PARIS, June 4: Thinking people were making it up, Svetlana Kuznetsova logged on to the Internet to read the evidence herself. When she saw it written in plain English, she had to pinch herself – Roger Federer had picked out the Russian as his favourite player on the women's tour.

“I like her game, she plays well,” Federer declared earlier last week.

It sent Kuznetsova into a spin.

“The Russian press told me and I thought 'No, it was a joke'. So I wanted to check it myself and read this on the Internet,” the third seed said. “If I would have to choose a compliment from anybody, it's definitely the best I ever heard. Roger is a legend and to hear him say that is almost a dream.”—Reuters