Federer was afforded the protection of the centre court roof in reaching the fourth round for the 45th time in his past 48 majors as a questionable Wimbledon scheduling strategy left a handful of second round matches still unfinished at the end of a rain-soaked Friday.

While the tournament scrambled to clear the backlog by invoking the right to renege on the usual Sunday of rest for the first time since 2004 and just the fourth time in the tournament's history, the Swiss third seed won a welcome weekend hiatus ahead of Monday's round-of-16 clash with either Grigor Dimitrov or Steve Johnson.

It helped Federer's cause that his past two opponents – new cult hero Marcus Willis and Dan Evans – have been British, thus diluting any prospect of sending the 17-time grand slam winner to the relative Siberia of the No.1 court that hosted top seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic's surprise third-round struggle against Sam Querrey.

And, so, before departing for a family weekend on his own terms, Federer revisited the impact made by two particularly important figures: his wife, Mirka, a former top 100 player, and Roche, with whom the seven-time Wimbledon champion worked from 2005 until mid-2007.

Federer admitted his young self could not entertain the idea of training for five to six hours like the former Miroslava Vavrinec, now Mrs Fed, the mother of his four children. "I knew I couldn't do it. I was just watching her train and go like, 'it's incredible how you can put your head down, train for five, six hours straight without losing interest', he said. "I was losing interest within an hour.

"I was more just admiring it rather than thinking I could do the same one day, to be quite honest. I had to go my path. My path was different. It was left and right and trying to adjust and find myself, deviate again. Eventually, you know, I found the joy in working hard and feeling the pain, understanding why I'm going on the treadmill, why I'm going to the weight room.

"I needed everything to be explained to me. When finally the penny dropped, it was very clear to me, why I was doing the off‑court work for the on‑court.

"Then also I think actually Tony Roche helped me in a big way, just getting my mind right in the sense, sort of old-school, just being able to do hour after hour after hour. Ever since, it's not been a problem to do that now."

So much so, Federer says, that long-time head coach Severin Luthi, the Swiss Davis Cup captain, needs to monitor his training workload, reminding him the world No.3 that two to three hours straight is sufficient. But back in the Roche years, "when Tony asked me, 'can you play seven times, five sets [to win slams]?' That was the question. I looked at him, I go, 'I don't know'.

"He said, 'you want to be able to answer that question, yes, with no problem'. That's what I've worked for. Ever since then, I'm confident I can do it."

Federer also recalled the 2004 Wimbledon, when the traditionally-dormant Sunday was last activated. Wasn't it, he asked, in the way of most veterans of anything in life or sport, more recent? No, but what he does remember is a six-day mid-tournament break after the withdrawal of his third-round opponent, Andrei Pavel.

And then rain. Of course. "I could have gone home, gone on vacation for four days, if only I knew it was going to be that way," Federer laughed.

"I might take a day off tomorrow just because I can. Yeah, I can. I'm sorry, I can. I have to take them when I can. I'm an old guy. I'm looking forward to my day off tomorrow. On Sunday I'll practise with more intensity, I guess, to keep that intensity, play points, go to the gym again."

The two women with the weekend free are five-time champion Venus Williams and her fourth-round opponent, Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. Williams had to endure a 70-minute rain delay while up match point against Darya Kasatkina in the second set, before winning 10-8 in the third to reach the last 16 for the first time since 2010.

"I can't say that I've ever had a rain delay at match point. Probably not ideal," said the eighth seed, whose sister Serena, the defending champion, also eked out a shaky three-set win against compatriot Christina McHale. Not so the fourth men's seed Stan Wawrinka, upset in the feel-good story of the day by Juan Martin del Potro.