Roger Federer Wants To Play Exhibitions When He’s Fit And Ready

Rory McIlroy won the 2025 Masters after eleven years in the major wilderness. The Northern Irishman’s relief at beating Justin Rose on the first playoff hole last Sunday was palpable, a release from the burden of relative failure. Roger Federer will know that feeling having gone the best part of five years without a Slam until the memorable five-set victory over his nemesis Rafael Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open.

Two generational talents like Federer and McIlroy enduring self-doubt and defeat before winning another ‘big one’ is more memorable for their outpouring of emotion. Sport engages on a different level when stars become humans, not automatons. Exhibitions are designed to strip away the business glare and let the audience see the face behind the athlete without the tension.

Federer visited Augusta last week but is ready to put the golf clubs away. He misses the training, let alone the tennis. “I’d love to start playing like two-three times a week again and hopefully, get myself back on an exhibition court. Maybe fill up a few nice stadiums around the world,” the 43-year-old said in an interview with TNT Sports.

Imagine getting Roger and Rafa back into the tennis ‘ring’ post-retirement. It’s already happened to some extent given that Federer’s last match was in the 2022 Laver Cup at the London O2 arena where the Swiss and Spaniard played together and broke down together. The Laver Cup, now awaiting its eighth edition in San Francisco, is very much the brainchild of Federer and it comes across as a competitive exhibition, a perfect mix of Next Gen stars guided by the original Gods of tennis – John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg were team captains for the first seven versions. It’s serious fun if that makes sporting sense.

The prospect of Nadal and Federer taking on each other after their professional career still has an immense attraction. The first quarter of the Millennium has been all about the battle between the Big Three. The story of the Next Gen is still nascent with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as its A-listers. It will take a while to fully engage a new tennis audience that digests the sport differently.

The Netflix exhibition match last March between Alcaraz and Nadal was played in front of a capacity crowd in Las Vegas. In 2020, Nadal and Federer met at Cape Town Stadium with over 50,000 watching on, the biggest ever tennis crowd, raising 3.5 million for the Roger Federer Foundation. The public still wants the past to play it again.

Fiftysomethings John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl returned in 2011 to renew their sparky past as 17,000 souls came to the BNP Paribas Showdown at Madison Square Garden. McEnroe retired 6-3 up in a first-to-eight set, citing his ankle. “I was super pumped. We haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything,” said McEnroe. Was he still worried that Lendl might come back like he did at that French Open final in 1984? Those old wounds are hard to heal. There was still an edge to it. Some tennis rivalries were wired differently.

“Psychologically, exhibitions also help an athlete by offering a venue to keep the competitive juices flowing, channel the extraordinary amount of time and effort they put into their sport, all while gearing down their commitment to it, but without a hard stop and at least some of the trauma, isolation and grieving that goes with retirement in many team sports,” said Robert Boland, a specialist sports attorney who was also a former player agent.

Also on the card that New York night were Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, the new Team USA captain in the Laver Cup. There was more spice to the match-up between the pair after an awkward public falling out during an exhibition at Indian Wells in 2010 for the Haiti earthquake disaster. This was settling old scores in the middle of a good cause with the microphone well and truly on. Federer and Nadal were on opposite sides of the net for what was generally a good-natured hit up until that point.

Legends rarely lose that competitive streak and that flows into the lifeblood of the modern game. “For the sport itself, exhibitions keeps its greatest legends connected and present longer than their competitive careers. This keeps connectivity with fans especially as they age with their beloved stars. It also keeps the dollars flowing into the sport” said Boland.

As the modern players of the sport demand more revenue share from the Slams, the golden era of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic still hold a place that increases their valuation. “Events like these are also a boon to iconic athletes like Federer because they offer a natural forum to promote his ongoing sponsors to maintain and enhance the value in these deals. Federer is financially set for life, but he’s still absolutely at the top of his game in retirement as an endorser and exhibitions are a part of that strategy,” added Boland.

When Federer and Nadal can walk the walk again after injury called time on their career, tennis will elevate itself into mainstream news even when the scoreboard isn’t crucial.