Roger Federer shows no signs of age or rust in Roland Garros return

How did Roger Federer’s long-awaited return to Roland Garros begin? On the first point of his first-round match on Sunday, his first shot ticked the tape and fell on the other side of the net for a winner.

That was all the luck Federer would need to beat 24-year-old Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-2, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 41 minutes. During that brief span of time, Federer played as if he had never left the Parisian clay behind in 2015, or aged at all during the four years he was away.

"There has been a lot of attention lately with my return. When I started the match, I started it well, so it shows that the pressure is not acting on me," Federer stated afterwards. "The duration of the match wasn't a problem. No problems with my body before or after the match. And then I have two-and-a-half days [before my next match]. It's ideal for me for the start of the tournament."

He jumped out to insurmountable leads in each of the first two sets. He stood toe to toe with the hard-hitting Sonego at the baseline, and matched him forehand for forehand. He followed his serve to net whenever he felt like it, and won points there with deft touch shots and casually reflexed volleys. On a break point in the second set, Federer wasn’t afraid to try a drop shot on his return of serve. He hit it for a winner, naturally. Down a break point later in that set, he wasn’t afraid to send a risky, full-swing volley into the corner of the court. Naturally, he hit that for a winner, too.

“Fabulous,” was how Federer summed up the way it felt to be in the new, radically refurbished Court Philippe Chatrier. The stadium was nearly full, and the fans pleased to see him; if they never reached a full French roar, it was only because Federer made the match so routine.

While Federer was happy to help christen the new arena, Sonego seemed lost somewhere at the bottom of it. Earlier this spring, he had riled up side-court crowds in Monte Carlo and Rome with his flashy forehand and upper-cut first-pump; but his act didn’t translate to the big stage. Sonego took full-blooded cuts at his forehand, and added it as much grunt to them as he could, but Federer was always there with an answer. Sonego’s only run of success came when he narrowed the score from 0-4 to 3-4 in the second set, but Federer snuffed out that mini-threat with two straight love holds.

"I watched some highlights yesterday of his matches, so I saw much more and gave me a good idea how to play him. I was very happy how I played," said Federer.

The only misstep Federer may have made so far in Paris was donning a much-maligned brown Uniqlo shirt. But even that didn’t look as bad in the flesh as it had online. Call it one more example of the RF magic. Judging by how he played today, and looking at his draw ahead, we may be seeing a lot of that shirt, and a lot of vintage Federer play, over the next two weeks.