Monte Carlo - Fellow ATP players were not a part of the mix as Roger Federer married longtime girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec last weekend in an all-but-secret Basel ceremony. The hometown vows for the Swiss number 2 and his pregnant companion of nine years were kept strictly among friends and family at a location the new groom still won't reveal.

Other tennis players just didn't make the guest list: "They were playing, I didn't invite anybody," Federer joked on Wednesday after finally surfacing for the Monte Carlo Masters. "It was really just very close friends and family.

"It was the way I was always hoping to have it. It was in Basel - that's all I'm going to tell you."

With a child on the way this summer, the multi-millionaire couple decided in a rush of planning to finally tie the knot.

"We have been talking about marriage for many years now. Last year was busy - all of a sudden it was the Olympics - So we figured we'd wait and do it next year.

"We always knew that if we do it, we do it pretty quickly, because I didn't want to have a huge wedding."

Federer said that famed Swiss discretion played a huge role in keeping the secret.

"I have good friends who keep things quiet. You try to tell everyone to please respect the privacy, and everything.

"But if you want to get married in private, you have to go to Switzerland. They don't actually care over there. They actually want to give you peace and privacy. That's why I love being a Swiss and living in Switzerland."(dpa)