Name: Roger Federer
DOB: 8 August 1981
Country: Switzerland
Residence: Wollera, Switzerland
Height: 6' 1
Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
Turn pro: 1998
Racquet: Wilson K Factor KSix-One Tour 90
Regarded as one of the best tennis players of all time, Roger Federer is a Swiss tennis player with an impressively decorated set of achievements. He has been officially named the number one tennis player in the world since January of 2007. Many tennis experts, fellow players, and fans believe that Federer has both the traits and capability to be the greatest tennis player in history.
In 2002, Federer won three of four Grand Slams in the singles category, being the first to accomplish this record since tennis player Mats Wilander in the year 1988. In 2006, Federer repeated the same feat and thus begun the open era in which tennis players were able to win at the very least ten singles championships for three years in a row. Additionally, he has won 9 titles in the Grand Slam men’s singles in only 30 appearances, 3-time Tennis Masters Cup, and 12 titles in the ATP Master’s singles tournaments. Also, from the years 2004 to 2006, Federer became the first and sole tennis player to win both the U.S. open singles title and the Wimbledon singles title for three years in a row.
On August 8, 1981, Federer was born in the Swiss city of Binningen. His father Robert Federer is Swiss and German, while his mother is from South Africa. Federer’s primary language is German, but he can also fluently speak French and English. Federer’s press conferences are therefore always run in all three of these languages. As of now, Federer lives in Oberwil, Switzerland. As for his personal life, he is currently dating Swiss WTA player Miroslava Vavrine. She is retired from tennis due to a life changing foot injury that took place in 2002. It is known that the two had met at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Federer set up the Roger Federer Foundation on December of 2003, which was founded in order to fund charity projects that would provide aid to the disadvantaged children of South Africa. Furthermore, he successfully led a number of charity projects for the purpose of helping those negatively influenced by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. His humanitarian efforts were most definitely notable, but he did not stop there. Federer always made a strong effort to participate in as many tournaments related to charity fund raising as he could. In addition, he financially supported the relief efforts of the charity organization UNICEF by auctioning off his personally autographed rackets.
UNICEF, as a known worldwide charity organization that specifically attends to the need of disadvantaged children, appointed Roger Federer to be the Ambassador of Goodwill as of April 2006. In December 2006, Federer went on his first trip as the UNICEF Ambassador of Goodwill to Tamil Nadu, a part of the many regions in India that were damaged by the tsunami of December 2004. There, he visited and provided aid for the children in need.
At the early age of six, Roger Federer began playing tennis, although he concentrated on the sport of football at the same time. However, by the age of 12, Federer firmly decided to solely focus on tennis. By age 14, Federer was crowned as the Swiss Tennis Champion in all age groups and was then chosen to train at the Ecublen’s Swiss National Tennis Center. In July 1996, he participated in the ITF junior tennis circuit.
By the year 1998, Federer had already won both the junior title for Wimbledon and also the Orange Bowl. Due to these successes, he was quickly titled as the ITF World Junior Tennis Champion in the very same year. Then, Federer decided to take the next step and competed in the ATP tour. Federer moved on to play for the Swiss Davis Cup group in 1999 and soon rocked the tennis scene by becoming the youngest ever tennis player to be a part of the top 100 tennis players at ATP.
Adding onto his string of successes, Federer achieved his first ever ATP win in Milan on February 2001. He then managed to win three matches for Switzerland in a Davis Cup match against the United States with a 3-2 score.
The years 2002 and 2003 were also filled with success for Federer due to his accomplishments at both the Davis Cup and the Houston tournament. He won both singles matches playing against Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the Davis Cup, who were considered to be top Russian tennis players at that time. At the Houston tournament, Federer experience the joy of winning the top prize: the Tennis Masters Cup.
The year 2004 was no doubt one of the greatest years of Roger Federer’s career. He succeeded in winning three out of the four of the Grand Slam singles matches and then went on to beat Marat Safin, which resulted in his first Australian Open title. Federer was appointed as the ITF Tennis World Champion and awarded the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in 2005.
Federer won the Australian Open in January of 2006, beating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyrus in a heated match. This victory signified his third Grand Slam Championship. In 2006, Federer attempted to tackle the only Grand Slam championship that he had not yet won – the French Open. Although he started off the tournaments as the top contender, he unfortunately gave up the title to Rafael Nadal, the French Open Defending Champion. His lack of a French Open title no doubt has casted a shadow on his career. However, Federer was able to compete in the finals of all the Grand Slam singles competitions, which is an accomplishment only matched by one other person, Andre Agassi.