Roger Federer turned 41-year-old on Monday, and it would be a fairly strange birthday for the 20-time Grand Slam winner. It is the first year since 1998 that Federer is celebrating his birthday without being a part of the ATP rankings. The Swiss maestro has lost all the ranking points for the first time in the last two and a half decades, as he has not competed for over a year. Federer has gone through some rough times in the last couple of years. He underwent surgery in May 2020 after reaching the Australian Open semi-finals.
Roger had to miss the rest of the season, hoping to make a comeback in 2021. However, the Swiss giant only played five tournaments last year, along with his Wimbledon appearance. Federer made it to the quarter-finals at the SW19 and became the oldest player to reach the last eight of Wimbledon in the Open era.
However, the troubles with his knee continued to haunt Roger, who underwent a couple more injuries after. The 41-year-old went through his third surgery last European summer and has not been active in the tennis world since. The Swiss maestro made his most recent appearance at Wimbledon 2022 for the champions parade and is likely to make his return in September at the Laver Cup In London.
Roger Federer Out Of ATP Ranking For The First Time In 25 Years
Federer picked up his first ATP points at the age of 16 in September 1997 after making his tour debut during the Gstaad qualifiers in July that year. The Swiss played his first four professional events at the Bossonnens and secured eight victories in September. As a result, he entered the ATP rankings for the first time, just over the top 800.
Over the next decade, Federer remained highly dominant in the tennis world. He broke into the top 100 by making a huge leap and was in the top 20 by February 2001. Roger finally made it to the top 10 in 2002 after clinching his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title in Hamburg. He nearly missed out on an ascend to the world no. 1 spot in 2003 before winning his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2004.
However, the following decade and a half had been the fight against younger opponents Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. However, the Swiss giant finally made it to the top from 2017 to 2019. he also reached the 20-Grand Slam mark and clinched several ATP titles during the period. Thus, it would be quite unfortunate for Roger to celebrate his birthday without being in the ATP rankings.