San Jose
From his knees, Roger Federer struck volley after volley right back at Jack Sock until the American star finally faltered. Federer just smiled. It was all in fun. And how could Federer not be loving life? He’s the best in the world at age 36. That even sounds a bit strange to Federer himself.

“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,” Federer said.

While this doubles match didn’t officially count, it sure mattered to all of the children in Africa who Federer is committed to helping through his foundation.

Federer entertained from the start, too, praising Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates as a perfect partner.

“He knows numbers very well. He never makes mistakes on the scores,” Federer cracked. “I’ll do the running and Bill does the thinking.”

He joked to opponent Savannah Guthrie of NBC’s “TODAY” show: “You have to start looking at the ball and stop looking at me.”

Federer’s “The Match for Africa” exhibition sold more than 15,000 tickets to benefit his foundation that supports education for children in Africa. At the end of the night, the foundation had raised another $2.5 million.