Roger Federer cuts lonely figure in Wimbledon Royal Box as celebs leave | Tennis | Sport

Roger Federer cut a lonely figure as the only person pictured inside the Wimbledon Royal Box on Monday. The Swiss tennis legend, who has won at SW19 on eight occasions, returned to the famous venue where he is considered an iconic figure not just for his success on court, but also for the admiration from fans.

That love didn’t appear to extend to inside the Royal Box, however, as Federer was seen sitting on his own with not a famous face in sight. He turned out for Alexander Zverev’s match against Jiri Lehecka, his third tie of the day in the best seat in the house on Centre Court.

Federer had already watched Jasmine Paolini beat Alex Eala on the same court in Monday’s opening match. He remained in attendance as new British star Arthur Fery announced himself to the world with a five-set thrilling victory over Grigor Dimitrov, in which he was given a special shoutout by the victor.

However, after nearly four hours of Fery battling Dimitrov, ending 7-5 3-6 4-6 6-4 7-6(7) to the home favourite, there was a mass exodus from the guests of honour.

They went back inside in large numbers, perhaps to enjoy some dinner or have a comfort break of their own between matches.

But when Zverev and Lehecka walked onto court to fight for a place in the quarter-finals, the BBC could only spot Federer in the stands.

But Federer will still be over the moon at being singled out by Fery, who pointed to the 44-year-old up in the then-packed stand, and said: “First time on this court. Five sets against an absolute legend of the game. I grew up five minutes from here. We’ve got probably the greatest of all time in the front row watching. I saw him.”

Speaking ahead of the match, the Brit explained that watching Federer on the same court inspired him to become a professional.

“I’ve watched matches on Centre Court before,” the British No. 3 explained last week. “I watched the final in 2014, I think Djokovic-Federer. That’s my main memory of watching a big match there.

“ I would go down there and have a look around. We’re used to playing in front of a lot of people in big stadiums. And Centre Court is probably the most famous tennis court in the world. I’ve played on other big courts, so I’m a bit… I’m not used to it, but I’ve had experiences on big courts before.”