{"id":858389,"date":"2026-09-24T01:06:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T01:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/858389\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T01:06:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T01:06:08","slug":"a-room-of-his-own-roger-federer-honored-at-the-o2-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/858389\/","title":{"rendered":"A Room of His Own: Roger Federer honored at The O2 | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lit-up neon yellow tennis racquet sits atop the new RF Room backstage at The O2 arena in London, the famed venue\u2019s first room named after an athlete. Federer appeared at the site 45 times, a record for any athlete or entertainer, and that number plays a central role across the room designed to host artists preparing for a performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe O2 will always be a very special place for me,\u201d Federer said. \u201cI have so many great memories of playing here over the years, and of course it\u2019s where I played the final match of my career in 2022. To come back four years later and have a room here is a very special honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside, a specially designed table tennis table with artwork Federer selected is surrounded by 45 paddles arranged on the walls \u2013 44 in white and one in black, signed by Federer. \u00a0The number 45 adorns the walls and decorations. A signed photo of Federer waving farewell to the Laver Cup crowd in 2022 features prominently. The room\u2019s sound system includes a playlist that Federer helped curate.<\/p>\n

Venue owners AEG presented Federer with a key to the room and a table tennis paddle made from The O2\u2019s tent fabric. \u201cI love the personal touches and the thought that has gone into creating it,\u201d Federer said. \u201cI\u2019m very grateful to everyone at AEG and look forward to seeing it whenever I\u2019m back \u2013 and hopefully getting a few games of table tennis in too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about the RF Room<\/a><\/p>\n

49 Majors at The O2<\/p>\n

On Wednesday at The O2, six Grand Slam champions with a total of 49 majors between them walked the iconic black Laver Cup court, including Federer (20), Rod Laver (11), Andre Agassi (8), Carlos Alcaraz (7), Pat Rafter (2) and Yannick Noah (1), all gathering to take photos with the Laver Cup trophy.<\/p>\n

Alcaraz hung back before approaching Laver Cup namesake Laver. \u201cI don\u2019t want to bother,\u201d Alcaraz said. The No.3-ranked Spaniard spent a few minutes chatting with Laver courtside at The O2, first discussing how Alcaraz has always wanted to play at the venue.<\/p>\n

\"RogerRoger Federer chats with Rod Laver and Carlos Alcaraz at The O2 on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

They then turned to equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always thought how I\u2019d [play] with your racquet,\u201d Alcaraz said. \u201cYou have to have real good timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federer joined in, and the trio discussed how Laver\u2019s Dunlop racquets weighed over 400 grams. Federer started at 360 grams, then moved to 340, and now 320. Alcaraz said he plays at 310.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo us, that feels like a kid\u2019s racquet,\u201d Federer joked.<\/p>\n

Laver welcomed the interactions, also chatting with Team Europe captain Yannick Noah about the speed of the courts and Team World captain Andre Agassi about the speed of the balls. Team Europe Vice Captain Tim Henman asked Laver for some tips as Team Europe seeks to reclaim the Cup after Team World won in San Francisco in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"RodRod Laver talks tennis with Team Europe captain Yannick Noah as Andre Agassi listens in.
\nLaver Cup London Features New Scoreboard <\/p>\n

Laver Cup has stepped up The O2 arena experience for 2026, custom-building a center-hung scoreboard for the event. The bespoke build by the event\u2019s arena production partner, Creative Technology, features 648 LED panels and just over three million pixels. It ranges from 24 meters (78 feet) wide to 6 meters (20 feet) on the sides and 9 meters (30 feet) on the ends.<\/p>\n

Busy Time for the Laver Cup Trophy<\/p>\n

Official Laver Cup trophy handler Frans Thom never strays far from the Laver Cup trophy. These are busy days for the trophy, crafted with molten metal from one of Laver\u2019s first professional trophies and with design elements honoring his tennis achievements, such as the rocket shape to match his nickname, 200 notches on the rim signifying his career titles and the duplication of four rings at the base to represent Laver\u2019s two calendar-year Grand Slam triumphs in 1962 and 1969.<\/p>\n

The Wednesday and Thursday prior to the Laver Cup, Thom is busy moving the Cup around, \u201cmaking sure it\u2019s in pristine condition\u201d as it travels to the iconic photo location and opening night gala. He wants to keep it gleaming so that everyone who gets a chance to get a picture in front of it can have the best experience possible. Friday through Sunday, the trophy makes an appearance on court at each session and in fan spaces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lit-up neon yellow tennis racquet sits atop the new RF Room backstage at The O2 arena in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[2073,102518,4037,99,428],"class_list":["post-858389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-rod-laver","tag-roger-federer","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}