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Roger Federer suffers brutal 25-year first in 'sad day' for tennis

Roger Federer, pictured here greeting fans during an appearance at Wimbledon.
Roger Federer greets fans during an appearance at Wimbledon. (Photo by Shi Tang/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

Roger Federer's continued absence from the ATP tour has resulted in the Swiss legend losing his official ranking for the first time in 25 years.

When the ATP updated its standings on Monday, Federer was left with zero rankings points because he hasn't played since losing in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2021.

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Tennis' official rankings are based on a player's results over the previous 52 weeks.

When Wimbledon started two weeks ago, Federer was ranked 97th in the world.

But with his result from Wimbledon last year no longer counting towards his ranking, he has been left with zero points and no official rank.

The 40-year-old had appeared in the singles rankings every week since he made his debut at age 16 in September of 1997.

He previously held the record for most time at World No.1 until Novak Djokovic recently broke it.

Shortly after his loss at Wimbledon last year, Federer had a third operation on his right knee in a span of about 18 months.

He has slowly been working his way back to full fitness and intends to play at the Laver Cup in September before returning to the ATP tour in Basel in October in front of his home fans.

During an appearance at Wimbledon last weekend he also announced that he hopes he can play one final time at the grass-court grand slam next year.

“I hope I can come back one more time. I’ve missed it here," he said.

"Of course I've missed being here. I would have loved to be here. I knew walking out here last year, it was going to be a tough year ahead.

"Maybe didn't think it was going to take me this long to come back. But the knee has been rough on me.

"I didn't know if I should make the trip, but I'm happy standing right here, right now."

Nevertheless, fans were gutted to learn that Federer had lost his official ranking on Monday.

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios dudded by rankings farce

Meanwhile, Djokovic has fallen four spots to No.7 just one day after winning Wimbledon for the seventh time.

Djokovic's drop and that of runner-up Nick Kyrgios from No.40 to No.45 are a result of the decisions by the WTA and ATP tours to not award any ranking points for Wimbledon in response to the All England Club's ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus over the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, Djokovic, Kyrgios and all other players lost whatever points they earned at Wimbledon in 2021, while not gaining any benefit from how they performed during the last fortnight.

Because Djokovic won Wimbledon in 2021, he now loses all 2000 rankings points he earned and falls four places in the standings.

Kyrgios also misses out on 1200 points he would have received for making a grand slam final and has been robbed of a rise to World No.15.

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios, pictured here after the Wimbledon final.
Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios don't get any rankings points for making the Wimbledon final. (Photo by Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images) (PA Images via Getty Images)

Elena Rybakina's first grand slam title didn't do her any good either, remaining at No.23 in the WTA rankings.

The Kazakh became the second-lowest women's champion at the grass-court tournament in the professional era, which began in 1968.

Ons Jabeur, who lost to Rybakina in Saturday's final, dropped from No.2 to No.5 even after her best result at a grand slam.

French Open champion Iga Swiatek, whose 37-match winning streak ended in Wimbledon's third round, remains at No.1, while Russia's Daniil Medvedev stays atop the ATP rankings despite not being able to compete at the All England Club.

Medvedev won the US Open in 2021 and was the runner-up to Rafa Nadal at the Australian Open in January.

with AAP

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