Federer puts Wimbledon false start behind him

It was hard to doubt Roger Federer, even after watching his shoddy start to this year’s Wimbledon campaign.

But in case anybody did fear for the world number two’s form, he silenced many lingering doubters on Friday with a competent victory over Arnaud Clement, the unseeded Frenchman from Aix-en-Provence.

Federer rattled a few Swiss hearts last week when he failed to convince against his first round opponent, Alejandro Falla, who pushed the tournament’s top seed to the limit in a longer-than-expected nail biter.

"The general feeling is that the first round scare is behind him," said Rob Balsom, a tennis market research executive who works from an office under centre court.

Throughout the week the Baloîs idol improved his performances and by Friday was playing the sort of effortless match winners that only a potential champion could be associated with.

"He played much better against Clement and he’ll be hoping for a quick match rather than another five setter," said Balsom who expects to see Federer warming up on the practice courts when they open at 11am (CET) on Monday.

Federer will play again on centre court at 2pm, after being pushed off last week by Brit Andy Murray so the Queen could watch one of her own subjects play.

The players will compete under strong sunshine, with temperatures expected to hit 29 degrees, after a weekend in which English seaside resorts were hotter than the beaches of Corfu and Malaga.

His opponent, Jurgen Melzer, eased through the third round without much difficulty, beating 30-year-old Feliciano Lopez in four sets.

Melzer is enjoying a hot streak of form this year, reaching his first ever Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open. He is currently ranked 16th in the world.

"It's funny because I've practised with him and chat with him every day in the locker rooms, but he's one of the guys I've never faced," Federer told the BBC.

"I'll definitely be in for a tough match. He's improved again. He's making a move, a push in his ranking. My job is to try to stop that a little bit."

As usual the Swiss press are supporting their number one tennis star, especially since Lausanne-born Stanislas Wawrinka was knocked out in the first round. Wawrinka has reportedly split with his coach.

But the expectation on Federer is so high at home, that many sports journalists are writing about other players in the tournament.

Many of Federer’s fans lie outside his native Alpine country. His level-headed disposition and polite reserve go down especially well in the UK where supporters rallied behind the champion even against the French underdog on Friday.

People at Wimbledon love to support the champions – provided they behave themselves.

Having largely avoided the type of angry outbursts which turned the crowd towards jeering the likes of McEnroe – now forgiven – and displayed none of the arrogance which turns many Brits off fourth seed Andy Murray, Federer is a much-revered sporting hero.

One isolated racket-snapping incident in April 2009 mars an otherwise savory external persona.

The south-west London crowd erupted with applause when "Fed" came out to play on Friday and during the final set many of the serves took place before the end of another chorus of "come on Roger".

A group of ten yellow-shirted Australians – lingering from the previous Leyton Hewitt match – delighted in Pimms-fuelled chants of "let’s go Roger, let’s go Roger" to which the Swiss responded with a grin and, on one occasion, an ace.

The Tribune de Genève pitted the Swiss champion against Spanish pin-up Rafael Nadal in a column on Monday, implying that tennis fans are largely divided into two camps behind these players.

But another figure may be of more interest to some Anglophones in Switzerland. With England now out of the football world cup, British sports fans may look to Wimbledon to provide some national glory.

Despite his critics, Andy Murray is one of the top seeds in the tournament and a growing sense of patriotism on ‘Murray mound’ – the knoll inside the tennis club formerly known as ‘Henman hill’ – could propel the Scott to his first ever London grand slam victory.

First however, he will have to negotiate Monday's fourth round match and the thunderous serves of Sam Querrey of the United States, this year's winner at Queens.

"I don’t want to tempt fate but he has actually got a chance," said one spectator on the mound on Friday, amongst a crowd watching another outside possible victor, American Andy Roddick, dispatch Philipp Kohlschreiber on the big screen.

Murray will be spurred on by Federer’s false start to this year’s competition. "He is still not in top form," said Jürg Vogel, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung’s correspondent at Wimbledon.