ROGER THAT
On the agenda: promoting Laver Cup, taking in a Warriors game
Killion: Tennis great Federer pays first visit to S.F.
Roger Federer’s first visit to San Francisco came on a glorious sunny day. Beyond the windows on the top floor of Chase Center, the bay sparkled, the Oakland hills popped and the selection of the locale as the site for the 2025 Laver Cup, Federer’s brainchild event, seemed perfect.
The only gloomy cloud was the tennis icon’s realization that Chase’s residing superstar, Stephen Curry, would likely not be playing in Saturday’s game, which Federer planned to attend. Curry rolled his ankle against Chicago the night before.
“I saw the Lakers toward the end of Kobe’s career and he missed the game,” Federer said Friday. “So I hope that Curry is playing tomorrow. But I know he might not. Bad timing for me.
“But I’ll still enjoy the game. I was a big basketball fan back in the early ’90s, watching Michael Jordan and Shaquille O’Neal.”
Federer did not make his first trip to the city to watch hoops. He was in town to promote the news that the Laver Cup will be held at Chase in September 2025, one of a string of high-profile events that the building will host next year, including the NBA All-Star Game, the NCAA men’s basketball West Regional and the debut season for the new WNBA team.
The Laver Cup is an annual event, modeled on golf ’s Ryder Cup, pitting Team Europe against Team World. Federer and his agent, Tony Godsick, dreamed up the idea during hourlong car rides from their hotel during a Shanghai tournament in 2016. They envi
sioned a way to honor the past, inspire the new generation and create a feeling of team unity in a sport where athletes are almost always on their own.
“I think it’s a way of embracing the history of the game and also looking forward to the future,” Federer said.
The event is named after tennis great Rod Laver, the coaches are John McEnroe for Team World and Bjorn Borg for Team Europe and, since its inception in 2017, the event has rotated between Europe and North America. Berlin will be the host this September.
Unlike the Davis Cup, in which tennis players compete for their country in a tournament spread across several weekends, the intention of the Laver Cup is to have a tournament contained to one weekend, ensuring that it doesn’t make too many demands of players and that fans have a chance to see all the stars.
The Laver Cup has been a way for Federer to stay involved in the game, after retiring in 2022. That retirement was the most famous Laver Cup moment to date: Federer emotionally ended his career after playing doubles in London with friend and rival Rafael Nadal.
“I have four children and life’s busy enough,” Federer said, referring to his 14-year-old twin daughters and 9-year-old twin sons. “But I’m not going to be a stranger to the game. I’d like to be involved. I’d like to be around.
“Tennis has been my love. Besides family and friends, it’s been my other family.”
Though some have feared a void in men’s tennis, with both Federer’s retirement and the end in sight for Nadal — meaning the exit of arguably the two most popular men’s players the sport has seen — there is always a new generation rising. Federer thinks the Laver Cup is a way to blend the generations in front of big crowds in big arenas.
“For younger guys, it can give the feeling of a Grand Slam final,” he said. “If you can play in front of Laver, McEnroe, Borg, Rafa, Roger, Novak and play for something bigger than yourself, it’s a great experience and a springboard.”
Could Federer envision coaching Team Europe?
“I see myself doing that one day,” he said. “Maybe it evolves that Rafa and I will do it together. I would be super flexible. But that’s not for now. After Borg and McEnroe maybe there would be another generation before my generation would come in.”
Federer’s iconic 24year career included 20 Grand Slam singles titles and 310 weeks ranked as the No. 1 player in the world. But he never played in the SAP Open, held in San Jose until 2013. He did, however, hold his fundraiser “Match for Africa” at SAP Arena in 2018, his only other visit to the Bay Area. And the Laver Cup organizers know the Bay Area has long been a tennis hotbed (even if pickleball is now jamming up the courts).
“This is a real proper tennis community,” Godsick said. “You’ve got this brand new arena in a city where players can come from anywhere nonstop. It’s a wonderful location.”
And it’s not a bad stopover for a longtime hoops fan like Federer. Even though Curry on Friday evening was ruled out for Saturday’s game, they will at least have another chance to chat.
Seven years ago, when the Warriors were playing an exhibition game in Shanghai and Federer was there for a tournament, he visited the Warriors’ locker room before the game. Steve Kerr has since said that visit inspired Curry and informed him about how to stay at the top as he grows older.
During that visit, Draymond Green asked the tennis player how he continued to excel after 20 years. Federer, 36 at the time, the same age Curry will turn next week, told them, “I love my ritual.” And no athlete loves his ritual as much as Curry.
On that same Shanghai visit, Klay Thompson asked Federer how his pingpong skills were and they later challenged each other to a match on social media.
“I hear he beats everyone on his team at pingpong,” Federer said Friday.
On Saturday night, Federer did indeed miss Curry playing, didn’t see the Warriors win and — as far as we know — didn’t make good on the pingpong challenge with Thompson,
“It was awesome having him in the building; it’s unfortunate we couldn’t get a win for him,” Thompson said. “But it was cool to be in the presence of greatness and awesome to see him here in San Francisco.”
The good news is Federer’s first trip to San Francisco will not be his last.