London: Any thoughts Roger Federer's special affinity with Centre Court might have been tarnished by last year's epic Wimbledon final defeat by Rafa Nadal were banished by one point in the second set of his opening match.
The five times champion, starting Monday's proceedings only because of the injured Nadal's withdrawal, was stretched all over the court by Taiwan's Yen-hsun Lu before gliding to reach an angled volley and caressing a backhand winner down the line.
It was the kind of shot Federer has produced year after year at a tournament he has dominated since 2003 but his raised fist salute, a pose he held for several seconds, sent out a simple message -- King Roger is back to his old tricks.
The 7-5 6-3 6-2 victory was routine enough, although no match involving the Swiss can ever be described as dull because they are liberally laced with moments of sheer genius.
Playing his first match on grass since losing last year's marathon against Nadal, widely accepted as the best final ever, Federer was pushed in the opening set by a 25-year-old opponent clearly not in the mood to wave the second seed through.
Lu, ranked 65 in the world, even broke serve to lead 3-2 in the first set as Federer, who entered his favourite stage wearing a smart military-style white jacket, initially struggled to locate the centre of his strings.
He even needed an outrageous net cord at 30-30 in the next game to help him break back, his trademark squash-shot from outside the tramlines dropping like a rotten apple off the tape.
Once Lu, whose career-best result was beating Andy Murray in last year's Beijing Olympics, fluffed a backhand volley and then a slice at 5-6 to hand Federer the first set it was all over.
BEAMING WIFE
Federer broke early in the second set and twice in the third as the winners began to flow and wife Mirka, heavily pregnant with their first child, beamed in the players' box.
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After last year's chastening defeat by Nadal in the gloom of the final Sunday, all appeared well again in Federer's world on Monday with the only clouds being the ones hanging over Centre Court's new sliding roof that remained redundant.
"I've played in different Wimbledon Centre Court stadiums in the past few years now," said Federer, who would have started his Wimbledon campaign on Tuesday had Nadal not pulled out.
"Ones that didn't have a roof, ones that had the (old partial) roof. I've been through all of those but this one felt very much at home again. It felt great. It looks good, too, I think."
"It's a very privileged spot, Monday 1pm, of course I feel honoured. I know Rafa deserved it more than I do this year but somebody had to do it and I'm happy they chose me. It gets your heart beating, that's for sure."
Federer was pretty happy with his game too, despite it being his first outing on grass this year after pulling out of the Halle warm-up event in Germany to recover from the emotional exhaustion of winning the French Open for the first time.
"You forget about everything that's happened in the past," he told reporters. "If you're a great champion or not, you just want to enjoy the moment and, hopefully, get off to a good start. You just put your head down.
"There's always nerves in every match, every first round match at Wimbledon. But I'm very happy with my first round. I thought it was a very solid performance, because that's what it took today against Lu."
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