Sellout crowd sees Federer beat Sock in San Jose

Roger Federer hits a backhand volley during Monday night's exhibition.
Photo by Mal Taam

   Playing in Northern California for the first time, Roger Federer defeated Jack Sock 7-6 (9), 6-4 tonight in a lighthearted exhibition before a sellout crowd of 17,496 at SAP Arena in San Jose.
   The Match for Africa 5 raised $2.5 million for Federer's foundation, which provides access to education for children in southern African countries. Federer's mother, Lynette, is South African.
    At 36, Federer last month became the oldest man or woman to earn the No. 1 ranking. He broke the marks of Andre Agassi (33) and Serena Williams (35).
   "Those are definitely special times in my life and my career," Federer told reporters. "The dream as a little boy was to make it one day to world No. 1, but not at 36 years old -- I can tell you that. It was probably at some point at 25 maybe if things went really well.
   "I had a tough year in 2016 with my knee and stayed positive, was resilient and fought to come back and really believed I could actually win again. I didn't think it was going to be at this level. It's been an unbelievable journey the last 14 months, and my team has been incredible. I'm loving every moment that I can still play on tour because you never know when it's going to end."
   Earlier tonight, Federer and Bill Gates beat Sock and "Today" hostess Savannah Guthrie 6-3.

From left, Jack Sock, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Bill Gates and Roger Fed-
erer pose before Monday night's celebrity doubles match. Photo by Mal Taam