Roger Federer continued his quest to become the most decorated tennis player in history by strolling through his first round match at Wimbledon in straight sets against Yen-Hsun Lu. Federer graced centre court in typically stylish fashion and warmed up in a smart wasit coat, which made the later Serena Williams rain coat look really rather stupid.

Lu actually broke Federer in one of the opening games of the match but he rarely threatened the Swiss magician as he romped to a 7-5, 6-3, 6-2 victory. The centre court crowd were treated to some majestic shots, which included one of the best drop shots tennis has ever seen and the typically lethal forehand that we have all come to know.

It will be a bitter blow to Lu who really worked his socks odff and at times had Federer dancing from one side of the court to the next. However, Federer’s defensive play was outstanding and it was simply a matter of time before his attacking shots reined in the player from Chinese Taipei and made him pay for the chances he had missed.

Federer said after the match: “It was very special. It will always remain this way. It’s a very privileged spot, Monday, 1pm, so of course I feel honoured. Gets your heart beating, that’s for sure. It’s funny. I actually didn’t even think about not having a grass-court game yet this year. It’s something I completely forgot about.”

“You see how good all these guys are, like Lu today for instance. Makes it hard, you know, to win all the time.”

It was actually a lot more of a work out than the score suggests. Lu, let it noe be forgotten, was the man that dumped Andy Murray out of the Olympic games and he was constantly busy during the whole match. It was remarkable that he was obviously trying to smash every shot as hard as he could from the very first serve to the last and the commentry team often commented on how admirable his defeat ironically was.

Federer will be confident but he needs to guard against complacency. He will not be fully pushed until the later rounds and it will be here that we see whether he has lost any of his touch on the grass courts. He looks dangerously comfortable with his own game and you would fear for anyone that comes up against him in the next one or two rounds, but there will be players gunning for him.

Based on this opening performance it will be very difficult for a lot of players to get close to Federer. He will still be buoyed by his victory at the French Open, which was the first of his career on a clay surface. The only player that could have competed with the display yesterday is the one man who is too injured to take part this year but if Federer carries on playing tennis like this then Rafa Nadal can’t be too disheartened if the Swiss genius takes his crown back from the Spaniard.

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