Roger Federer

Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player.

Federer was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.

He won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most of all time, including 20 major men's singles titles (among which a record eight men's singles Wimbledon titles, and an Open Era joint-record five men's singles US Open titles) and six year-end championships.

Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland.

A member of the Federer family, his Swiss father, Robert Federer, is from Berneck in the canton of St. Gallen and his Afrikaner mother, Lynette Federer (née Durand), is from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa.

He has one sibling, his older sister, Diana, the mother of twins.

Since Federer's mother is South African, he holds both Swiss and South African citizenship.

As youngsters, Federer and his elder sister Diana used to accompany their parents, both of whom worked for Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, to the company's private tennis courts at the weekends, where he first played tennis at the age of three.

Soon after enrolling in school at the age of six, Federer became the best in his age group.

Feeling that Federer had outgrown the Ciba club and needed to be amongst better juniors, his mother Lynette enrolled him at age eight in the elite junior programme of the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel, where he received his initial tennis instruction from veteran Czech coach Adolf Kacovsky.

Federer began using the one-handed backhand from an early age not only because Kacovsky was a fan of it, but also because all of his childhood idols, Stefan Edberg, fellow German Boris Becker, and later Pete Sampras, used the one-hander too.

From ages 8 to 10, Federer received group and individual training from Kacovsky.

At age 10, Federer began being taught at the club by Australian former tennis player Peter Carter.

Federer has credited Carter for his "entire technique and coolness".

Possessing boundless energy, Federer grew up playing many sports, such as badminton, basketball, football, and tennis, but he was most taken by the latter two.

He also tried skiing and swimming and spent hours playing soft tennis on the street.

He credits his hand-eye coordination to the wide range of sports he played as a child.

Federer was also a ball boy at his hometown Basel event, the Swiss Indoors in 1992 and 1993, and he even received a medal after the 1993 final, together with the other ballboys, from the hands of the champion Michael Stich.

In 1993, Federer won the U12 Swiss national junior championships in Lucerne.

Becoming the best junior in the country helped him decide to become a professional tennis player, so he stopped playing football at age twelve to concentrate solely on tennis, where he felt he had more control over his victories or defeats, rather than relying on the performances of his teammates.

He was brought to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center, then located in Ecublens in the canton of Vaud, between 1995 and 1997.

It was in this new setting that he learned French at the age of 14.

He completed his compulsory education at La Planta secondary school in Chavannes-près-Renens and obtained his certificate in July 1997, in the upper division, commercial studies section.

A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and former ball boy, Federer won his first major singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21.

Between 2003 and 2009, Federer played in 21 out of 28 major singles finals.

He won three of the four majors and the ATP Finals in 2004, 2006, and 2007 as well as five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open.

He completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three consecutive runner-up finishes to Rafael Nadal, his main rival until 2010.

At age 27, he surpassed Pete Sampras's record of 14 major men's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.

Federer also won a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray.

Federer and Stan Wawrinka led the Switzerland Davis Cup team to their first title in 2014, following their Olympic doubles gold victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

After a half-year hiatus in late 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal and an eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships.

At the 2018 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win 20 major singles titles and shortly arter the oldest ATP world No. 1 at age 36.

In September 2022, he retired from professional tennis following the Laver Cup.

A versatile all-court player, Federer's grace on the court made him popular among tennis fans.

Originally lacking self-control as a junior, he transformed his on-court demeanor to become well-liked for his graciousness, winning the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 13 times.

He also won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award a record five times.

Outside of competition, Federer played an instrumental role in the creation of the Laver Cup team competition.

He is also an active philanthropist.

He established the Roger Federer Foundation, which targets impoverished children in southern Africa, and has raised funds in part through the Match for Africa exhibition series.

By the end of his career, Federer was routinely one of the top-ten highest-paid athletes in any sport, and ranked first among all athletes with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020.