The Princess of Wales has snuck a point past tennis legend Roger Federer as the pair teamed up for an impromptu match to promote next week’s Wimbledon grand slam.
Catherine also earned a mild rebuke from the Swiss tennis ace, as she and Federer showed off their ball skills in a YouTube video shared by Wimbledon organisers at the weekend.
The princess, a keen tennis fan and patron of the All England club, and Federer were joined by local ball boys and girls in the behind-the-scenes video.
“The unsung heroes of Wimbledon,” the royal’s instagram read in a shared post with Federer.
“The skill and dedication of the ball boys and girls help make The Championships so special. They certainly taught us a few things!”
The four-minute clip opens with Kate and Federer facing off in a doubles match at Wimbledon.
“Shall we play some tennis? Let’s do this,” Federer says.
But he is soon praising Kate’s skills, as she smokes a shot past him.
“I think it was on the line, amazing!” he says.
Later, during Federer’s serve, the princess catches the ball with one hand.
“Are you allowed to do that?” the Swiss ace asks ball girl Mollie, prompting some doubt from Kate.
“Oh wait, are you allowed to do that? That’s a good question,” she says.
Federer says that in Australia “they would catch it”, but it’s not the way it’s done at Wimbledon.
“Yeah, you’re not meant to catch it,” Mollie says.
“You’re meant to let it bounce and then catch it, but good catch.”
Tweet from @Wimbledon
In the video, filmed earlier in June, Kate and Federer also watch some of Wimbledon’s 250 ball boys and girls in training. The royal gets involved in some of the drills, involving signalling, ball changes, rolling balls up to the net, and correct techniques to bounce the balls to players.
Kate became patron of the All England club in 2016, and has watched plenty of Wimbledon matches from the royal box. Last year, she brought eldest son Prince George to watch Novak Djokovic beat Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the men’s final.
Wimbledon begins on July 3. See all the details here.
