Roger Federer says he hopes to return from a long-term knee injury at Doha's Qatar Open in March.

The Swiss has not played since his loss to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals in Melbourne in January last year.

"I want to celebrate great victories again and for that I'm ready to go the long, hard road," the 39-year-old said.

The Qatar Open, which Federer has won three times, is set to run from 8 to 13 March.

Speaking to Swiss broadcaster SRF, Federer said his main goals for the year were to play at Wimbledon and the Olympic Games.

Federer has won Wimbledon eight times and was a silver medallist in the men's singles at the 2012 Olympics in London.

"I've been thinking about when and where to come back for a long time," Federer said.

"I wanted to make my comeback at a smaller tournament so that I wasn't fully in focus and where the stress is also a little less."

The Australian Open, which was delayed by three weeks because of the coronavirus pandemic, begins on 8 February.