{"id":1031160,"date":"2026-08-29T15:06:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T15:06:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1031160\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T15:06:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T15:06:28","slug":"as-roger-federer-enters-the-tennis-hall-of-fame-he-is-finally-ready-to-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1031160\/","title":{"rendered":"As Roger Federer enters the tennis Hall of Fame, he is finally ready to remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK \u2014 As he rode past Grand Central Station the other day, Roger Federer\u2019s mind<\/a> drifted back to 1998, and his first trip to the U.S. Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was playing in the boys\u2019 event. He stayed at the Grand Hyatt, right next to Grand Central. He shared a room with his doubles partner, Olivier Rochus of Belgium.<\/p>\n

They had won the Wimbledon boys\u2019 title together earlier in the summer; they figured they would try to double up, but instead lost in the first round. Federer had better luck in the singles, making it to the final, where he lost to David Nalbandian.<\/p>\n

When they weren\u2019t at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, he and his coaches wandered around Midtown. Federer\u2019s eyes were wide open, just as they had been when he was 14 and traveling to the United States for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me a similar vibe \u2014 that I need to come back,\u201d Federer said during another New York car ride in late August, from Flushing Meadows back to Manhattan. \u201cI fell in love with New York and the energy. Then I came back the following year, lost in the qualies (qualifying): second round against a good friend of mine, Swiss guy. And then, after that, the main draws came.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great run.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was.<\/p>\n

Twenty Grand Slam titles. Five in a row at the U.S. Open. Still the last man to defend the title here. And that\u2019s just in New York.<\/p>\n

This week, Federer\u2019s mind is doing something it doesn\u2019t often do. He\u2019s letting it roll back through the years.<\/p>\n

On Monday, he walked onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since 2019, which was the last time he played in the tournament. Five days later, he is ready to be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I., the first of a long line of generational talents from the 1990s and 2000s to receive the honor. Rafael Nadal<\/a>, Serena and Venus Williams<\/a> and Novak Djokovic<\/a> will have a week like this soon.<\/p>\n

Five years after his last singles match, at Wimbledon in 2021, Federer is ready to remember.<\/p>\n

U.S. Open 2026 preview<\/p>\n

Ava Wallace and Jen Klockner<\/p>\n

It is proving therapeutic, even if it has all come on a bit too fast. The 45-year-old didn\u2019t retire from tennis until 2022, at the Laver Cup in London, which has gone down in tennis\u2019 emotional folklore, all tears shed and hands held. But because his last official match was 14 months earlier, he met the five-years-removed criteria that the Hall of Fame imposes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity for perspective, something Federer said he needed. He\u2019s adjusted. He\u2019s found a way to rediscover some poetry in what he did on and off the court during his career, the poetry which came so naturally in the moment but has since been dormant.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice for me to open the door quickly and peek inside of my past, of my tennis career, because I do very little of that nowadays,\u201d he said, as the SUV rolled past LaGuardia Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t do many interviews; I don\u2019t think about it often. I don\u2019t get asked that much, because I move in circles where I don\u2019t get asked a million times about every single detail.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, though, is different, and he\u2019s good with it. He is thinking about it. The memories are flowing in ways they never have, because it\u2019s impossible to watch a movie and star in it at the same time. Even when Federer retired, the emotion of it all, the magnitude of a career that belonged to one of the most beloved players ever to swing a racket, got in the way of reflection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you retire, you never truly close the book. Maybe you do it on the entirety of your career, but then \u2026 maybe New York was a part of that. Maybe your hometown tournament was a part of that. You had so many emotional spots or people that trigger you that you can never fully close it,\u201d Federer said.<\/p>\n

This, he thinks, will be different.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame is the ultimate valedictory. It enshrines a player\u2019s individual contribution to the sport while reminding them that they are but a star in a galaxy. It even got Pete Sampras warm with nostalgia. Just wait, Federer said Sampras warned him years ago. It\u2019s all going to hit you.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still young enough to let it come back to me. You know, I\u2019m an emotional person, so I think the Hall of Fame allows me to really have a nice look back at everything I achieved, what I will represent. I guess the biggest thing is a giant thank you to everybody who has helped me reach today,\u201d Federer said.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

\n Federer played an exhibition at the Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. ahead of his induction. (Joseph Prezioso \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

New York was a good place to get the party started. He may have won the last of his six titles there nearly 20 years ago, in 2008, longer ago than his final Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon triumphs, but his record of five consecutive U.S. Opens has a certain gravity.<\/p>\n

Listening to him talk about New York, it\u2019s obvious how Federer managed to stay in orbit.<\/p>\n

He learned to feed off the energy of the city. He embraced its glitz and glamour. One year, he stayed out of town in Greenwich, Conn. Never again. Once on site, he found a little room where he could find his zone of quiet and focus on his business.<\/p>\n

It got harder toward the end. His fame had made him as big a celebrity as the ones who gazed at him from their courtside seats. As he spent the better part of two days around the National Tennis Center, the week before the U.S. Open main draws get underway, he was still barely able to take a few steps without someone asking for a selfie or autograph.<\/p>\n

That even happened in the player areas. The people grinding their way through qualifying or practicing are mostly in their late teens and early twenties. They grew up worshipping Federer, like any other tennis fan, but many of them, if not most of them, have never been at the same tournament site as him.<\/p>\n

Still, that doesn\u2019t happen in other sports. The new player the New York Yankees just called up from the minor leagues isn\u2019t asking for a selfie with a Hall of Famer like Derek Jeter when he walks into the clubhouse. That guy will try to play it cool, to show that he\u2019s sort of in the same club. Figureheads are there to be emulated.<\/p>\n

Not Federer. Nobody will ever be like him; the essence of drive and effort disguised by effortlessness on and off the tennis court. He handles it all in the usual way.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople wanting to meet me, see me, take pictures and not only here, but then the city, and traffic, and it\u2019s just a lot. But I always embraced it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He embraced it so much that he came back just about as quickly as he could, following his retirement. Not for tennis. To host the Met Gala in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

\n Federer won five consecutive U.S. Open titles between 2004 and 2008. He remains the last man to successfully defend a title in New York. (Don Emmert \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Federer was always different, in one way more remarkable than all the rest.<\/p>\n

The thing so many of the greatest of the greats crave in retirement is the one they can\u2019t replicate. That adrenaline rush that can only come from walking into the cauldron of high-stakes competition with tens of thousands of fans in the stands and millions more watching at home, and then putting everything on the line. No business meeting or appearance will ever replace it.<\/p>\n

Federer? He is OK with that. When he explains why, he gives something like a wince.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m actually relieved I don\u2019t have that any more. The pressure cooker and all that stuff is a lot to take,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a relief not to go through those \u2026 Let\u2019s say, knots in the tummy, time and time again. It made me \u2026 I don\u2019t want to say tired, but \u2014 \u201d<\/p>\n

He exhales. He is remembering.<\/p>\n

Instead, he loves to watch other famous people and elite performers practice their craft. Concerts. Rugby union\u2019s World Cup. Tennis, at Wimbledon and the Laver Cup \u2014 the team competition he and longtime business partner Tony Godsick created. It\u2019s fun to be the fan, wondering what a favorite singer or great athlete in another sport can do, or what they are thinking in the moment.<\/p>\n

Saturday, he will get his turn. This is his first time in Newport, one of America\u2019s storied playgrounds. Somehow, he had never made a trip to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

He is not exactly sure how that happened. He was one of those players who love to geek out on tennis history. He named his team competition for Rod Laver to honor one of his heroes of the past. He\u2019s into this stuff.<\/p>\n

So he scheduled time to look around and soak in the story of the sport and see how he fits into it. He had an idea, but it\u2019s not something he dwells on regularly.<\/p>\n

Then there is the small matter of his speech. He delivered the commencement address at Ivy League college Dartmouth\u2019s graduation in 2024. He crushed it. It has become one of the most-quoted speeches of the genre, which usually involves famous people talking about their success and patting themselves on the back. Federer, who has had more success in his chosen endeavor than just about anyone else has had at theirs, spoke about failure.<\/p>\n

He talked about losing nearly half the points he played. About his loss to Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon final. About the most important thing for any tennis player, and maybe for any person \u2014 focusing on what happens next.<\/p>\n

The Hall of Fame speech will be different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not teaching class,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is more of my personal perspective. It\u2019s nice to go to these emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s doing what he did when he played. Visualizing. Imagining what it\u2019s going to be like to drive to Newport, to receive the warmth and the gratitude, and to give it back. That\u2019s important to him. It always has been.<\/p>\n

Will he turn into a puddle once more?<\/p>\n

Federer grew up at a time and in a place where men showing emotions, especially athletes, was not much of a thing. He can\u2019t remember seeing a Swiss soccer or hockey player or skier, or really any sporting hero of his, cry. Maybe Michael Schumacher cried once, he thinks. Tiger Woods cried a bit. So did Michael Jordan. He never figured he\u2019d be like them.<\/p>\n

Then he and his countrymen beat a U.S. team captained by Patrick McEnroe in the Davis Cup in his hometown of Basel. The Swiss had never beaten the Americans before. Lots of tears for that one. McEnroe is now the president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame; he will help manage the weekend\u2019s ceremonies.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

\n Federer stepped onto Arthur Ashe Stadium for an event in his honor ahead of this year\u2019s U.S. Open. (Garrett Ellwood \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

A few months later, Federer beat Sampras at Wimbledon. A puddle once again. He couldn\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I tried to hold it in, the more sometimes it came out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That informs his expectations for events later today: \u201cI\u2019m not sure yet what it\u2019s going to be like. I wish I knew, but at the same time, it\u2019s good to be surprised. I might get through the whole speech completely at peace, or I\u2019ll go through so many moments that I\u2019m going to get hit by emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the ride, somewhere just outside the Tennis Center, Federer was again trying to remember.<\/p>\n

He knew that in between retirement and this week, in those four years of letting everything he had achieved marinate, he had actually been back to the U.S. Open. He couldn\u2019t quite place it, the year and the reason. But something did stick in his head. He was in a suite in Arthur Ashe Stadium, hobnobbing the way legends of the game do, watching the stars of today with some other players from his era.<\/p>\n

At some point in the match, Federer\u2019s image popped up on the big screen, his face and his suit jacket and his boldface name in lights. The 24,000-or-so fans in the arena cheered and whooped. Roger Federer, and all that he represented, in the same room as them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat wasn\u2019t a farewell moment for me,\u201d Federer said. \u201cI haven\u2019t really been here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is here now. It was time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 As he rode past Grand Central Station the other day, Roger Federer\u2019s mind drifted back…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1031161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[48],"tags":[392,3777,62,222,1464,29618,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1031160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-culture","tag-olympics","tag-sports","tag-sports-business","tag-tennis","tag-top-sports-news","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117179424867679093","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1031161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}