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sports Tuesday 29 december 2020

Agent to AP: Federer to miss Australia; planning 2021 return

By HOWARD FENDRICH he prepares for his come- Tour fans’ favorite award
AP Tennis Writer back later in the year,” for the 18th consecutive
Roger Federer withdrew Australian Open tourna- time.
from the Australian Open ment director Craig Tiley Until this knee issue, Federer
while he continues prepar- said in a tweet confirming only had his career inter-
ing to return to action after that Federer pulled out of rupted once by an opera-
two operations on his right the field, “and look forward tion — on his left knee in
knee and a tour absence to seeing him in Melbourne 2016. He sat out the second
that will have lasted longer in 2022.” half of that season, includ-
than a year, his agent told Federer hasn’t played a ing the Rio de Janeiro Olym-
The Associated Press. tournament match since pics and the U.S. Open, but
Tony Godsick — Federer’s late January at the 2020 was back at his best when
long-time representative Australian Open, where he he resumed playing, win-
and CEO of their manage- was clearly injured while ning the Australian Open
ment company, TEAM8 — losing in straight sets to and Wimbledon in 2017.
said Sunday he is working In this Jan. 30, 2020 file photo, Switzerland’s Roger Federer serves eventual champion Novak He won the Australian
on putting together a 2021 to Serbia’s Novak Djokovic during their semifinal match at the Djokovic in the semifinals. Open again the following
tennis calendar for the 20- Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia. Soon after, Federer par- year for No. 20 in his Grand
time Grand Slam champi- Associated Press ticipated in an exhibition Slam collection, which in-
on, who plans to get back tennis after the Australian Murray, a three-time major charity event with Rafael cludes eight trophies from
to competition soon after Open,” Godsick said in a champion and former No. Nadal in front of a record Wimbledon, five from the
the year’s first major tennis statement sent to the AP. 1, is 122nd in the rankings tennis crowd of more than U.S. Open and one from
tournament. “I will start discussions this after going through two hip 50,000 people at a soc- the French Open.
This ends Federer’s streak coming week for tourna- operations and considering cer stadium in Cape Town, While Federer was sidelined
of 21 consecutive appear- ments that begin in late retirement. South Africa. this year, Nadal equaled his
ances at Melbourne Park, February and then start to The 39-year-old Federer, Just weeks later, Federer men’s record for most ma-
a run that began with his build a schedule for the rest who has spent more weeks announced he had ar- jor championships by col-
2000 debut there and in- of the year,” Godsick said. atop the ATP rankings than throscopic surgery on his lecting his 20th at Roland
cludes six championships. The start of the Australian anyone else but is No. 5 right knee and would be Garros in October. Federer
“Roger has decided not Open’s main draw was after his hiatus, is currently sidelined for at least four posted a congratulatory
to play the 2021 Australian delayed by three weeks training in his usual offsea- months. He later had a message on social media
Open. He has made strong because of the coronavi- son home of Dubai, United second procedure on that to Nadal that day, saying
progress in the last couple rus pandemic and is now Arab Emirates. knee and wound up miss- he hopes “20 is just another
of months with his knee and scheduled to begin on Feb. The choice to delay his ing the rest of the pandem- step on the continuing jour-
his fitness. 8. In other news related to comeback came with in- ic-altered season. ney for both of us.”
However, after consulta- the tournament, Tennis put from coaches Severin One measure of Federer’s Djokovic’s title in Australia
tion with his team, he de- Australia announced that Luthi and Ivan Ljubicic and popularity: Despite ap- this year moved him closer
cided that the best deci- five-time runner-up Andy fitness coach Pierre Paga- pearing in only six matches to the other members of
sion for him in the long run Murray was given a wild- nini. in 2020, he recently was the Big Three of men’s ten-
is to return to competitive card entry. “We wish him all the best as voted the winner of the ATP nis with a total of 17.q

Strong winds force cancellation of 2nd run of GS in Austria

SEMMERING, Austria (AP) same course is scheduled bottom of the Zauberberg higher up on the mountain no improvement was ex-
— A women’s World Cup for Tuesday, with the runs course early Tuesday. following the opening leg. pected. The first run had
giant slalom was canceled set to start at 3.15 p.m. and “We will need the whole However, as the winds also been completed without
following the opening run 6.30 p.m., respectively. morning to reset the finish became stronger further significant impact from the
Monday after increasingly The weather was expected area,” Gerdol said. down the slope, they twice wind. Petra Vlhova posted
strong winds destroyed to improve overnight al- Organizers first lowered the postponed the start time the fastest time, two years
parts the finish area. lowing workers to start re- start gate for Monday’s by 15 minutes before call- after the GS world cham-
Wind speeds reached up building the set-up at the second run after gusts set in ing off the event because pion from Slovakia won her
to 100 kph (62 mph) and or- first race in the discipline
ganizers ordered people to on the same Zauberberg
leave the finish area as the course. Vlhova led Marta
gusts started blowing away Bassino by 0.22 seconds,
safety fencing and sponsor while Mikaela Shiffrin was
banners, leaving the area 0.59 behind in fourth.
in a state of havoc within The American three-time
minutes. overall champion tri-
“It’s a really dangerous umphed in the previous
thing, even just staying in GS, in France two weeks
the finish area,” said the In- ago, for her first win since
ternational Ski Federation’s returning to the circuit from
race director, Peter Gerdol. a 10-month break.
The GS will be rescheduled Shiffrin won two giant sla-
at another venue during loms in two days on this hill
the season. in 2016 before adding a
“But now it’s too early to slalom victory the next day.
decide where and when,” Cable cars are blown by strong winds during a pause of an alpine ski, women’s World Cup giant Shiffrin also won the last
Gerdol said. slalom, in Semmering, Austria, Monday, Dec. 28, 2020. slalom held on the Zauber-
A floodlit slalom on the Associated Press berg course, in 2018.q