Roger Federer excited to be back at Wimbledon, but there are hints he's not 100 per cent

WIMBLEDON – When Roger Federer had surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee last winter, he took solace in the fact that he was going to be back and ready in plenty of time for Wimbledon.

After he missed the French Open because his old back woes flared up again, he had a fleeting moment of doubt.

Federer is here, but how good he’s feeling and how far he can go in the next fortnight is an open question.

Watching him practice Friday morning with Lucas Pouille of France, he didn’t look particularly spry, to be frank. Some of it might well have been related to the fact that Court 19 was in absolutely pristine conditions, greener than green – therefore, slippery. So perhaps he was being cautious. But he looked stiff, hardly serve-volleyed at all, hardly even came to the net.

He also was very careful getting in and out of his chair on sit-downs.

This Tweet caused a pretty big stir in the Federer universe, but that’s what he looked like on most occasions.

Here's what it looked like.

On Saturday morning before his pre-tournament press conference, Federer was due for a 45-minute practice on Court 12 with Kei Nishikori of Japan – another player who isn’t looking in peak physical form. But Nishikori coach Michael Chang told Eh Game that Federer cancelled the practice the previous day; Nishikori hit with his coaches instead.

Again, is that significant? Perhaps not. Perhaps he decided to do something with his kids at the last minute, or had a late sponsor commitment come up, or decided to practice off-site for whatever reason.

But if he’s not feeling 100 per cent, hopefully his Wimbledon muscle memory and some adrenaline will kick in once he takes the court for his first-round match against Argentine lefty Guido Pella, likely scheduled for Monday.

It’s been a tough year for the nearly-35-year-old; the knee surgery – the first surgery of his career – was just one of a number of issues that have plagued him after a 17-year career during which he’s been remarkably healthy overall.

Federer was asked Saturday about the Madrid back woes, but not about its current state.

“It's different than if it happens at the end of the season, let's just say Davis Cup, 2014, where you know, okay, I have another week or two to play, then you go on vacation, then you have plenty of time. This was different.

“That's why the decision not playing Paris, for instance, was very easy to be taken because it was for Wimbledon, it was for the rest of the season, it was for my life, it was for the rest of my career. That's more important than one or two or three tournaments, really,” he added.

Federer has a special T-shirt for the fortnight; the Swiss star thoroughly on board with the emoji phenomenon in recent years. He played two warmup events on the grass: his old standby in Halle and the new event in Stuttgart.

After not playing since Rome in mid-May, he got seven grass-court matches under his belt, handled the veterans, but had surprising trouble with the youngsters.

One of the trademarks of Federer’s later career has been the near-disdain with which he handles the upstarts. When he’s been up against them, it’s almost as though he’s been on a mission to let them know, “Okay, you’re good, you’re young, but I’m still the Fed.”

In his first match back in Stuttgart, he barely defeated 18-year-old Taylor Fritz, pulling it out 6-4 in the third set. He ended up losing in the semi-finals to this year’s in-form up-and-comer, 22-year-old Dominic Thiem of Austria, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.

In Halle, he didn’t drop a set in his first three matches before losing to 19-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany in the semi-finals in another tough three-setter. It was the first time Federer had been beaten by a teenager since he lost to a young Andy Murray defeated him in Cincinnati a decade ago.

Federer doesn’t have any kids standing in his way in this Wimbledon draw, a workable draw that sees him matched up, on paper, with Nishikori in the quarter-finals. There also could be a third-round encounter with Gaël Monfils, against whom he is 9-4 but whom he has never met on a grass court.

Any questions about his back will be answered soon enough, on the court.