Roger Federer in startling 22-year tennis low: 'A new era'

Tennis fans have reacted to the surprising announcement that Roger Federer has dropped out of the World Top 50 for the first time in more than 22 years following his injury lay-off.

Federer has not played since being beaten in last year's Wimbledon quarter-finals to Hubert Hurkacz, a straight-sets defeat that culminated in a 0-6 third set.

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The 20-time grand slam winner will turn 41 in August, and has barely featured on the ATP Tour in the last two years due to knee trouble that required surgery.

Federer recently said he would aim to comeback in time for the Basel Open, before a potential Laver Cup appearance.

However, the 20-time grand slam champion will also most certainly be needing wildcards to enter events after the latest rankings update.

After the French Open, Federer dropped to World No.68.

Federer hasn't been outside the Top 50 since 2000.

The updated rankings, also mean for the first time since 2003, none of Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer or Andy Murray are in the world's top two.

The tennis world was quick to react to Federer's drop in the rankings with some saying it was officially 'new era'.

News of Federer's comeback in Basel was announced by the organisers of the Swiss Indoors, which takes place in October.

They said: "Ten-time singles champion and hometown hero Roger Federer has announced his comeback to the stadium at St Jakobshalle. The Swiss all-time great has confirmed his initial agenda will include the Laver Cup in London followed by the Swiss Indoors in Basel."

Responding to the announcement, Federer posted on Instagram: "Looking forward to playing back home."

Novak Djokovic's world ranking slip

With Djokovic losing in the quarter-finals at the French Open - where he was the defending champion - the door opened for Medvedev to regain the top spot after he briefly held it in February.

Djokovic slid from No.1 to No.3 because his points from winning the French Open in 2021 dropped off his record on Monday.

The ATP rankings are based on a player's top 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks (19 if they participated in the ATP Tour Finals).

And the bad news is set to get even worse for Djokovic, who could fall as far as World No.8 after Wimbledon.

Djokovic also won Wimbledon in 2021, meaning he's defending 2000 rankings points at the grass-court grand slam.

But with the ATP tour deciding to strip Wimbledon of rankings points because of its ban on Russian and Belarusian players, Djokovic will lose those 2000 points even if he wins the title.

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