Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player. As of October 2009, he is ranked world number 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), having previously held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer has won 15 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other male player. He is one of six male players to have captured the career Grand Slam. Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 21 career Grand Slam finals, and as of September 2009, has reached the semi-finals or better of the last 22 Grand Slam tournaments, a streak that spans over five years. Federer also holds the record of reaching 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals and has appeared in 17 of the last 18. As a result of his successes in tennis, Federer was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for four consecutive years (2005–2008).
Childhood and personal life
Federer was born in Binningen, near Basel, to Swiss national Robert Federer and South Africa-born Lynette Du Rand. He holds both Swiss and South African citizenship. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, near Basel, close to the French-German borders and Federer speaks Swiss German, German, French and English fluently. He was raised as a Catholic and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the 2006 Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in Rome. Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was deemed unfit due to a long-standing back problem and was subsequently not required to fulfill his obligations.
Federer is married to former Women's Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec. They met while competing for Switzerland in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Vavrinec retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury and has since been working as Federer's public relations manager. They were married in Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family at Wenkenhof Villa (municipality of Riehen). On 24 July, Federer announced on his Facebook page that Mirka had given birth to twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, on the previous day.
Federer supports various charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports. In 2005, he auctioned his racquet from his US Open championship to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 2006. Since then, he has visited South Africa and Tamil Nadu, one of the worst tsunami-affected areas in India. He has also appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS.
Junior ranks
Federer was four years old when Boris Becker – his childhood idol – won his first Wimbledon title in 1985. From then on, Federer watched "tennis matches on television for hours on end." Reflecting on his childhood, he said, "I liked tennis the best of all sports. It was always exciting and winning or losing was always in my hands." Soon after enrolling in school at the age of six, Federer became the best in his age group and trained three times a week in and around Basel. It was at these sessions where he became friends with Marco Chiudinelli, a "talented" boy a month younger than Federer. The boys often played squash, table tennis and soccer together. A region-wide top tennis group was formed when the pair was eight years old; despite playing for different clubs, they became members.
It was pretty loud when we were in training," Chiudinelli said. "We talked more than we trained, training didn't seem too important to us. We just wanted to have a good time and we goofed around a lot. One of us was frequently kicked off the court. Roger lost to practically everyone in training. He was the only one that I beat, but the difference was enormous. When it came down to business, he could flip a switch and become a completely different person. I admired that about him. I could give him a thrashing in training but when we played at a tournament together, he gave me a thrashing. Even back then he was a real competitor.They first played each other at an official event called The Bambino Cup in Arlesheim when both were eight. "Back then we only played one long set of up to nine games," Chiudinelli recollects. "Things weren't going well for me at the beginning. I was behind 2-5 and I started to cry. We cried a lot back then even during the matches. Roger came up to me and tried to comfort me when we switched sides. He told me everything would be alright, and in fact, things got better. I took the lead 7-6 and noticed that the tide had turned. Then he began to cry and I ran up to him and give him encouragement and things went better for him. It was the only time I could beat him.
When he was 10, Federer began weekly private coaching with Adolf Kacovsky – a tennis coach at The Old Boys Tennis Club. "I noticed right away that this guy was a natural talent," said Kacovsky. "He was born with a racquet in his hand." At first, Federer received lessons only while part of a group, although "the club and I quickly noticed he was enormously talented. We began giving him private lessons that were partly funded by the club. Roger was a quick learner. When you wanted to teach him something new, he was able to pick it up after three of four tries, while others in the group needed weeks."
A "star pupil," the Swiss youngster always wanted to become the best in the world. "People laughed at him, including me," recollects Kacovsky. "I thought that he would perhaps become the best player in Switzerland or Europe but not the best in the world. He had it in his head and he worked at it."
He played football until the age of twelve when he decided to focus solely on tennis. At fourteen, he became the national champion of all groups in Switzerland and was chosen to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens. He joined the ITF junior tennis circuit in July 1996. In 1998, his final year as a junior, Federer won the junior Wimbledon title and was recognized as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion of the year.
Early career in the ATP: 1998–2002
In July 1998, Federer joined the ATP tour at Gstaad, where he lost to Lucas Arnold Ker in straight sets. Although he played two more ATP tournaments in 1998, the majority of his matches were still at the Junior level.
In April 1999, he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team against Italy and finished the year ranked World No. 66. During that time, he was the youngest player in the top 100. He also competed in his first Grand Slam tournament at the French Open, but lost to Patrick Rafter in the first round after a 4 set match. He also made his first appearance at Wimbledon, where he entered as a wildcard. After a 5 set match, he lost in the first round to Czech player, Jiri Novak, who was then ranked 59th. In the same tournament, Federer partnered Lleyton Hewitt in the Men's Doubles, where they managed to reach the Round of 16, losing to Pat Rafter and Jonas Bjorkman in another 5 set match. In January 2000, Federer competed for the first time in the Australian Open, losing to 49th ranked Arnaud Clément of France in the third round. He then equaled this achievement in his very first US Open, losing in the third round to 12th ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain. After reaching the semi-finals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Federer reached his first ATP final in Marseille, where he lost to compatriot Marc Rosset, and was also the runner-up in his home tournament at Basel. He did, however, win the Harry Hopman Cup in Australia defeating Jan-Michael Gambill in the final in straight sets. Even though he failed to make an impression at Grand Slams, it was the first year he played in all four. Federer would then end the year ranked World No. 29.
Federer's first ATP tournament victory came in February 2001 where he defeated French player Julien Boutter in the final of the Milan Indoor. During the same month, he won three matches for his country in its 3–2 Davis Cup victory over the United States. He later reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, as the No. 15th seed, defeating four-time defending champion and seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras 7–6(7), 5–7, 6–4, 6–7(2), 7–5 in the fourth round in an epic five-set match. This defeat ended Sampras' 31-match winning streak in the tournament. He also managed to reach the quarter-finals at the French Open. He finished the year ranked 13th.
Federer reached his first Masters Series final in 2002 at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lost to Andre Agassi. He won his next Masters final in Hamburg. He also won both his Davis Cup singles matches against former World No. 1 Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He had early-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open; Federer also suffered the devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in August. Federer reached No. 6 in the ATP Champions Race by the end of 2002. He jumped in the rankings from 13th at the end of September to 7th by the middle of October. This qualified him for the first time in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup. However, his run at the tournament was ended in the semi-finals by then World No. 1 and eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt.
Top 10 and Grand Slam success: 2003–present
2003
In the first Grand Slam tournament of the
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