Wimbledon 2023: With British Royalty in attendance, King Roger Federer gets a standing ovation at Centre Court

Dressed like a dapper in a beige-coloured suit, the Swiss great on Tuesday (July 4) made his entry at Wimbledon and the capacity crowd at the Centre Court gave him a rousing welcome with a standing ovation and cheers for his record-breaking achievements at the venue.

Champion of 20 Grand Slam titles, Federer is the most successful male tennis player in the history of Wimbledon, the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Apart from lifting eight titles, Federer has left a lasting memory in the minds of millions of tennis fans with his humility and dedication.

For the first time since he retired last September, the 41-year-old was back at the scene of his eight title wins. With the ever-present humble smile on his face, Federer entered the Royal Box ahead of the start of play on day two of the prestigious tournament.

Creating a goosebumps moment for tennis fans, Federer – who was fresh from appearing on stage with Coldplay in Zurich over the weekend – received a rapturous standing ovation. The tennis great was visibly moved before taking his seat next to the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.

“Pleased to say that Roger will be with us tomorrow, and we will have a special celebratory moment on Centre Court before play starts, just to honour him as the man holding the most Gentleman’s Singles titles here at Wimbledon,” All England Club chairman Sally Bolton said Monday, the first day of action at the two-week event.

“We’ll have a moment just to celebrate his achievements and to say thank you, I think, for us, certainly, for all the memories,” Bolton said.

The celebration did threaten to upstage Elena Rybakina, the defending women’s champion who began her title defence against American Shelby Rogers. It was the first of three scheduled matches on the main show court on day two of the Championships, with two-time winner Andy Murray taking on fellow Briton Ryan Peniston later.

Top men’s seed Carlos Alcaraz was in action under the roof on Court One but play elsewhere was suspended due to rain in SW19.