FEATURE-Tennis-Federer plays big brother to village children

GOVHU, South Africa, Feb 20 (Reuters) - "Big brother Roger," as the village schoolteachers call him, smiles at the small children and asks them to guess which sport he plays.

Most of the bright-eyed three-year-olds have no idea who their visitor is but one, quicker than the rest, pipes up: "You play tennis!".

Delighted, Roger Federer turns his palms up to reveal a badly calloused right hand punished by 23 years of holding a racquet, showing the children the difference from the smoother left one.

There are few parts of the world where the man considered as the greatest ever tennis player and holder of a record 17 grand slam titles is not instantly recognised.

The Roger Federer Foundation supports 40 pre-schools in the area and spends over $3 million a year on educational projects in South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia and Federer's home country Switzerland. Over 50,000 children benefited from the foundation's efforts in 2012 to improve quality education in pre-schools and primary schools.

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