The Swiss maestro will once again grace the courts of Roland Garros as he prepares for his first French Open after a three-year absence — and everyone wants to catch a glimpse of the hottest show in town.

Federer will kick off his campaign with a round one clash against Italian Lorenzo Sonego and he got a taste of what to expect in Paris when he stepped onto the court for a practice session with Jeremy Chardy today.

A casual passer-by could be forgiven for thinking the Fed Express was on the verge of winning his 21st grand slam title such was the frenzy surrounding his casual hit shortly before the tournament gets underway.

Fans teemed into Court Suzanne Lenglen to watch the 37-year-old in action, filling up the stands with the same enthusiasm Brits fill up their Pimm’s at Wimbledon.

Plenty of cool photos emerged of Federer — who added a nice touch by wearing an “I love Paris” T-shirt — entertaining thousands of supporters and even the man himself was taken aback by the wild scenes that greeted him on Saturday.

After skipping the past two clay court swings Federer is back on the red dirt in 2019 and it’s like he never left.

“I’m three or four weeks in but I feel like I’ve been on the surface forever,” Federer told Eurosport. “I grew up on this surface so I feel very natural on it and it doesn’t take me very long usually (to adjust).

“Do I still have it all down or not? I do.”

But while he’s found his groove again, Federer knows feeling at home on clay and winning the French Open are two very different things. “Don’t know. A bit of a question mark for me,” he said when asked what his chances of lifting up the trophy in two weeks are.

“I feel like I’m playing good tennis, but is it enough or is it enough against the absolute top guys when it really comes to the crunch? I’m not sure if it’s in my racquet, you know.

“But I hope I can get myself in that position deep down in the tournament against the top guys. But first I need to get there and I know that’s a challenge in itself.

“It’s definitely going to be an exciting tournament mentally to go through.”

Federer now looms as a very real threat to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who can become only the second man in history to have twice held all four Grand Slam titles at the same time with victory at Roland Garros.

World number one Djokovic completed his first private stranglehold of all four Slams with victory at Roland Garros in 2016.

Having clinched the 2018 Wimbledon and US Open titles and then a seventh Australian Open crown in January this year, the Serb is tantalisingly close to another ‘Djoko Slam’.

Federer and Nadal, with 20 and 17 career Grand Slam titles each respectively, may be ahead of 15-time major winner Djokovic in total hauls.

However, they have never managed to hold all four of the sport’s greatest prizes at the same time.

It is such a rare feat that only Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) — all calendar Grand Slams — have pulled off the sweep in the sport’s history.

— with AFP

Originally published as Incredible photos of Federer frenzy