Sachin Tendulkar was renowned for his textbook technique but he now has a competitor in tennis legend Roger Federer, who channeled his inner Tendulkar during his round of 16 match at Wimbledon.
The Swiss maestro swept away his opponent Adrian Manarinno in three sets, but it was a nonchalant flow of the racket in the third set which caught the eyes of willow-lovers.
Federer over-hit a backhand and when his opponent courteously returned the ball, the eight-time Wimbledon champion elected to display his cricket skills, with a punched forward defence, which didn’t go unnoticed by Wimbledon’s social media accounts.
The 36-year-old is more renowned for defending tennis titles than forward defences, but this dexterous left-handed shot displayed his innate sporting talent.
Furthermore, it was straight out the middle of the strings. It would a lot of chat from the slip cordon to get an edge out of this legend!
Sachin Tendulkar, then later took to Twitter to praise Federer’s copy-book forward defence. ” As always, great hand-eye co-ordination, let’s exchange notes on cricket and tennis after you win your 9th Wimbledon title,” wrote the maestro.
Here’s hoping Federer adds another one of those coveted Wimbledon titles to his kitty.
