NEW YORK (AP) — Roger Federer is actually nervous about his tennis.
The man who won five straight U.S. Open championships during the height of his dominance of the sport is set to play again in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night for the first time since 2019. And he's not quite sure how the game that perhaps nobody ever made look more elegant will appear now.
“I haven’t played a singles set in, I don’t know, (Hubert) Hurkacz at Wimbledon maybe, so it’s been five years,” Federer said Monday, referring to his 2021 quarterfinal loss in his last Grand Slam match. “I don’t know how it’s going to go tomorrow. So there is a lot of uncertainty but a lot of happiness that I can return to Arthur Ashe, a place where I have had so many beautiful moments.”
It's only one set of singles in an exhibition against Andy Roddick and one set of doubles with John McEnroe against Roddick and Andre Agassi. The winner of 20 Grand Slam singles titles should be fine for those.
But a return to tennis beyond that, competing in major tennis tournaments in his mid-40s like Venus and Serena Williams?
“No, no, no, no. No, not at all,” Federer said during a news conference. “Thanks for asking. I wasn’t sure if the question was going to get asked, but I’m happy you did so I can clarify in case anybody thought.”
At 45, Federer still looks fit, and said he enjoys working out in the gym. But he said he goes through long stretches where he is rarely on the court.
His lengthy absence from the U.S. Open has done little to dampen his popularity, based on the amount of people around the grounds who were mentioning his name. The appearance of “Roger Federer” up on the big board for all to see again, ahead of his afternoon practice on Ashe, where Federer collected the trophy every year from 2004-08, was a welcome sight for his fans.
The trip to New York is a stop for Federer on his way to Newport, Rhode Island, where he will be enshrined in the International Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday.
Federer never really had the chance to say goodbye to New York as a player, because there was no way to know his loss to Grigor Dimitrov in the 2019 quarterfinals would be his last match. He had reached the French Open semifinals and the Wimbledon final earlier that year, falling to Rafael Nadal in Paris and then Novak Djokovic in a fifth-set tiebreaker at the All England Club.
It was easy to imagine him returning to the U.S. Open the next year and making another deep run. But after falling to Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open to begin 2020, he had knee surgery that February, then another procedure in May.
He returned to play in the French Open in 2021 but had to withdraw before his fourth-round match. After the loss to Hurkacz — where he appeared struggling and lost 6-0 in the third set — Federer had another knee surgery that August and knew there would be no more comebacks.
“The knee can’t do it anymore. It’s tired,” he recalled thinking. “The mind can’t be patient even more and wait for another couple years and see what happens.”
Federer knows Tuesday night won't be real tennis, joking that he and Roddick hopefully would be respectful and not try to drop shot each other. But it will be different from when he did return to Ashe a couple of years back to watch.
“They gave me an ovation because they saw me on the big screen, but I just feel, like, tomorrow and I guess today, as well, and Monday next week, it really gives me a true opportunity to say thank you and goodbye, which I think is important for some,” Federer said. "It’s a nice thing to do, for sure."
See AP’s full tennis coverage here
FILE - Roger Federer, of Switzerland, clenches his fist after wining a point against Feliciano Lopez, of Spain, during the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, Sept. 2, 2017. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
RENO, Nevada (AP) — A wildfire that mushroomed over the weekend in the Sierra Nevada foothills spread perilously close to neighborhoods in Reno, Nevada, forcing authorities to urge more than 90,000 residents to leave their homes.
The out-of-control fire has already burned some homes, but there's concern that winds could push the flames into newly developed and densely packed neighborhoods in Nevada's largest city outside of metro Las Vegas.
Schools across Washoe County were closed Monday because of the evacuations and to keep roads clear for emergency crews. Nevada's governor declared a state of emergency in the county and mobilized the National Guard to help with aerial firefighting and protecting evacuated neighborhoods northwest of downtown Reno.
At one roadblock, residents expressed frustration Monday that they could not get back into their homes.
"There’s no fire here! Why are the National Guard here?” a driver yelled.
Authorities said late Sunday that the Hawk Fire had stayed in its footprint and firefighters were extinguishing hotspots while working to keep the fire from jumping a main highway and reaching homes and businesses. There was zero containment.
The fire began Saturday and grew to more than 23 square miles (60 square kilometers) on Sunday. It's the third large wildfire in the rugged terrain north of Reno in the past two weeks — all caused by human activity, according to fire officials. They haven't said whether the Hawk Fire was intentionally set or accidental.
At least six people — three first responders and three civilians — have been injured by the latest fire.
Reno, home to about 280,000 people, is known for its casinos and as a gateway to nearby Lake Tahoe, North America’s largest alpine lake and a popular vacation destination. It's also southwest of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, site of the annual Burning Man festival, which begins next Sunday.
Many who travel to Burning Man make Reno a regular stop. But now some are saying on social media they should avoid the city so they don’t take hotel rooms and other resources away from evacuees.
Videos posted on social media showed the smoldering ruins of homes and cars, with only a scorched basketball hoop still standing.
Crystal Hallock, 53, lost her home to fire for a second time in less than a decade. She moved into the rebuilt house in 2019, a year after an electrical fire burned it down.
On Saturday, with a giant plume of smoke and flames visible on the nearby mountaintop, she fled with her children, grandchildren and pets. Her ex-husband tried to save the property and her vintage Cadillac, grabbing a garden hose as flames melted children’s toys and burned bushes.
She urged him over the phone to get out and feared the worst when the line went dead. “He was saying he can’t breathe, it’s so dark I can’t see, and I’m screaming at him, ‘Leave the car, just leave it,’” she said Monday.
Thirty minutes later, he called to say he had gotten out with the car. “I’m truly blessed because I have a place to stay with my animals and my grandkids. We were all able to get out safely," she said from a niece’s apartment in Reno.
Many residents had little time to evacuate after the fire exploded in size.
“Honestly, I thought it was like in a movie,” said Ruby Delatorre, who got back from a concert only to find her home in the evacuation zone. She returned Sunday to walk to her house and get a few more possessions.
“I literally want to cry and go back for all my stuff. I just got what I thought I needed," Delatorre said.
Some who spotted the smoke on Saturday thought it was from another wildfire that has been burning the past two weeks.
“The flames were pretty close to my house, and the smoke was really thick, but we have no idea if our house survived or not,” Jon Hanbury said Monday at Reno's convention center, which is now a shelter.
Much of Nevada’s western edge is under an increased risk of wildfires this week because of high winds and low relative humidity, the National Interagency Fire Center said. The National Weather Service says the region will see warm, dry and breezy conditions, and that critical fire weather conditions are possible in the week's later half.
Extremely dry conditions across the American West have sparked a rash of wildfires this summer. Fires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area in early August.
Nationwide, there have been more than 50,000 wildfires — the most over the past 10 years covering the same time period, according to the national fire center.
Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed.
This image taken from video shows active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)
This image taken from video shows active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)
This image taken from video shows a charred neighborhood following wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)
This image taken from video shows plumes of smoke rising from active wildfires Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. (Tim Walton via AP)
Smoke billows in the distance as a wildfire in Reno, Nev., destroyed homes and caused thousands to evacuate their homes, Sunday, August 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
A scorched structure is seen following the Bug Fire near Reno, Nev., Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
A scorched car sits outside a home that survived the Bug Fire near Reno, Nev., Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Fire retardant coats a vehicle following the Bug Fire near Reno, Nev., Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
Smoke billows in the distance as a wildfire burns in Reno, Nev., Sunday, August 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Haven Daley)
