RETRO Scotland football strips have never been more in fashion. One day after the national football team unveiled a fetching new one, Roger Federer turned up in Glasgow replete in the Mexico 1986 version, complete with that striking blue band across the middle of those white shorts.
That is to say that a photo of the primary school age Swiss tennis prodigy clad in navy blue, dredged up from the deepest, darkest recesses of the internet, was produced and presented to the great man in person.
While the 36-year-old was unable to proffer an entirely satisfactory explanation for how it turned up, it certainly didn’t do him any harm with the Glaswegian crowd ahead of last night’s Andy Murray Live exhibition event at the SSE Hydro, with all proceeds to Unicef and local charity Sunny-sid3up.
Read more: Hip hip hooray as Andy Murray comes through his latest tartan special against Roger Federer
“That IS me,” said Federer, who even appeared slightly confused as to whether this was the round ball game or the oval ball game. “This is a picture in South Africa. You would think, why is he in a Scottish rugby shirt, I guess and not a South African one? I have no idea why I got it. But no … I was always a Scotland fan... Thank God I got this shirt.”
Mystery photograph or not, this is the first time Federer has set foot on Scottish soil, even if his father Robert and mother Lynette were in this country not long ago, for a holiday which saw them play some of Scotland’s better golf courses.
Last night’s exhibition event, arranged after the Scot appeared in a reciprocal event in Zurich, was a phoney war between two uber competitive players who have met 25 times previously – Federer winning 14 to Murray’s 11. Whatever tensions there may have been between these two in the past as the Scot shocked Federer with some upstart early wins, they clearly get on well these days.
Read more: Roger Federer: Andy Murray shouldn't return to competition until he is 100%
The Swiss, who compiled his stellar year of 2017 after a six-month lay-off after defeat to Milos Raonic in last year’s Wimbledon, will be as fascinated as anyone to see how the Scot is moving on court.
“I think we are all excited to see Andy back on a tennis court,” he said. “I’ve missed you, man. I can play the more relaxed way or I can play like I really want to win badly - this will be a mixture because I want the event to be successful. “At the end it’s the good cause that needs to stand out from it all. You want to play as well as you possibly can on the night, and if you beat the guy, great.”
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