Roger Federer returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night for what he billed as one last match for fun, facing longtime rival and friend Andy Roddick in a prime time exhibition in front of a packed house wearing the distinctive RF logo that became synonymous with his 15 years of dominance in men’s tennis.
The event was presented as An Icon Returns to New York. The two, Federer at 45 and Roddick approaching 44, played one set of singles in front of fans who came not for the competitive result but for the chance to see both men one more time on a court that means something to each of them.
He told the crowd it is great to be back in New York and said the memories of Arthur Ashe, the fans and the city remain incredible. He reflected on his first visit to the venue in 1998 as a junior, when he reached the final. His debut on Arthur Ashe as a professional came three years later in a loss to Andre Agassi, which he recalled with affectionate humor, saying Agassi gave him no shot and he told himself the job would not be so easy.
He won the 2005 US Open against Agassi for the second of what became five consecutive US Open titles through 2008, a run he called an incredible journey and said he loved. He noted that every player he faced in the finals during that stretch was a US Open champion themselves, which he described as what made it so special.
Roddick on showing up
Roddick, who won the US Open in 2003, credited him back to the occasion. He said the friendship navigated their careers and described showing up when Federer asks as simply what you do. He said the friendship would hopefully last forever.
The relationship between the two men became one of the defining stories of professional tennis in the first decade of the 2000s. Roddick lost multiple Grand Slam finals to Federer, including a painful five-set loss at Wimbledon in 2009. That competition coexisted with a genuine personal friendship that has been on clear display in the years since both men stepped away from competitive tennis.
The occasion
Federer retired from professional tennis in 2022. The New York exhibition gives him something his retirement did not, which is a chance to say goodbye to Flushing Meadows and to the fans there, on his terms and with someone who matters to him on the other side of the court.
He is in New York on his way to Newport, Rhode Island, where he will be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday. This stop is the New York farewell Federer never had the chance to give when his career ended in a quarterfinal loss to Grigor Dimitrov in 2019.
The fans who wore the RF hats Tuesday night were there because Roger Federer, even in an exhibition that carries no ranking points and no title, still fills the largest tennis stadium in the world.
