A video of two Italian girls playing tennis between the rooftops of their apartment buildings during lockdown prompted a visit from Roger Federer who asked to join them. The winner of 20 Grand Slam competitions flew by private jet to Italy to play in situ with the friends after images of them lobbing balls from one building to the other was watched 12 million times on Twitter.

“I nearly fainted when he showed up,” Vittoria Oliveri, 13, said after meeting Federer with her friend, Carola Pessina, 11. “He is my favourite player. He figured out the distances pretty fast and started playing shots between his legs from one roof to another, which was amazing.”