This past Wednesday, I had the incredible opportunity to practice with Roger Federer as a hitting partner at the 2018 US Open. He is in my opinion, the greatest tennis player of all time and also my idol. I didn’t have much time to mentally prepare as I found out 30 minutes before I was to go out on court. Safe to say there was a combination of strong nerves, but also great excitement to fulfill something I never thought would happen.

I hope you all enjoy my brief recap of playing tennis with a legend of the sport!

Mixed Feelings

Before we started hitting on Grandstand, he came up to the net to shake my hand and introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Roger.” Not surprisingly, I was star struck. I mean, I was about to play tennis with the GOAT. I wanted to relish this moment and take it all in, as I knew this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. But, at the same time, I wanted to stay focused to give him the best possible practice. After all, he is preparing to try and win Grand Slam #21! We did two on-one drills the majority of the time, with Josh Silverstein (former Iowa player) and I on one side. ﻿

We hit for about 15 minutes then took a water break. Josh and I sat down and got some words of encouragement from a few fans watching in the first row. It was nice to know some of the 1000+ crowd thought we were doing a good enough job! On the other hand, Roger didn’t say anything so I had no idea if he was happy with the practice or if he was wondering why the heck two scrub college players were assigned to hit with him. Nevertheless, we continued with our hit, and Fed started to kick it up a few notches. He has effortless power and impeccable timing just as you could imagine from watching on TV! However, you can truly appreciate it when you are on the other side of the net. My ball must have seemed like a beginners to him.

What Dreams Are Made Of

After the first hour, we made our way over to Arthur Ashe Stadium. The crowd mobbed him the entire way as Josh and I followed ten feet behind. I was a two time first team All-SEC and won a gold ball in juniors…why weren’t people mobbing me (lol)?! As we walked down the halls outside the court in Ashe, Fed saw Rafa for the first time at the Open. They had a quick conversation, and then they went in opposite directions. It definitely wasn’t a huge deal, but the tennis nerd inside of me thought it was pretty sick. We walked into Ashe and the 20,000 seat stadium was empty. Josh and I looked at each other and almost had to pinch ourselves for what was about to happen. Hitting with Fed on Ashe…that only happens in dreams right? ﻿

The second hour consisted of groundstroke and volley drills, with serves and returns at the end. Now I understand why people can’t break the guy. He hits his spots so well that you have no chance of getting a racket on most of the returns. It wasn’t coming at rocket speed, but it’s disguised so well that it’s so hard to react to the ball. Truly incredible.

A Moment Becomes A Lifetime Memory

Thankfully I had a couple of friends take pictures and videos throughout the practice because if it wasn’t for that, I’m not sure I would remember it, considering I kind of blacked out for two hours. Roger graciously took a picture with me at the end of practice and thanked us for our time. I wished him the best of luck in the tournament and that was the end of one of the greatest tennis experiences of my life. I wish I could have had the opportunity to speak with him more, but I know I can’t be too greedy. Just to simply share the court with him was such an honor, and a moment I will never forget.

P.S. Roger- if you’re reading this, I’m expecting a shoutout (and box seats please) when you take the title this year!

Thank you to Elliott for sharing an experience of a lifetime with us at Tennis Takes. If you could hit with anyone in the world, who would it be?!

If anyone has had an amazing experience hitting with a top professional, please reach out and we would love to feature it on Tennis Takes! Our own, Maxx Lipman, shared his experience at the 2017 US Open where he was the go to hitting partner for eventual champion, Sloane Stephens!

Want to hear from some of the top pros themselves? Check out our Short Takes series with Ana Ivanovic, Alex De Minaur, Rajeev Ram as well as many others and much more to come!