Roger Federer has said he is planning to return to the tennis tour either in late summer or autumn this year.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner was in attendance at the super-G in Lenzerheide, Switzerland — where USA’s Mikaela Shiffrin made podium in her first race since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics — and provided an update on his fitness.

Federer required a third procedure on his right knee in the space of 18 months back in August, and said at the time he would be sidelined “for many months”.

Federer said it is only now he can think about returning to the tour as he is slowly regaining his fitness.

He said: “It’s (the knee) fine. Much better. Obviously, I was on crutches for two months so you have to start from the bottom.

“It was certainly the right thing to do, the knee wasn’t right after Wimbledon (last year), so it couldn’t go on.

“Currently I’m in three parts. First the whole rehab, getting back on your feet at the beginning. Then afterwards, learning to walk and building up the whole thing.

“I had a very good MRI a few weeks ago, which makes me feel very positive.”

Federer is unlikely to play this year’s Wimbledon, his coach Severin Luthi was quoted as saying in a Swiss newspaper.

The eight-time Wimbledon champion’s most recent match was at last year’s Wimbledon, where he fell in the quarter finals and afterwards announced that he would be undergoing his third knee surgery.

“At the moment, I don’t envisage him playing Wimbledon,” Luthi told German language newspaper Tages-Anzeiger, according to The Independent.

“I’m not someone who is saying it’s impossible. But I can't imagine it right now,” he said.

“He’s still in the rehabilitation phase. Not only do the knee and leg muscles have to be built up, the whole body has to be strengthened. It’s a full conditioning program.”