Federer finally exits Indian Wells

Federer and Allegro put up a good fight against Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett in the second round of the men's doubles at Indian Wells by winning the first set 6-3 before losing the second 2-6 and ultimately the match tiebreak 11-13. Happily, there was evidence that people were still drawn to watch the No.1 player:

His following, however, was not far behind. Federer became a big fish in a small pond as spectators packed the stadium and spilled out to open areas to get a closer look at the star in action.

Despite the loss, Federer still took time to visit with tournament's ball kids. Ever the generous gentleman, he even signed the Feder-bears they had purchased:

Federer, who was a ball kid at his hometown tournament in Basel, posed for pictures and collected the more than eighty Feder-bears to take back to his hotel room, promising the ball kids he would return all of them with his autograph.