Princess Kate got to play tennis with Roger Federer at Wimbledon

Last September, Roger Federer announced that he would retire at Laver Cup, the team competition he founded. Laver Cup was held in London last year, and LC teamed up with The Royal Foundation to do what amounted to a charity day before the Laver Cup began. Kate was supposed to show up at the charity day and hit with Roger, who has been something like a “family friend” to the Middletons. That was all organized months in advance – then Queen Elizabeth II passed away, and Kate was stuck in a formal period of mourning, and she had to skip the Laver Cup charity day, and she also missed seeing Roger play his final match.

All of that means that Kate was particularly keen to find some way to hang out with Roger. It’s hilarious that this was all she could come up with – she got Roger to fly to London to make a video in appreciation for the Wimbledon ball kids. In typical Kate fashion, all she does is play dress-up and perform skits and we’re just left to shake our heads and say “sure, Kate, I guess that counts as work.” I’ll be fair to Roger: he was actually a ball kid back in the day in Switzerland, and during his career, he was known as a player who was really nice to ball kids, and he always shows appreciation for what they do.

So, basically, Kate wanted to hit with Roger at Wimbledon. Don’t get me wrong, there are people who would pay millions of dollars for that experience, so I get why she did it. It’s just funny that she managed to do it, and that Wimbledon was like “f–k it, we’ll make it into a video about the ball kids.” Also: Roger basically retired because his body was so banged up, especially his knees. I winced on his behalf a few times in the video – poor guy can’t serve the way he used to because his knees are shot. And it was cruel to make Roger get on one knee!!!

PS… I still haven’t forgotten that Kate – the royal patron of Wimbledon – completely skipped the centenary event on Center Court last year. Legends like Bjorn Borg, Venus Williams, Billie Jean King, Roger, Novak Djokovic, John McEnroe and many more were all there to celebrate Wimbledon… and Kate couldn’t be bothered.

Photos courtesy of Wimbledon’s social media.

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