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Ankle woe for Federer

13/10/2005

Roger Federer will miss his home tournament in Switzerland for the second successive year after being diagnosed with ligament damage in his right foot.

And the indomitable world number one will also miss the Madrid Masters next week, but it his absence from the Swiss indoor tournament in Basle that has left him most disappointed.

"After bad luck last year with my thigh and now this, I'm extremely disappointed, above all that I can't play at home for the second straight year in Basel," the winner of two of the four majors this year said.

Federer, 24, injured his foot while hitting a shot in training and is now walking on crutches.

But he is confident of being "perfectly fit" for the end-of-season Masters Cup in Shanghai next month, which he won in utterly convincing style in Texas last year, beating Lletyon Hewitt in straight sets in the final.

Apart from Federer, whose form this year has arguably been even better than his superb 2004, only Russia's Marat Safin and Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal have so far qualified for the tournament in Shanghai, which takes place between November 13th and 20th.

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