Federer serves up royal treat at Wimbledon

With Prince Charles in attendance at Wimbledon for the first time since 1970, the Swiss made quick work of Fognini, for the benefit of fans.

Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates his second round victory over Italy's Fabio Fognini

With Prince Charles in attendance at Wimbledon for the first time since 1970, Roger Federer put on a show fit for royalty as he easily dismissed Fabio Fognini in the second round yesterday.

The players bowed to the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in the Royal Box as they arrived on court, but from there Federer was the centre of attention.

"We're thrilled for the tennis family that they came to watch Wimbledon today," Federer said. He spoke with the royal couple after the match, and the Swiss said they spoke of tennis, polo and Federer's twin daughts.

Fognini reached the third round here in 2010 but has no real pedigree on grass and he quickly looked out of his depth.

Federer struck the ball extremely well off both forehand and backhand wings. In two matches, he has lost only nine games.

Federer felt he did not give Fognini many opportunities. "You're not going to get many chances throughout a set maybe against me when I'm serving well like that and able to vary with my serve.

"He was down in the score quickly. After that things get a bit complicated. I didn't think it was that easy a match maybe. I really tried to focus hard and made sure I played a clean match, which I was able to do again today."

Federer, 30, said he tries to make a priority of playing quickly between points, for the benefit of fans. His rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been singled out for criticism in some quarters because of their slow play.

"I think it's nice to speed it up a bit and not go to the end of the 20 or 25 seconds that we are allowed to use," Federer said.

"And also the same between first and second serves, going to towels, picking up balls, all these things, it's a bit of a waste sometimes, I find. I try to speed up as much as I can without losing focus."

Federer, 30, is looking to equal Pete Sampras's tally of seven Wimbledon titles. He next faces America's Michael Russell or France's Julien Benneteau, the No 29 seed.

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