Federer breaks down the "perfect serve" for Vogue

Roger Federer endured a first-set scare in his opening round at Wimbledon, on Tuesday, but he quickly found his form in time to pull off a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 win over South Africa's Lloyd Harris. And he sealed it with an ace, his ninth of the match:

Federer is ranked fifth on tour in percentage first-serve points won—and third in percentage of service games won—so it's safe to say you'll likely never be able to serve with his potent power and pinpoint precision.

But, if it helps, he did give an excellent breakdown of a "perfect serve" in a delightfully entertaining "73 Questions" interview with Vogue:

"I think it's all in the toss, really," Federer said. "It's the only shot we actually do control—everything else, we have to react to the opponent."

He then laid it out in three simple steps:

1

"Up": tossing the ball while raising the racquet arm.

2

"Jump": making contact on top of the ball and inside the court

3

"Hope it lands in."

When asked about the best advice his mother, a tennis coach, gave him, Federer said: "Never let the ball bounce twice."

However, he prefaced his answer with: "She didn't really coach me, though."

On Lynette's decision not to coach Roger, Beyond the Baseline guest David Epstein hilariously quoted her, in his book *Range*, as saying: "He would have just upset me anyway ... He tried out every strange stroke and certainly never returned a ball normally. That is simply no fun for a mother."

What's is fun, though, is eating strawberries with some ball kids:

Visiting the Wimbledon trophies ("so close, so far"):

And venturing out onto Centre Court:

Federer will want his serve to be working from the first point in Round 2, where he'll be taking on British 20-year-old Jay Clarke.