NEW YORK (AP) — Five-time U.S. Open champion Roger Federer returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night to play one last match for fun against longtime rival and friend Andy Roddick.
The event billed as “An Icon Returns to New York” packed the stands full of fans there to watch the 45-year-old from Switzerland face Roddick — soon to be 44 — in a prime time exhibition. Many wore hats with the distinctive “RF” logo that became commonplace in the sport during Federer's decade and a half of dominance featuring 20 Grand Slam titles.
“It's great to be back in New York,” Federer said. “I have incredible memories, obviously, of this court, of the fans here, of the city.”
Federer reminisced about visiting for the first time to play juniors in 1998 and reaching the final. Three years later, his debut on center court was a straight-sets loss to Andre Agassi.
“He smashed me 6-1, 6-2, 6-4,” Federer said. “I had no shot. And I was like, ‘OK, not so easy, not fast, Roger.’ But, still, I’ll remember this center court forever.”
In 2005, Federer defeated Agassi to win the U.S. Open for the second of five in a row through ’08.
“The one against Andre, I think, was extremely special: playing a legend that was coming towards the end of his career — that we had a chance to play against each other,” Federer said. “And every player I was able to play against in the finals here also was a U.S. Open champion. It’s been an incredible run. I loved it.”
Roddick, who won the tournament in '03, credited the fans and Federer for his return.
“It comes down to Roger,” Roddick said. "Obviously we played a bunch and he beat me a bunch, but we were always able to navigate a friendship through the middle of our careers that’s lasted till now and will hopefully last forever. It’s just about showing up when Roger asks you to.”
Federer, who last competed at the U.S. Open in 2019 and retired in 2022, then teamed up with John McEnroe and faced Roddick and Agassi in a doubles exhibition.
This story has been corrected to Federer defeating Agassi for his second U.S. Open title of five in a row from 2004-08, not 2005-09.
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)
DALLAS (AP) — A California couple in an escalating fight with their surrogate over a newborn with a life-threatening heart defect told a Texas court Tuesday that the child's condition has worsened and they are anguished by attempts to deny them parental rights because they previously wanted an abortion.
“He's our child,” Nausheen Gilkar said, wiping away tears on the witness stand.
“She's unstable,” Gilkar said of surrogate McKenna West, who was sitting across from her in the Dallas courtroom. “She's trying to take him from us.”
The hearing offered the fullest public airing to date of a deepening and high-profile dispute over surrogacy and abortion that has rushed right-to-life groups and GOP officeholders to the side of West, a nurse who flew from Alaska to have the baby on Aug. 12 in Texas, where most abortions are banned.
Gilkar and her husband, Omar Ahmed, say they named the newborn Rumi. Attorneys for West, who has called the child Gabriel, said she is seeking sole conservatorship to make medical decisions for the child.
It was not clear when the judge would issue an order in the case.
West told the court that she was 23 weeks pregnant when she made an appointment for an abortion at the couple's urging but was not comfortable with it.
“I knew that this baby, despite the diagnosis, had a great chance at survival and a great chance at leading a long life,” West said.
After West gave birth, the couple obtained a restraining order barring her from seeing or holding the child.
The judge did not rule on final custody or conservatorship Tuesday, and the restraining order was left in effect.
Court documents filed by the couple's attorney prior to the hearing said Rumi was in critical condition and appeared to be “suffering from potential complications” from a procedure after he was born.
The child has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital defect in which one side of the organ is underdeveloped, preventing normal blood flow.
Fewer than 1,000 newborns each year have the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without treatment, death can come within days or weeks.
Gilkar told the court that the baby had no blood flow to the left side of his heart. Since surgery, she said, he has gasped for air, choked on tubes and needed a blood transfusion.
“He’s the most beautiful person I’ve never seen,” Gilkar said. “He’s the love of our lives. He’s suffering a lot.”
West and her attorneys have argued that Gilkar and Ahmed were not committed to guaranteeing that the baby would undergo surgeries or “life-saving care.” They say West should have conservatorship because the couple asked her to terminate the pregnancy after learning of the baby's diagnosis.
On the stand, West told their attorney, Lee Budner, that if the court finds that the couple are committed to the baby receiving the surgeries, she would drop any custody claims.
Jeff Domen, an attorney for West, repeatedly pressed Gilkar on the couple's desire to terminate the pregnancy, asking her to confirm that she requested it. Asked if she regretted the decision, Gilkar responded that she did not.
“Would you trust somebody to care for your child that wanted your child dead?” Domen asked.
Gilkar said she did not know how to respond to the question.
Gilkar and Ahmed say West violated the surrogacy contract they entered in August 2025.
Gilkar told the court that she entered the contract after going through eight rounds of in vitro fertilization in Los Angeles and her body “gave up.” She had to undergo a hysterectomy, she said.
“It was not my first choice, it was my only option,” Gilkar said.
West stayed in the couple's home in Los Angeles, Gilkar said, and she was there with West for the IVF transfer.
“I was holding her hand,” Gilkar said, crying.
The couple’s attorney referenced court records from California that determined West has no rights to legal or physical custody. West said she wanted the judge to disregard that ruling, saying she was willing to fight for him since the diagnosis.
Surrogacy is not regulated on a federal level, and experts say each state has its own laws, which can leave room for gaps in interpretation.
“We believe Ms. West is the mother of this child,” Domen said.
Wilder is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
Nausheen Gilkar, center, walks in a hallway at family court in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Omar Ahmed, right, and his wife Nausheen Gilkar, center, arrive for a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
McKenna West, left, arrivers with her legal team for a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
McKenna West, center, walks in a hallway before a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Omar Ahmed, right, and his wife Nausheen Gilkar, center, arrive for a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
McKenna West, left, arrivers with her legal team for a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Nausheen Gilkar, left, and her husband Omar Ahmed arrive for a court hearing in Dallas, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
