When Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer joined the Princess of Wales on the tennis court, he was quick to correct her when she made a major tennis faux pas
Kate Middleton plays tennis with Roger Federer at Wimbledon
Princess Kate is known to be one of the sportiest royals in the Firm, often showing her love for her favourite sport: tennis.
The Princess of Wales has long been an avid tennis fan, attending almost every Wimbledon tournament since becoming a royal.
In 2023, Princess Kate joined Federer at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon for a one-on-one match, and to her own surprise, ended up beating the former world number one player.
Roger even declared her winning shot “amazing”, delighting royal fans who tuned in to watch Kate shed light on the hard work of ball boys and girls on the side of the court.
While Kate definitely knows her way around a tennis racquet, Roger still had a few choice words for the princess after noticing she made a major Wimbledon faux pas.
After Federer’s teammate served the ball over the net towards the Princess, who was standing alongside ball girl Mollie to learn the ropes, Kate caught the ball in one hand.
While Mollie remarked that it was a “good catch”, Federer questioned the move, as he asked: “Are you allowed to do that?” Wondering aloud herself, Kate replied: “Oh yeah, are you allowed to do that? That’s a good point.”
Federer then started explaining different rules to Kate, as he clarified while in Australia, players “would catch” the ball, but this wasn’t done at Wimbledon.
Ball girl Mollie agreed: “Yeah, you’re not meant to catch it. You’re meant to let it bounce and then catch it, but good catch.”
Kate pursued many sports during her childhood, having a passion for both tennis and hockey, but admitted she has had to put her sporting hobbies on hold since becoming a mother.
During a visit to Bond Primary School in South London in 2018 where she watched training overseen by the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative, Kate told students that she has less time for tennis nowadays. She explained: “I love tennis, I think it’s a great sport, I was really sporty when I was little, less so now that I’ve got lots of babies!”
Despite having less time for the sport herself, Princess Kate has passed on her love of tennis to her own children. In a 2019 interview with MailOnline, Roger Federer revealed he had given Prince George a private tennis lesson.
He said: “At that stage, it’s all about just touch the ball, it’s already good. Same with my boys. I think I have a little advantage that I actually spent some time, you know, with him.” Noting that Kate has ‘always enjoyed’ the sport, Roger went on to express hope that young George might “say the same in a few years’ time”.
