He's Swiss, plays tennis and backs the 'Boks

Roger Federer will be closely following this year's Rugby World Cup - just don't ask him to support the All Blacks.

The Swiss tennis great, now at the Australian Open halfway towards his 17th Grand Slam, yesterday revealed he is a keen rugby fan - but backs the Springboks.

He was aware of the tournament set to kick off in October, but told the Herald he would not be backing the men in black.

"[I'll support] the Swiss," he joked. "I think they are starting to get into it a bit."

Indeed Switzerland, who have about 2000 registered players, have made progress in recent years but are still ranked 63rd in the world.

"[No] I'll probably support the South Africans," admitted Federer, "because my mum is from South Africa. So I always support them."

Though rugby is irrelevant to most Swiss, the 29-year-old immediately recalled the 2007 World Cup and how he had enjoyed watching the Springboks triumph in France.

"It's a great sport. I just like good matches. So especially World Cups and stuff, I try to follow those."

Earlier some British journalists, still smug from the recent Ashes triumph, had asked the world No 2 if he had "noticed" cricket during his frequent visits to Australia over the years.

"I do follow cricket. I did see a bit of the Ashes at the very beginning and I always like to watch cricket when I'm down here."

The Fleet St smiles dipped slightly with his next comment.

"Yeah, I know it's big news [but] you should be happy that you have it," he said. "It's not always going to be like that, you know."

As the sporting vein continued, he said he would have opted for soccer, basketball or skiing if he hadn't chosen tennis. "Just not swimming for sure. I can swim well, but I wouldn't want to - too hard."

Federer switches seamlessly from English to French, then Swiss-German and Italian. He always finishes with a couple of German answers and can also handle Spanish if necessary.

For this reason the French and Germans have adopted Federer as one of their own, and it is not uncommon for his post-match media commitments to take longer than his games.

Federer's recall is impressive. He is able to precisely remember details from any of the more than 900 career matches he has played - as well as the best moments from the 2007 Rugby World Cup.