The 1992–1995 running of the Fermilab Tevatron (the so‐called Run 1) ended with many important physics goals accomplished, including the discovery of the top quark, and the anticipation of many further questions be to answered in the future. In March 2002, after many detector upgrades by both the CDF and DO&slash; experiments, and significant upgrades of the accelerator itself, the Tevatron Run 2 began (after a detector commissioning run) with the ultimate goal of discovering the Higgs boson. Here, we will highlight some important Run 1 results from CDF in the areas of top quark and Higgs boson physics, show some preliminary studies from Run 2, and give some expectations of what Run 2 will ultimately provide to our understanding of matter. © 2003 American Institute of Physics