SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Roger Federer threw in a few trick serves and several between-the-legs shots to dazzle some young players who were giddy to get a few minutes hitting with the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
In town for the Laver Cup this weekend at Chase Center that he supports and promotes, Federer took part in an unveiling of six renovated courts at John McLaren Park in southeastern San Francisco for the event's Community Legacy Project that's done at each stop.
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Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, left, greets San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie after hitting tennis balls during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Team Europe captain Yannick Noah, midde left, and co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer react while hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, right, shakes hands with local youth tennis players after hitting tennis balls during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, middle right, hits tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer reacts after Team Europe captain Yannick Noah missed a shot while hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, middle, signs autographs after hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer hits tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
He grunted and grinned while strategizing alongside Yannick Noah, who will be captain of Team Europe for the tennis showcase.
Federer had a blast rallying with the kids Tuesday afternoon and part of him wants to be playing here, in a city he wishes he'd visited more during his career. Federer signed autographs and obliged fans with selfies. He even hit a few balls with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie.
“Coming out to a public park like this and spending time with kids and inspire them and talk tennis and see what good we've done with the Laver Cup coming here,” the 44-year-old Swiss star said. “So I'm very happy that we're finally here and that I'm back. I had a great time last time in March, you guys were super friendly to me. So I'm happy to be here again.”
Federer, who retired three years ago at age 41, caught his first glimpse of the unique black court at the Golden State Warriors’ arena and was itching to get out there.
“I looked really special,” Federer said. “I feel very, sad is not the word, but I'm missing out that I can't play, because this is a venue I would have loved to play. And I had a chat with Tim Henman at the hotel later on and said, ‘This would be an amazing place to play tennis.’ So I will miss that, but I will enjoy it as a fan.”
While Casper Ruud and others have already trained on the court, a formal practice day to give fans their first glimpse of the greats is scheduled for Thursday.
Patrick Rafter can't wait to see the support in an arena where Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors is typically the main attraction. Rafter is an assistant captain for Team World, working with captain Andre Agassi.
“They're massive names around the world, and Stephen Curry being one of the main men,” Rafter said. “So, yeah, hopefully we'll get to meet them all, hang out or something. Here we are in this amazing venue. I didn't realize it sat that many people — 18,000 people, it's massive. Being in here and playing tennis, it's going to be great to sit back and watch them do it all. Just watching some of the guys warm up, it's a pretty awesome setting.”
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Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, left, greets San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie after hitting tennis balls during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Team Europe captain Yannick Noah, midde left, and co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer react while hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, right, shakes hands with local youth tennis players after hitting tennis balls during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, middle right, hits tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer reacts after Team Europe captain Yannick Noah missed a shot while hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer, middle, signs autographs after hitting tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Co-creator of the Laver Cup Roger Federer hits tennis balls to local youth tennis players during a court unveiling at John McLaren Park Tennis Courts before the Laver Cup tennis matches in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
U.S. forces on Monday launched an effort to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began.
Two American-flagged merchant ships have “successfully transited” through the critical waterway, the U.S. military said. Separately, the U.S. military denied Iran’s claims that it struck an American Navy vessel southeast of the strait.
Iran handed over its latest proposal for negotiations with the U.S. to mediators in Pakistan, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Friday. Trump subsequently said he’s “not satisfied” with it, but did not elaborate on the proposal’s apparent shortcomings. The shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has lasted for three weeks.
Here's the latest:
As part of its National Defense Strategy announced in January — a sweeping document laying out a vision on everything from deterring China to defending against cyberattacks to disrupting Iran’s nuclear ambitions — the Trump administration said Europe must do more for its own defense.
While “we are and will remain engaged in Europe, we must — and will — prioritize defending the U.S. Homeland and deterring China,” it said.
Among other things, the document noted that Europe’s economic power, while shrinking in relative terms globally, remains significant, and said Germany’s economy alone “dwarfs that of Russia.”
“Fortunately, our NATO allies are substantially more powerful than Russia — it is not even close,” it said, noting a recent commitment among NATO allies to raise national defense spending to 5% of GDP in total, a push led by Trump.
The U.S. European Command, created in 1947 and known as EUCOM, is one of 11 combat commands within the Defense Department, and covers some 50 countries and territories.
In addition to more than 36,000 troops in Germany, Italy hosts more than 12,000 and there’s another 10,000 in the United Kingdom, according to Pentagon numbers from December.
The Pentagon has offered few details about which troops or operations would be affected in the drawdown announced Friday.
The U.S. increased its European deployment after Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine four years ago. NATO allies like Germany have expected for over a year that these troops would be the first to leave.
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The event in the East Room will bring together more than 130 small business owners as the president highlights his administration’s policies benefiting them.
“Our nation’s 36 million small businesses now have the confidence to hire, reinvest and expand, unleashing an historic era of sustained growth,” Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler said ahead of the event. “America is open for business again.”
The gathering is meant to mark this year’s National Small Business Week and the owners represent manufacturing, food production, defense, energy and retail businesses, among other areas, according to the White House.
European leaders on Monday said President Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security.
The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters Saturday that “we’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.”
He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump’s anger over European allies’ reluctance to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East.
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The U.S. stock market is holding tentatively near its record heights Monday, while oil prices climb with uncertainty about when oil tankers can resume crossing the Strait of Hormuz and restore the world’s flow of crude. Dueling claims about a possible Iranian strike on a U.S. Navy vessel in the strait heightened the tensions.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, coming off its latest all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 216 points, or 0.4%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%.
The action was stronger in the oil market, where the price for a barrel of Brent crude climbed 2% to $110.37 and briefly topped $114 during the morning. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to its war with the United States has kept oil tankers pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide. That in turn has sent the price of Brent soaring from roughly $70 per barrel before the war.
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Rubio will travel to Rome and Vatican City this week in a bid to ease rising tensions between the Trump administration and Pope Leo over U.S. policies, particularly with Iran.
The State Department said Monday that Rubio, a devout Catholic who’s visited Rome and the Vatican at least three times since becoming Trump’s top diplomat, would be in Italy on Thursday and Friday.
“Secretary Rubio will meet with Holy See leadership to discuss the situation in the Middle East and mutual interests in the Western Hemisphere” the department said. “Meetings with Italian counterparts will be focused on shared security interests and strategic alignment.”
The trip comes as Trump has criticized Pope Leo, the first American pontiff, for his stances on the Middle East and elsewhere and posting social media images likening Trump to Jesus Christ.
The disruption of the waterway has squeezed countries in Europe and Asia that depend on Persian Gulf oil and gas, raising prices far beyond the region.
Trump has promised to bring down gas prices as he faces midterm elections this year.
The U.S. has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions for paying Iran for transit of the strait. It has enacted a naval blockade on Iranian ports since April 13, telling 49 commercial ships to turn back, U.S. Central Command said Sunday. The blockade has deprived Tehran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
U.S. officials have expressed hope the blockade forces Iran back to the negotiation table.
The U.S. military said Monday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz and Navy guided-missile destroyers in the Persian Gulf were helping to restore shipping traffic. It separately denied Iran’s claims to have struck an American Navy vessel.
The announcement came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new initiative to help guide ships through the critical waterway for global energy. Iran has effectively closed the strait since the U.S. and Israel started the war Feb. 28, rattling the global economy.
The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center has advised ships to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it set up an “enhanced security area.” U.S. Central Command didn’t say when the Navy ships arrived or when the merchant vessels departed.
It was unclear whether shipping companies, and their insurers, will feel comfortable taking the risk given that Iran has fired on ships in the waterway and vowed to keep doing so.
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President Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. step off from Marine One upon their arrival on the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump walks from Marine One to board Air Force One at Ocala International Airport, in Ocala Fla., Friday, May 1, 2026, after speaking at an event in The Villages, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
President Donald Trump steps off from Marine One upon his arrival at the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, May 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
