Wimbledon: Kate Middleton shocks Roger Federer with hidden tennis skills

The Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton, shocked tennis legend Roger Federer with her skills with the racquet. About a week before Wimbledon kicks off, the pair met up at the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club to play a friendly match.

It was during this match that the athletic future Queen of England impressed tennis royalty. The pair took to the court as part of a promotional campaign for the upcoming Wimbledon Championships. The Princess of Wales also happens to be a patron of the All England Club, and she was reportedly there to shoot a 4-minute mini documentary that highlights the ball boys and ball girls who are an integral part of every tournament.

The official Instagram page of the Wimbledon Championships shared some snippets from Federer and Kate's interactions with the ball boys and girls, as well as footage from their friendly match.

The videos instantly went viral, with over a million views gathered since they started posting over the weekend. The full film has been shared on the Wimbledon YouTube channel.

Most of the short film is focused on Kate and Roger going behind the scenes to learn more about being a ball boy or girl at Wimbledon. They learned that up to a thousand applications come in each year, and only about a third of those manage to get in.

Then, those who are accepted undergo a training programme to ensure that they are fully prepared to play a crucial role during the tournament. All eyes will be on the tennis stars on court, but the matches won't go smoothly without the assistance of all the staff surrounding the players. Anyone who has ever played tennis knows that running after your own balls during a match could take up more than half your time without help from ball boys and girls.

Kate was shown how to properly feed the ball to a player, and after catching a stray ball with her hand, she was told that one is meant to let the ball bounce first before catching it. Federer explained that while this is allowed in Australia, Wimbledon protocols are different. It appears as though the All England club has imposed the extra layer of protection that prevents injuries stemming from catching a fast-approaching balls.

While hitting a few balls, Federer was also seen joking about whether he should be running after balls himself. As a tennis superstar, he has been playing with the assistance of on-court staff for decades. However, he was also once a ball boy and still remembers the duties quite well.

Meanwhile, apart from taking a peek into the training session, the pair also took some time to hit a few balls against each other in a friendly match.

The 41-year-old princess came prepared to play, wearing a customary all-white Adidas x Stella McCartney outfit. Federer greeted her on-court in his familiar whites as well, and after an exchange of pleasantries, he asked, "Shall we play some tennis?"

Kate asked Federer to serve, and the pair exchanged a few shots with the princess holding her own against the 20-time Grand Slam champion. It was clear that it was not her first time wielding a racquet, but of course Federer was not exactly playing to compete.

However, she did take a point off the tennis superstar, firing a ball out of his reach and straight to the line. He looked back and said that her shot was in before exclaiming "Amazing!"

Apparently, playing tennis is one of Kate's many talents. She is also known to be a netball, hockey and rugby player. She also enjoys sailing among many other athletic activities. The multi-talented princess also showed off her musical talents a number of times by playing the piano for the public, such as at Eurovision earlier this year.