Roger Federer will be sidelined for at least four months after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee, but could this be a blessing in disguise for the 38-year-old?
With the Swiss legend undergoing the knife, the news is certain to raise questions about his future in tennis.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion had been struggling with injury at the Australian Open, where he made a semi-final exit to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, and has not played since.
Federer will now miss a number of tournaments, including the French Open that begins at the end May, and he will not be back in action until the grass-court season at the earliest.
Federer, 38, wrote on Twitter: "My right knee has been bothering me for a little while.
"I hoped it would go away but after an examination, and discussion with my team, I decided to have an arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday."
He continued: "After the procedure, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery.
"As a result, I will unfortunately have to miss Dubai, Indian Wells, Bogota, Miami and the French Open.
"I am grateful for everyone's support. I can't wait to be back playing again soon, see you on the grass!"
- Federer out of French Open after surgery
- Sky VIP - thousands of prizes this February including Premier League tickets, trips to Hollywood, Australia and more
It will be the fourth time in the past five seasons that Federer has not played at Roland Garros, but the former world No 1 will not be overly concerned by that statistic.
He will instead look back on the time he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in 2016. When Federer returned to action he entered the Australian Open without a single tour-level match under his belt. He went on to win the title in a dazzling display, beating his great rival Rafael Nadal in a five-set thriller of a final.
He then continued a remarkable year by winning a 19th Grand Slam crown at Wimbledon plus Masters 1000 titles at Indian Wells, Miami and Shanghai before defending his Australian Open title in 2018 for his 20th and most recent major singles trophy. Will that prove to be a lucky omen for Federer?
The Swiss legend has already been cutting down tournament appearances in recent years in a bid to prolong his career. After all, he is 38 years of age and he has admitted that he's not getting any younger.
But a limited schedule is unlikely to affect his impressive durability for which he is best known for. Lack of competitive matches has never troubled Federer before so why would it have an impact on him now? True, he is getting older, but like a fine wine, he seems to just get better with age.
He arrived at last month's Australian Open having not played a competitive match since the ATP Finals in London in November but still reached the last four and he did that while playing through physical problems and two epic five-set matches against John Millman and Tennys Sandgren.
Federer will hope to have fully recovered in time for Wimbledon in June, where he will bid to add to his record eight titles. He also plans to play at the Olympics in Tokyo a few weeks later with the men's singles final slated for August 2.
He will turn 39 the following weekend, so the big question will be whether or not his latest surgery will in any way affect his movement and physical ability to move as smoothly around the court as he has done in the past.
You would think that any kind of surgery will eventually force a professional sportsperson into making a career decision, but in somebody as naturally gifted as Federer, he simply continues to defy logic.
At 38, Serena Williams continues to play at the peak of her powers, while Drew Brees, 41, and Tom Brady, 42, continue to ply their trade in the NFL.
Coaching, strength and conditioning, nutrition, and training has been helped by the advancement of technology, but all these individuals have a winning mentality which makes them stand out from the rest.
As Federer has said in the past, "'age is not an issue... it's just a number."
Check our news, reports and reaction from all major tennis events by following us on skysports.com/tennis, our app for mobile devices or our Twitter account @skysportstennis.