Roger Federer opens up on retirement to GQ: He doesn't miss pro tennis, but hitting a forehand is 'like riding a bike'

Roger Federer has been keeping busy since retiring from tennis two years ago, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

The Swiss opened up to *GQ* magazine's Zac Baron this week in his first wide-ranging interview since stepping away from the sport, and when asked if he misses playing tennis, he quipped: "Not really, no." Between visits to the Golden State Warriors, where he announced that the 2025 Laver Cup is coming to San Francisco and walking the red carpet at the Oscars, to trips with his family to China, Thailand and Africa, the 20-time Grand Slam champion has had no time to. Instead, he's been trying to make every moment count—one of the chief things he's learned since his playing career ended.

"I feel like I’ve had maybe two afternoons since my retirement where I’ve been at home alone because kids were in school or doing something and my wife was working on some other projects and here I am at home, I’m like, 'Okay, what do I do?'," Federer said, adding that he's "being more of a dad and a husband and a son."

"I feel minutes matter more now than before. I don’t know if it’s an age thing as well, as you get older, you feel like time’s running away from you and you still have a lot to accomplish, a lot to do."

The piece this week accompanied the launch of Federer's eyewear line with Oliver Peoples, the first high-performance sports lifestyle collection for the brand. Federer will help design four collections: The first dropped this week, on March 13, and features six unique suglass frames with detailing inspired by tennis' four surfaces and Federer's iconic "RF" logo.

"I’m so happy with the result. Honestly, I think they look really good," Federer said.

Something that recently made the Swiss less happy? The screening of his upcoming Amazon documentary about his final Laver Cup, which is expected to be released near Wimbledon. "It was hard-core. I cried like six times," Federer said.

"You see the end coming and there is this end point, but it’s beautiful," he previewed. "But it’s just for me also probably emotionally going through it, it’s hard. I wonder how the viewer will see it. But I think it’s maybe very nice, and I think for a lot of athletes, maybe it’ll be good to see how I went out."

But even though he doesn't miss playing on the tour, Federer's tennis skills haven't taken too much of a hit. He recently found himself on the campus of Stanford University to support longtime manager Tony Godsick's son in match action, and quickly found himself on the court with the coeds.

“I saw them doing something and I told Tony’s son, 'Look, on the forehand return, I think you should be doing this,'" he said. "I explained quickly, I took a racquet, I was dressed like this [jacket, jeans, and a sweater] and I’m clocking forehand returns, and it’s just there.

“It doesn’t go away. It’s like riding a bike. And then we did another exercise and then I’m trying to explain how there’s different versions of forehands. There is the loopy one, the fast one, the angle-y one, whatever. And every one I hit was perfect.

“I’m just thinking, My God, it’s still there.”