Gstaad, July 09: Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is now the proud owner of a cow after Swiss Open organisers marked his grand slam success in bizarre fashion. The Swiss, who won the Wimbledon men's singles title on Sunday, was greeted by a standing ovation from a capacity crowd of 6,000 as he entered the Roy Emerson Arena in Gstaad on Tuesday (July 8). Federer, who became the first Swiss male winner of a grand slam, was then presented with the unusual gift of a cow and a milking stool by the tournament organisers for his Wimbledon achievement. The cow will stay in Gstaad, and every year Federer will receive the cheese made from the milk of his cow. After the ceremony, the Wimbledon champion Federer battled to victory in the first round of the Swiss Open as he overcame gutsy Spanish qualifier Marc Lopez 6-3 6-7 6-3. The 21-year-old from Basel was forced to fight hard for victory on Gstaad's clay courts just two days after seeing off Australian Mark Philippoussis in straight sets to take the Wimbledon crown.


Top-seed Federer took the opening set 6-3 only for Lopez, who had to win two games to reach the first round proper, to level things up after winning the second-set tie-break 7-4.


Federer, whose world ranking has moved up to third, secured a vital break when 4-3 up in the final set before serving out to secure a place in the second round where he will now face Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard.


Bureau Report