Zurich, April 10 His humour as good as his forehand, tennis legend Roger Federer was tongue in cheek when he replied to a fan's post on social media during his volleying at home challenge.
Known to be bitter rivals on the court, Swiss ace Federer and Spanish great Rafael Nadal have had many memorable matches over the years. Nadal is yet to take up his challenge at a time everybody is cooped up at home to stave off the coronavirus pandemic.
But a fan, wearing a Nadal shirt, decided to take up the challenge while reading a book with a racquet in the other hand. He tagged Roger in his Instagram story saying that good reading was always important. However, that was certainly not what piqued Roger's interest.
Noticing his t-shirt, Roger replied "Yes true but . .the shirt???"
Federer came out with a new volley challenge for his fans recently who have been advised to stay home during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The 38-year-old Swiss, who has been exploring new ways to embrace tennis at home, found a fun method at the wall where he'd previously put on a trick-shot show on ice.
In the video, he stood just inches from the wall and hit rapid fire forehand volleys. Federer was already hitting volleys when the video began and he was still doing so when the video ended. The shots that he hit against the wall were too quick to count, but he hit about 200 consecutive volleys in one minute without moving his feet.
Federer had tagged the likes of Virat Kohli, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Alexander Zverev, Coco Gauff, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, Bill Gates and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in his post.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion previously had posted clips of himself hitting against a wall in the snow, including around-the-back or through-the-leg-tweener trick shots.
The men's and women's professional tours remain suspended until at least mid-July because of the coronavirus outbreak which has claimed more than thousands of lives across the world.
( With inputs from IANS )