Roger Federer doesn’t even have to be playing and he can mess with your head – just ask Bernard Tomic.

The

Australian appeared slow to start in his four-set win over Stanislas

Wawrinka and he later put it down to nerves – and the 16-time grand

slam champion.

Apparently Federer’s mere presence with the rest

of the Swiss Davis Cup team in the rather confined space of Royal

Sydney’s main court was enough to have Tomic second guessing himself.

“In the first set I was (nervous),” said Tomic.

“I didn’t play my game in the first few games and was a little bit nervous; having Roger watch you is a bit difficult.

“I

saw him there, it’s a bit difficult when you look up to your idol …

but it’s a good thing I got the team off to a good start.”

Tomic

said he took plenty of courtside advice from team captain Pat Rafter

who urged him to keep fighting as Wawrinka’s winners started drying up

and the errors began to flow.

“(Rafter said) to hang in there

after that first set. He was serving well and a high percentage and

there was not a lot I could do,” said Tomic, who had some of his own

issues with blisters on his hand.

“He was saying to me just to stay in there and keep having a go at it and things changed in the second set.”

Having

racked up the opening rubber to register a perfect 4-0 singles record

in the competition Tomic admitted he wouldn’t be as overawed playing

the 16-time grand slam champion for the first time in the reverse

singles on Sunday.

But coming out swinging would be another matter entirely.

“You’d

love to think you could go out against Roger and just play like that

but he’s one of those guys who plays a bit different and can get you in

positions where you can’t really play, like I do to some people,” Tomic

said.

“So it’s hard to come out and play good quality tennis against a player like Roger.”

Asked about how he’d tackle arguably the greatest tennis player to have lived he wasn’t exactly equivocal.

“I don’t know. I think I’ll just pray that he doesn’t like my game and that’s it,” he said.

“If he likes it, I’m screwed.”