Roger Federer generally keeps errors to a minimum on the tennis court, but the 17-time grand slam champion sparked amusement with an apparent Twitter mix-up on Monday.

As Lleyton Hewitt battled it out on No.2 Court in a five-set thriller with Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, Federer took to social media to pay tribute to two players featuring at the All England Club for the last time ahead of their impending retirements.

However, in a tweet that was hastily deleted and replaced with an amended version, Federer seemingly referred to veteran Australian Hewitt as a New Zealander.

The initial tweet from the Swiss read: "FI Nieminen vs NZ @lleytonhewitt Thanks for the fight #Wimbledon", before Federer re-sent the message with 'AU' in front of Hewitt's name.

Both messages were shared by the ATP World Tour's official account, drawing an amused reaction from several Twitter users.

Hewitt went on to suffer defeat, losing 11-9 to Nieminen in the fifth set of their epic encounter.

Federer will begin his bid for an eighth Wimbledon crown on Centre Court against Damir Dzumhur on Tuesday.