Tennis: Roger Federer to return at 2017 Australian Open

Former world number one Roger Federer is targeting next year's Australian Open for his comeback on the ATP circuit after an injury sidelined him for almost half of the 2016 campaign. The Swiss player, aged 35, has been out of contention since July while his last match was the Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Canadian player Milos Raonic. The 17-time Grand slam winner also had problems in the first half of the season, he had surgery in February and then missed the French Open due to a back problem. "I'm working for the Australian Open," Federer said. "I'm doing well. I never thought I'd have a year like this. I've learned a lot from this year." The Swiss also missed the Rio 2016 Olympics and will be unable challenge a sixth US Open title as the tournament kicks off on 29 August. "It's painful being here in New York, and it was painful during the Olympics because I love competing. But you can't have it all. It was a tough decision to say the least - going out of Rio, the US Open, theWorld Tour Finals. But in some ways it ended up being a simple decision. Health is my number one thing." In the absence of Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray lead the seeds list at the US Open, with Stan Wawrinka seeded third and Rafael Nadal seeded fourth. Novak Djokovic is the defending US Open champion, but a wrist injury prevented him from taking part at the Masters tournament in Cincinnati last week. The Serb world number one is the bookmakers' favourite to win the US Open, he is 10/11 at Bet365 to win it, while Andy Murray is 2/1.