It seems that Federer's return to the top of world tennis will be very difficult, if not impossible given his health and age.
Here is what Federer said after his shocking and unexpected defeat in the Qatar Open by Basilashvili:
"I've come from so far away that I am actually happy I was able to play back-to-back three-set matches against top players," he said.
"That's an important step forward for me. I'm not at 100% yet.
"I still need another five or six weeks in fitness.
"In the next four months until Wimbledon, we've got to take a real good look at the schedule and see how much workload the knee can take, and what's the best way to prepare for what's basically the beginning of the season for me - which is the grass court season."
In the meantime, this news came: ''Andy Murray will not play in next week's Dubai Championships after the birth of his fourth child.''
Another tennis giant who is getting further and further away from the top of tennis.
Sources: https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/56364635
https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/56375025
I think Wimbledon will help Federer a lot as playing on grass is a lot stress on the body and especially the knee. So we could see him play more grass tournaments in the lead up to Wimbledon, the problem is not many tournaments are played on grass. He has to pick which tournaments will suit him leading into Wimbledon as I'm sure that will be his main goal and the Olympics.
In fact, Wimbledon was the last GS in which Federer managed to reach the final, 2 years ago, but he lost to Djokovic in an incredible way.
If Federer still has enough strength and health to try to win another GS it's obviously Wimbledon, his favorite GS.
However, given his current form and readiness, and his age, it is very difficult to expect Federer to win 1 more GS or win a gold medal at the Olympics.
This is true, its been a long time since we have seen Federer in a GS final however last year we can basically say that it didn't matter of that much due to the situation of the virus. I said months ago that I believe Federer's main target this year will be Wimbledon as like you said, its his favourite GS. Only he knows how he feels and which tournaments to play in but as we have seen, he is not at match fitness yet so it will be interesting to see which tournaments he picks and plays in. Even if he loses in the second round of each tournament, it all helps build on his match fitness.