Seven-year-old Ahmad made Federer a promise; Now 15, he competes at Indian Wells | ATP tour | Tennis

Indian Wells

Seven-year-old Ahmad made Federer a promise; Now 15, he competes at Indian Wells

Ahmad reflects on training at John McEnroe’s academy
March 2, 2026

At the 2017 US Open, seven-year-old Izyan Ahmad, known as ‘Zizou’, got the opportunity of a lifetime to ask Roger Federer a question at a press conference. After joking about why people call Federer the goat, the American got to work.

“You’ve been the most consistent player of all time. Can you please keep playing for eight, nine years so I can play against you when I turn pro?”

“I’ll make sure I might come back for you,” responded a smiling Federer.

“Is that a promise?” Ahmad asked.

“Almost,” Federer said after a brief silence. “Almost one. Pinky promises.”

The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP rankings did not know that Ahmad would play in the BNP Paribas Open eight and a half years later. Now 15, the unranked Ahmad is competing in qualifying for the ATP Masters 1000 event. The wildcard will face third seed Thiago Agustin Tirante on Monday.

“I’m super grateful and I’ll do my best to make the most of it,” said Ahmad, the world No. 130 junior. “It’s of course great to be so young and to be able to experience this and see all the pros and also be able to play with them.”

Although Ahmad will not play Federer, the memory of the 2017 press conference remains with him and circulated on social media ahead of the tournament.

“He’s been my favorite since I was a little kid, so I put a lot of thought into what I wanted to ask him. I didn’t want to ask a boring question, or something that he’s probably answered a lot, so I tried to think of something that would be a little out-of-the-box,” Ahmad said. “So I came up with this funny joke. It wasn’t really funny, but to a seven-year-old it was pretty funny.”

“And my second follow-up question to that was if he was going to stay after eight or nine years before I turned pro. And he said, ‘I’ll think about it.’ And then my mother, who was sitting right next to me, whispered to me and said, ‘Ask him if it’s a pinky promise’… That got cut off. So I guess at that moment I have to thank my mother for that.”

Five years later, in 2022, Ahmad was allowed to work with Federer in Switzerland. That remains a highlight for the young American. But even then, Indian Wells was literally and figuratively quite far away.

“Obviously, that experience was quite surreal and it was highly unlikely that that particular clip would become what it became. This opportunity, again, is incredible. But I think I worked a little bit more for this. Obviously I still got this crazy opportunity, but I did play and work hard for this,” Ahmad said. “This one, even though it was 90 percent luck, 10 percent I feel like I did enough to make them think of me. So I mostly feel like I’m doing my best to make the best of it.”

Fans are familiar with Ahmad’s interactions with Federer. But they may not realize that the New Jersey native has been training at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy on Randall’s Island in New York since he was 6 years old.

“He’s there every day. When I see him on the wall, he stops. We’ll talk. We hit each other all the time. He’s very committed, and I’m very grateful for that. He’s a great person,” Ahmad said. “He doesn’t have to make time to come and give advice and play against me. He watches, he comes into the gym, sees how I train and stuff. Just a super cool guy, very chill. He’s very chill off the field, very cool on the field. I like him a lot.”

“I really respect him and thank him for everything he has done for me. Without his academy I wouldn’t be here.”