CONSIDERING he has taken this title seven times already, was runner-up last year and is quite possibly the finest tennis player to ever pick up a racket, Roger Federer is surprisingly downbeat about his chances of winning a record 18th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon this fortnight.

The 34-year-old has undergone surgery on his knee this year and endured a back problem which put paid to his streak of 65 straight majors when it forced him to miss the French Open. Consequently, whilst he strode purposefully into the Wimbledon interview room yesterday clad in a T-shirt emblazoned with the postcode SW19 and a picture of a London bus, he did so without a warm-up grass court title to his name for the first time since 2002 and said even he had doubts as to whether his journey at this year's championships will go the distance. Kidology or not, the Swiss said last night that he Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the world's top two players, were worthy favourites.

"Clearly I'm not thinking of the title right away," said Federer. "It's too far ahead. Regardless of whether Novak or Andy would be in the draw, and they are in the draw, they are the big favourites in my opinion. They've had such a great last six months, last few years. To me they are the ones to beat."

Just when he thought he may be able to get through his career surgery free, Federer was innocuously bathing his twin girls in a Melbourne bathroom when he tore the meniscus in his knee. “I was very, very sad," he said. "Because I thought I was going to be lucky not having to do surgery in my career. The next day, one stupid move, and the season's been completely different than what I expected it to be."

As uncharacteristic as it was to see Federer spluttering to defeats against two of the rising stars of the sport, Austria's Dominic Thiem in Stuttgart, then Germany's Alexander Zverev in Halle, the Swiss speaks in positive terms about this most recent period. It has proved to him his body has rehabilitated enough to cope with a sustained run at Wimbledon this fortnight.

"The last month has been good," said Federer. "Before that, things have not been so good. Clearly I was somewhat disappointed not playing in Paris. Now at least I've played - and got some confidence and some knowledge of where I was going to be in those seven matches in 10 days in Stuttgart and Halle. That was crucial for me going into Wimbledon knowing, okay, I passed that test, the body can take that amount of tennis, four matches back-to-back."

And just being back in the environs of his favoured tournament has helped get him back into rude health. "I love this tournament more than anything," said Federer, who also confirmed that he was more than prepared to put on mosquito spray to brave the Zika virus for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. "It's a huge opportunity for me to maybe turn around the season."

Also hoping for better fortunes after a fairly miserable grass court return this far is his countryman Stan Wawrinka. The two-time Grand Slam winner is seeded to face Andy Murray in the semi-finals at SW19 this year but has never reached that far. While he lost at the first time of asking to Fernando Verdasco at Queen's Club, he recently added 2006 winner Richard Krajicek to his coaching entourage and feels the arrangement is working well.

"For sure he [Krajicek] had amazing memories here, winning here, that's for sure," said Wawrinka. "But we also had quite a lot of talks about the way you can play on grass, many little things, the tactics, what's good to do on grass, how you need to be ready mentally and always tough."

But the last word belongs to Federer. As a product of a country which has reaped the benefits of declining the opportunity to join the European Union in 1992, he was, of course, asked to give his response to the results of the Brexit referendum. Typically Swiss, his answer was rather neutral. "It was an historic day," said Federer. "For you guys, it's going to be years of negotiations. Us Swiss guys, we are going to follow it. We also have had our ups and downs, being in the EU or not, you know. Time will tell." Indeed it will. Federer's army of fans will hope that is not also starting to do likewise on their hero's career.