Federer surprises youthful Italian fans to play rooftop tennis

Roger Federer made a surprise appearance to play rooftop tennis with the young stars of a lockdown viral video.

In a thoroughly charming video, Federer teamed up with sponsor Barilla to drop in on two young Italians who made one of the biggest tennis viral videos of the year.

Carola (13) and Vittoria (11) are two girls from Finale Ligura in northern Italy who posted a video of themselves playing tennis across the rooftops in March.

Just incredible to see ?

? Liguria, Italy ?? | #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/dh8bqlvFhj

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 18, 2020

The video was featured by the ATP Tour under their #TennisAtHome hashtag and retweeted by the likes of Tracy Austin, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Piers Morgan.

‘During the quarantine we decided to try to have a knock-up between one roof and the other,’ Carola said.

‘But we didn’t think the video would go viral.’

Barilla and Federer set up an interview with the girls with Federer listening on headphones behind a curtain while they discussed his tennis.

Then Federer surprised them by stepping out from behind the curtain.

He played tennis across the rooftops with Carola and Vittoria, before going for lunch with them.

Incredible to see… again! One of the most spectacular and unusual tennis matches we have seen in a while. ? Liguria, Italy ?? @rogerfederer #TheRooftopMatch pic.twitter.com/a7FfCSkvr0

— Barilla (@Barilla) July 31, 2020

‘Personally for me, that was a very special moment in my career as a tennis player, to surprise a fan or children, like I was able to with Carola and Vittoria today,’ he said.

‘It was great. I have played in many cool places around the world but this one is definitely up there for me, as a special experience. It showed that we can play anywhere and have fun with it, so I had the best time, honestly.’

At the end of the video, he gave them one final surprise – arranging for them to attend summer camp at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca.

‘So why don’t you start packing?’ he asked.

Federer announced in July that he would take the remainder of the season off after undergoing two knee operations, but the 38-year-old has insisted that he intends to play a full season in 2021.