World no. 3 Roger Federer hurt his hand during a practice at the beginning of the grass season and it affected his forehand for around three months, per Rene Stauffer.

⁦@rogerfederer⁩ told me he hurt his right hand in the beginning of the grass-court-season in practice, „it affected my forehand around three months“. #SwissIndoors https://t.co/C2DwSRrGwD — rene stauffer (@staffsky) October 21, 2018

Federer, 37, won the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart in the opening week of the grass season. The Swiss came close to opening his grass-court season with back-to-back titles but fell just short as he suffered a surprise loss to Borna Coric in the Halle final.

Federer, a record eight-time Wimbledon champion, then suffered yet another surprise loss as he blew a two-sets-to-love lead against South-African Kevin Anderson in the Wimbledon quarter-final. Federer then opted not to play much during the summer hard-court season.

The Swiss, who was clearly far away from his best form, managed to reach the Cincinnati Masters final in his first summer hard-court event -- but lost to Serb Novak Djokovic in the final. The record 20-time Grand Slam champion concluded his summer hard-court campaign with a shock US Open round-of-16 exit suffered at the hands of Australian John Millman.

A-now-healthy Federer is hoping for a strong end to the season as he is set to play in his hometown Basel. Record eight-time Basel champion Federer has been drawn to meet Serb Filip Krajinovic in the first round. Federer kicked off his indoors campaign with a semi-final showing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

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