Roger Federer accepts charity match challenge from tennis-mad DCU students

James Fenton

When Jamie Duff and Oliver White picked up their tennis rackets for a game in their local area of Ashbourne, they could never have thought it would have ended up with a proposition from the legendary Roger Federer.

That’s exactly what happened when the two 21-year-olds shared a video of their on-court action and tagged eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer. To the lads’ surprise, the Swiss ace responded by posting ‘Great skills – would love to come and play you guys after lockdown.’

To most people, even getting a reply off the 20-time Grand Slam champion would be the stuff of dreams but given that both Jamie and Oliver are massive tennis fans, they wanted more.

The pair left a voice note with Roger challenging him to come over to Ireland for a match, something they said would “make our dreams come true.” With the bit between their teeth, they added: “Let’s quit all the talk and make it happen”

Clearly buoyed by the DCU students’ determination, Federer replied with his own voice note saying: “I loved the video, I thought it was great. The tennis is looking good but maybe a bit of work needed with the footwork.”

He didn’t end with the constructive criticism, adding: “I think we should definitely do something with my charity, send an email to my agent and we’ll sort something out.”

The whole exchange was posted on Oliver’s Instagram page and you can hear it all for yourself below…

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKhT7KahF3X/?igshid=13trs91w4sxt2

Jamie told Lovin Dublin that “we’ve always loved tennis growing up, we played tennis in summer camps when we were younger but never competitively. During the lockdown, we were fortunate enough to have access to a tennis court so our love for tennis reignited. We’ve been playing tennis every single day for the past few weeks.

“We have always looked up to the greats such as Rafael Nadal and of course Roger Federer, but having Federer reply to us and now organising a game with him is just unfathomable. We’re looking forward to seeing where this takes us.”

So, Roger Federer could be rocking down to Ashbourne with his racket in tow once Covid restrictions allow. Fair play to Jamie and Oliver for getting this far and hopefully they get to raise some money for charity.

Watch this space.