(Reuters) – Roger Federer will not compete at this month’s Miami Open as the Swiss maestro continues to work his way back to fitness after two knee operations in the past 12 months, the Miami Herald reported on Monday.
Federer will miss out on defending his Miami Open title at the March 22-April 4 Masters 1000 event, although Australian Open champions Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka are expected to take part along with Serena Williams and Rafa Nadal.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner Federer will make his long-awaited return to the court at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha next week and the 39-year-old may play an event in Dubai after that his agent, Tony Godsick, confirmed to the Miami Herald.
But after those events, Federer will take a training break, the paper reported.
He last played in the 2020 Australian Open, where he fell to Djokovic in the semi-finals.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Ken Ferris)
