Had the Olympics not been postponed, it was highly improbable for Roger Federer to take part in the Summer Games.
With so much negativity to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is one positive which resulted because of it. Had the 2020 Tokyo Olympics not been postponed to the next year, Roger Federer, who had undergone knee surgery in late February would have missed the showpiece event most probably.
The 39-year-old is currently on his way back to gaining full fitness and plans to be a part of the Tokyo Olympics next year.
Federer recently announced that he won't be taking part in the 2021 Australian Open as he continues to recover from two surgeries on his right knee. Given that the star player had said in October 2020 that he was practising without pain and was slated to return for the Australian Open, it came as a bit of a shock to the fans when the Swiss announced that he won't be taking part in the first Grand Slam of the year.
It is easy to understand that if Federer isn't fit enough for the Australian Open of 2021, how on earth he could have managed to play the Tokyo Olympics had it not been postponed.
The Swiss player said that he was selfishly glad that the Olympics were pushed to one year later as the timing has worked just right for him.
"You know, this is for me the big one. Maybe selfishly for me it has not been a bad thing that it was actually moved a little, you know because of the problems I had last year," Federer said in an online chat.
"It was a big shock for all of us when Wimbledon pulled out because of the pandemic and then the Tokyo Olympics shortly after that was moved. Let’s hope for the best for the Olympic Games coming to Tokyo next year, this is also one of my big goals. I really hope I can come back to Tokyo for that."
The tennis player, who will turn 40 next year, has not played a competitive fixture after his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at Melbourne Park.
The closest that the 20-time Grand Slam winner came to Olympic gold was in the final of the London 2012 Olympics where he was beaten by Andy Murray in the final in straight sets.
