Coach Severin Luthi gives positive update about Roger Federer's recovery

Roger Federer caused dismay among his legion of fans all over the world when he announced that he would be skipping the rest of the 2020 season due to injury. The Swiss legend was last in action at the Australian Open where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, and he's been struggling to regain fitness ever since.

Roger Federer had earlier announced a break between Melbourne and Wimbledon to undergo rehabilitation for his right knee surgery. But after the coronavirus-enforced lockdown canceled a big chunk of the ATP tour, the World No. 4 announced that he had to undergo another surgery on the same knee - thus requiring even more rehab time.

Now, the long-time member of Roger Federer's coaching team - Severin Luthi - has given an update on how the Swiss' recovery is coming along. Luthi has revealed that Federer has been coping well without tennis for the last few months, and that his progress has been smooth of late.

Roger Federer will be able to increase training intensity very soon: Coach Severin Luthi

Roger Federer (L) and Novak Djokovic at Australian Open 2020

The Greatest of All Time (GOAT) debate has followed Roger Federer throughout his career. And right now his biggest rivals for that label - Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - are both hot on his heels.

At the age of 39, Roger Federer has 20 Grand Slams while Rafael Nadal (34) is at 19 and Novak Djokovic (33) is at 17. Looking at the age difference, it seems likely that both Nadal and Djokovic will end their careers with more Slam titles than Roger Federer. However, fans of the Swiss maestro are still optimistic about his chances once he returns - which in turn would depend greatly on how his knee holds up.

Speaking to a Swiss television outlet, Luthi assured everyone that the recovery was going on 'as planned', and that Federer's fans had nothing to worry about.

"At the moment, Roger is doing well," said Luthi. "The rehabilitation takes place as planned after his second surgery."

Luthi had said last month that Roger Federer's rehab from the first surgery hadn't gone as expected, which was why the second surgery was needed. Now, however, Luthi believes Federer will resume full-fledged training soon given how well his recovery is going.

"He prepares physically but without much intensity," Luthi said. "Very soon, he will begin to increase this intensity with his physical trainer Pierre Paganini."

The 20-time Grand Slam champion did come back to the tour against all odds in 2017, winning the Australian Open as well as Wimbledon to finish second in the rankings (behind long time rival Rafael Nadal). Only time will tell how he fares after returning from injury this time.