When US Open officials announced that Roger Federer would be making a return to the Flushing Meadows court ahead of this year’s tournament, the excitement ripped through tennis fans.
Federer has not hit a ball in anger competitively since he retired from tennis amid emotional scenes at the 02 Arena in London in the fall of 2022.
Yet his each and every appearance on the tennis landscape continues to cause a huge stir of excitement and his New York return is no exception.
“For one night only, five-time consecutive US Open champion and tennis icon Roger Federer returns to New York to compete in a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition event under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday, Aug. 25,” read the announcement from the USTA.
“He’ll play alongside 2003 US Open champion and longtime rival Andy Roddick, as well as fellow tennis legends and US Open champions Andre Agassi and John McEnroe.”
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Despite the lavish prices to attend any event the US Open these days, the scramble to be there for Federer’s return to confirmed the 20-time Grand Slam winning great still has huge pulling power.
With Rafael Nadal not currently taking part in any exhibition events, Federer is the one player all tennis fans would jump at the chance to watch in action one last time.
And while he is not in full-time training any more, footage of Federer practicing on grass courts when he was in London to attend the Wimbledon Championships earlier this month confirmed he is still striking the ball superbly.
Federer is still a huge tennis fan and one of the images of Wimbledon this month was captured when he was sat alone in an entirely empty royal box watching Alexander Zverev competing on Centre Court.
His passion for the game shines through and when he spoke about the modern game in a press briefing in Melbourne earlier this year, it was clear that he is still following the sport with an avid interest.
“The rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner is a great one,” said Federer. “They play incredible tennis. I think that French Open final was unreal. I think the game, not that it needed it, but it was great that we had it.
“I feel like for a second, for a moment, the world stood still in the sporting world and watched towards Paris, what was going on in that epic fifth set because it could have ended much, much sooner obviously for Jannik.
“Then all of a sudden it ended up in this most crazy fashion. Maybe one of the greatest games we’ve ever had in our sport. It’s good we still live off that momentum. Then they backed it up by playing against each other in all those other finals.
“Everybody is trying to keep up and they’re trying to pull away. What we’ve seen in terms of their progression in the last years, it’s been wonderful. I practised with those guys a little bit. They’re incredible ball strikers. There’s obviously more to come.”
Federer fans will be getting a lot more of their hero over the next few weeks and the tennis world is also counting down to his induction into the sport’s Hall of Fame in August.
