown, and aim to return in peak condition for 2021 - when there will be the small matter of him turning 40 to make his latest comeback all the more astonishing.