How Gilly helped Federer win Wimbledon

Aussie cricket great Adam Gilchrist has revealed he inadvertently helped Roger Federer win one of his eight Wimbledon titles.

The iconic wicketkeeper appeared on The Back Page on Tuesday night and opened up about how Federer's coach once used him and Jason Gillespie to help the Swiss great before a final at the All England Club.

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Even after claiming back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 2003 and 2004, Federer was still a bundle of nerves heading into the 2005 final, and that's where Gilly came in.

"I was very fortunate in 2005 we were over there for an unsuccessful Ashes campaign and we got to go to Wimbledon," Gilchrist said.

"At about 20-to-two on Wimbledon finals day, Federer was taking on Andy Roddick and I was standing with Jason Gillespie and Tony Roche walked past who was coaching Federer at the time.

"He said, 'Boys do you want to come and meet Roger?' and we said, 'God yeah.'

"We went down into the locker room — there was no one else in there except for Roger Federer. We had small talk and I said, 'Mate, do you ever get nervous? You've been in this situation a few times, do you get nervous?' He goes, 'Yeah, just a little bit before the game.'

"And I looked at the clock and it was seven minutes to two and they're hitting off at two o’clock. I went, 'Mate, I don't want to frighten you but you better start getting nervous.'"

Gilchrist originally thought he'd acted as a hindrance to the Fed's preparations, until Roche spilled the beans that it was all part of his plan.

"That was part of what Tony said later on is that he (Federer) does get a bit more nervous than he lets on and he wanted to get someone down there to distract him," Gilchrist said.

"So we did our best distraction and he nailed Roddick in three sets, it was unbelievable."

Federer's 2005 title was his third in a row and set the platform for his record haul of eight.