It started with an ace, and finished in just 61 minutes, as Roger Federer made a successful and oh-so-welcome return to tennis at the Hopman Cup on Monday night. It was not flawless, but nor was Fed-esque perfection expected or required after six long months away.
Fifteen years after his last appearance in Perth, 35-year-old Federer defeated Britain's Dan Evans 6-3, 6-4 at the mixed teams invitational in his first match since his semi-final loss to Milos Raonic at Wimbledon. There, the champion Swiss tweaked the left knee that had required surgery in Febraury after a freak bathroom mishap.Here, Federer admitted he was emotional walking out on court, then reluctant to leave, once one of the more anticipated comebacks in recent tennis memory was complete.
"I'd like to live it again," the world No.16 admitted. "I'm a little bit more, in a way, sad it's over, because it was so nice out there and I enjoyed it so much walking out, enjoyed it so much just talking to the crowd, and thanking them for coming out. So I feel a bit of both: relieved but sad, if you like."
He moved easily, fluidly, breaking serve early in each set while still showing a few signs of rust on his own. But a first serve percentage of just 37 in the first set had crept to 56 per cent by the end. For a first match, there was much to like and, for an ecstatic WA-tennis-record crowd of more than 13,500, plenty to savour.
Did it feel like he had ever been away? "Once back in trying-to-win-break-point mode you feel 'oh I'm used to this', but the welcome was extra special, it felt nice walking on court and getting the reception I did get," he said.
"I was actually quite emotional, I must tell you, like when I walked in I was like 'oh my God, this was better than I thought it was gonna be'. And it felt good putting the match shirt back on and going out there and serving first, or trying to serve it out at the end.
"These are the moments I've missed the most, even though those are the ones that make you nervous. That's why you play tennis, and I thought actually for a first round match it was great, because expectations are obviously quite low."
An unshaven Federer had entered the sold-out arena through the haze of a smoke machine, but there was no mistaking the languid strut, the signature headband, the lean, athletic frame returning to the tennis spotlight after the longest competitive break he had experienced. The announcer introduced him with predictable deep-throated reverence as the "17-time grand slam champion, former world No.1, one of the greatest in the history of the sport. We've waited 15 years for his return to Perth, and the moment has arrived.... From Switzerland, please welcome Roger Federer."
Cue thunderous standing ovation. Feel the love. It positively oozed.
Evans was almost an accessory, or intruder. "It was obviously tough playing Roger," said the world No.66. "It was his sort of show out there. It's difficult to put your game across. It was pretty nerve-racking to go out in front of that many people to play your first match when you're not sure how things are going to go. I thought I did all right. He played unbelievably again. I think he's going to be just fine this year."
Before the tournament, interviewed on stage at the annual Hopman Cup gala, Federer recounted how he had first hurt his knee the day after his Australian Open semi-final loss to Novak Djokovic. Tired after a late night with his 25-strong entourage, his twin daughters wanted a bath, when dad preferred the easier option of a shower instead.
Swivelling to turn on the taps, he felt "a little pop, and didn't think much of it", but then "started limping around like an old man" during an afternoon visit to the Melbourne Zoo. After back troubles intervened during the claycourt season, further surgery on the still-not-right knee was not required, but an extended rest was.
That cost him another treasured Olympic tilt in Rio, and an attempt to test things a little before the US Open only confirmed that late August was still too soon. Plans to play in the IPTL in Asia last month fell over for financial reasons, and so a Hopman Cup return it was. And continues. With two more guaranteed singles matches and the mixed plus, potentially, Saturday's final before what will be his lowest Melbourne Park seeding in 15 years.
So what motivates him now, after retirement would have seemed to many the logical option? "I guess it depends, also, how you get hurt," he said. "I got hurt filling up a bath for my my children. It's not really the way I wanted to leave this game."
So what more can it give him? An 18th major, five years after the All England club hosted No.17? "I'm not sure... It would be nice to win another one - of course, I'd even take two or three or four - but it's tough at the top, there's a lot of good guys there right now and a lot of young guys coming up, too, so the gap's definitely not very big, but I'll give it a chance and I'll see what happens."
Federer counts, but doesn't, the 2001 Hopman Cup he shared with Martina Hingis as his first career title, for its status as an exhibition tournament precludes it from an official tally that now stands at 88. The last time he visited, it was to partner Miroslava Vavrinec, then his girlfriend, now wife, and mother of the four Federer children.
The four-time Australian Open champion and 302-week resident at No.1 is back all these years later as a senior citizen of the tour and with a rehabilitated knee, but not conscious of it, apparently. "The knee, honestly it's been for three or four weeks now that l stopped thinking of it, because I just don't have any reactions any more, I don't have any pain, so it's been nice this way that I was able to get rid of that early.
"Obviously now possibly you could expect some sort of a reaction just because the intensity and the nerves of playing a match again could trigger something, but after this match I don't think so. The match was too short. There was not enough rallies, the court plays fast so as you saw it's first strike tennis: big serves, big returns, that's what matters here and it's probably going to be the same in Melbourne as well."
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