Roger Federer's 2023 year was his first as an officially retired player and he had plenty of time to do other things than tennis.
Roger Federer spent most of his life on a tennis court and now officially retired from the game, the Swiss ace was able to some of that newfound time to focus on things outside of tennis. The sport and game will always be part of his as he's practically synonymous with it but this year saw him venture to the States.
He took part in the Met Gala as one of the co-chairs of the event as well as travelling south to Miami for the Formula One race there. After those commitments, Federer made his way to Africa, a continent very special to him.
Being retired puts me on different courts nowadays. You don’t need to have a 20,000-seater stadium so I’m very happy to be here today. Just weeks away from Wimbledon starting. I was just in Africa in Lesotho on a court and it was as special as pretty much walking out on a centre court in Wimbledon. I’m back out travelling again which has been so much fun.
Federer was in London to open some tennis courts as part of his initiative to give back to the sport. He's given it many things on the court and he's now focused on bringing more joy off the courts. As we noted above, he'll never be too far away from the sport with this year's Halle Open holding a special day for him. Something similar will happen later this year in Shanghai though for now he's in London and it was a big deal for him.
I think this is one of the most special, most beautiful courts in the world to be honest. We’ve seen courts like this coming out of basketball, but in tennis we’re very traditional, the whites at Wimbledon, so I think seeing a court like this is something totally different. I really hope this is a place people love to come and create memories for a lifetime.
It’s important to give back to the community, and also as you get older, I’m not the youngest anymore, what makes me most happy is being able to give back. So being here today really makes me super super happy. It’s so different to what I used to do all the time. It’s my time to give back.
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