Teenager who went viral for Roger Federer question set for Indian Wells debut

Sam Cooper
Izyan Ahmad and Roger Federer
The young fan got the chance to ask Federer a question back in 2017.

A teenager who went viral in 2017 for asking Roger Federer who was the GOAT is set to make his professional tennis debut after being given a qualifying wildcard for Indian Wells.

Izyan Ahmad was just seven years old when he appeared in a video alongside Federer and asked him an unusual question.

He said: “I wanted to ask you, Switzerland is really cool right? There isn’t too much livestock. So why do they call you the GOAT?”

Federer laughed and answered in his humble manner: “I don’t know why [they call me the GOAT]. Some fans call me that, I don’t call myself that. Yeah, we have a lot of animals in Switzerland and goats are part of the livestock we have there.”

Since that day, Ahmad has continued on his tennis journey and now, ranked 130 in world for juniors, he has been given a qualifying wildcard slot for the Masters 1000 event.

The GOAT question was not the only one Ahmad, who goes by the nickname Zizou in honour of football Zinedine Zidane, posed to the tennis great and Federer may have to honour a pinky promise and return to the court.

“You have been the most consistent player of all time. Can you please continue to play for another eight or nine years so I can play you when I go pro?” Ahmad asked.

Federer replied “Yes. If you make it on Tour I will make sure I come back for you.”

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Ahmad is 3-3 in his junior career so far in 2026 but overall has a 73% win rate at 61 wins and 22 losses.

Hard courts appear to be his preferred surface for the time being having won 76% of his matches on them while clay is down at 57%.

As for Federer’s comeback, that seems unlikely but back in 2022 he did give Ahmad a chance to play him after surprising him.

The men’s qualifying is set to begin on Monday with the tournament proper beginning on Thursday.

Read next: WTA Indian Wells: How many points will Sabalenka, Swiatek, Andreeva, Mboko, Eala drop?

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