As a consequence of the Polish Hubert Hurkacz qualification to the knockout stages of the Indian Wells Masters 1000, Swiss Roger Federer will not appear in the top 10 of the next ATP rankings for the first time in almost five years.
His absence from Indian Wells, which will cost him 480 points, added to the ranking of Hurcacz -current 12th in the ATP-, will cause Federer to fall from 9th to 11th place in the ATP classification published on Monday.
The Swiss champion, after a nearly blank 2020 due to the covid-19 pandemic and two knee surgeries, returned to competition in the spring. But after playing 13 games, including a quarter-final at Wimbledon, he closed his season after the London Grand Slam with a sore knee.
This prolonged absence from the courts has slowed him back down the table, where he was ranked 5th at the beginning of the year.
Hurcakz, who will kick him out of the top 10, is ironically the tennis player who beat him in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
Federer, who turned 40 this summer, entered the top 10 on May 20, 2002. He has only come out of it for a few weeks between July and October 2002 and then from November 2016 to January 2017, when stopped his 2016 campaign from July to heal from a knee.
The one from Basel, winner of 20 Grand Slams, has not yet contemplated retiring, despite his age and physical problems.
“The worst is over and I am impatient for everything to come,” he declared in mid-September, without wanting to give a date for his return to the courts. AFP (HN)