Roger Federer is targeting "many more years" on the ATP World Tour, despite being forced to sit out the US Open for the first time since making his debut in 1999.
The Swiss has not featured on Tour since his semi-final defeat to Milos Raonic at Wimbledon in late July thanks to a knee problem, and he will not play again this year, having also missed the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Federer hopes to be back for the start of the 2017 season and says his six months out will be of benefit in the long term.
"Yeah, I think [my plan] for 2017 is to play the Hopman Cup, Australian Open and Dubai and then, of course, there's going to be a lot of more things coming after that," he told ATP Media.
"But for the time being I think that needs to be the focus - that I can return for those three tournaments in great shape.
"After that I have all of 2017 pretty much mapped out. I know which tournaments I would like to play.
"2018, obviously that's too far away. I have to see how the body is going to cope with all the matches again.
"That's why this preparation over these four, five, six months is really key. I believe I can become super strong because I never have six months - usually I only have a month here, sometimes six weeks, sometimes only three weeks.
"So I have a lot to work with right now and I hope to make myself so strong that I have the best chance to play for many more years to come on Tour."
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