Rules are apparently rules.
Even Roger Federer - the former world number one tennis player - has to carry his tournament ID to get into the Australian Open. I mean, who really cares if he's the owner of 20 Grand Slam titles, and has spent more weeks ranked at number one than any other player in history? Well, not the security guard at the Australian Open, clearly.
A video of Federer being stopped by a security guard outside a locker room at the tournament made the rounds on social media today, and the people of the internet just couldn't get enough of it.
In the short clip, the guard is seen indicating to the 37-year-old that he was missing his Australian Open accreditation pass - which is given to players, coaches, officials and members of the media.
Ever the good sportsman, Federer didn't press the matter, and waited patiently until he was joined by members of his team. He then allowed to proceed into the locker room.
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The people of Twitter, of course, found the clip incredibly amusing. "Whaaat!! He doesn’t even need passport or visa to go anywhere. He is the legend, he is the master, he is the king of tennis," one social media user wrote, while another corroborated "You can tell by his face he knew he f*cked up the moment he realized "oh sh*t this is freaking Roger Federer" LOL."
Some praised the security guard's commitment to his line of work. "Good job that volunteer!! The rules are there to keep everyone safe, regardless of who you are!! And Roger understands that too," one wrote, and another added "This guard did it right to protect everyone - KUDOS!"
Saturday was a practice day for the tennis superstar at Melbourne Park. Tomorrow Federer is set to take on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth round of the tournament on Sunday.
Well, clearly, Roger Federer just isn't famous enough.
