Roger Federer

Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland) is a highly talented Swiss professional tennis player who, in 2004, became the World No. 1 in tennis and the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three out of four Grand Slam events in the same year. As of 2005, he is the dominant active player of his era.

Biography

Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Robert and Lynette Federer. He grew up 10 minutes from Basel proper, in suburban Münchenstein.

His parents met while his father was on a business trip to South Africa for a Basel-based chemical company for which they both worked. Ciba Specialty Chemicals was spun out from the pharmaceutical company Ciba-Geigy, in January 1997, when Ciba merged with Sandoz to form the pharmaceutical giant Novartis, in late 1996. Lynette was born and raised in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. Lynette no longer works at the company, but is a manager at the Roger Federer Foundation. Robert is still with the Ciba Specialty Chemicals, in sales.

Roger has an elder sister, Diana, who is a nurse, and lives in the Basel area. He speaks three languages (German, French and English) fluently and conducts press conferences in all of them.

Federer spends his off-court time playing cards, cricket, ping pong, other sports and sitting on the beach, currently resides in Oberwil, Switzerland, and is dating former WTA player and fellow Swiss Miroslava Vavrinec (Mirka), who retired from the game in 2002 after a foot injury. The two met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

He co-established the Roger Federer Foundation in December 2003. Its goals include funding projects that benefit disadvantaged children, primarily in South Africa. In January 2005, he encouraged efforts from tennis players for the Tsunami-affected people, saying he would play as many matches as possible in tournaments organized to raise funds for the Tsunami victims and auctioned off his autographed rackets to raise funds for UNICEF’s relief operations.

Federer also launched a fragrance and cosmetics line called RF Cosmetics in October of 2003.

Tennis Career

Roger Federer started playing tennis at the age of eight. He spent hours playing softball tennis on the street or hitting tennis balls against the wall in the local club. He also practised football and was undecided about which sport he liked better until he turned twelve, when he chose tennis as the sport to focus on. At the age of fourteen, he became the Swiss Junior champion for all age groups and subsequently relocated to the Swiss National Tennis Center in the French-speaking part of Switzerland for more focused training. The training continued until he finished school at the age of sixteen and began playing more international junior tournaments.

1998 was Federer’s last year in the Junior circuits; he won the Wimbledon Juniors title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. He finished the year as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion. Earlier in July, 1998, he had joined the ATP tour.

In 1999, he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team. He finished the year inside ATP’s top 100 ranked players, the youngest ever to do so.

In 2000, he reached the semi-finals in the Sydney Olympics, but lost the bronze-medal match. He also reached the finals in Basel and Marseille but did not win either of them.

In February, 2001, Federer won his first ATP tournament in Milan. He also won 3 matches for his country in the Davis Cup in a 3-2 victory over the United States. He advanced to the quarterfinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon. En route to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, he defeated defending champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round. This match marked the emergence of Federer as a prominent player on the tour. He finished the year ranked 13th.

In 2002, Federer started with a tournament victory at Sydney. In February, he won both his Davis Cup singles against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He reached his first Masters Series final in Miami, only to be beaten by Andre Agassi. In May, he got a second opportunity to win his first Masters Series tournament in Hamburg, which he did, defeating Marat Safin in the final. However, he subsequently lost in the 1st round at both the French Open and Wimbledon. He also lost his long-time Australian coach Peter Carter in a car crash in August and subsequently performed poorly at the U.S. Open. Later in the year he earned 6th place in the ATP Race and qualified for the first time in the prestigious year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, where he lost in the semi-finals against the then-top tennis player Lleyton Hewitt in three sets.

Federer started 2003 by winning 2 tournaments in a row in Dubai and Marseille. He won in Munich without losing a set but fell out of the French Open again in the first round, this time against Luis Horna. On July 6, 2003, he became the first Swiss man to win the Wimbledon championship, defeating Australia’s Mark Philippoussis in the final while dropping only one set during the entire tournament. He also won four Davis Cup matches during the year to lead Switzerland to the semi-finals. He finished 2003 by winning the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston and ranking second in the ATP tour race. In December he parted ways with Peter Lundgren, his coach for four years.

In 2004, Federer had what has been arguably one of the best years in modern men’s tennis, winning three of the four Grand Slam titles. He began by winning the Australian Open for the first time, defeating Marat Safin. In May, he won the Hamburg Masters on clay by beating Guillermo Coria. He then defended his Wimbledon crown, overcoming Andy Roddick in a rain-affected final. Federer also won the Gstaad tournament on clay and the Toronto Masters Series. In September, he defeated Lleyton Hewitt 6-0,7-6(3), 6-0 in a one-sided final at the US Open for the year’s third Grand Slam. He finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second time in a row. His overall record for the year was a win-loss record of 74-6 and 11 tournament wins. Federer’s remarkable year was recognised when he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in early 2005, edging out the likes of Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps.

Throughout 2004 Federer did not have a coach, relying instead on his fitness trainer, Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac, and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend, Mirka, and a few friends. For 2005, Federer arranged for former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.

To begin 2005, he won his first title at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, Qatar. Next was his defeat in the Australian Open semi-final by Marat Safin in a five-set match that lasted more than four hours. Federer went on to win his next four tournaments, including Dubai, Rotterdam (both as in Doha game, by defeating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia) and the year’s first two ATP Masters Series titles at Indian Wells (by defeating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia) and Miami (by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain). He lost to Richard Gasquet of France in ATP Masters Series in Monte Carlo, but he won his third Hamburg Masters clay court title in May by defeating Richard Gasquet, and entered the French Open as one of the favorites. He lost at the semi-final stage in four sets to Rafael Nadal. Federer went on to defend his grass court title at Halle by defeating Marat Safin of Russia. Federer won the Wimbledon Championship for the third successive year by defeating Andy Roddick of the United States. At that Wimbledon final, Federer struck 49 winners and only 12 unforced errors.

He dropped only two sets on his way to the US Open final, where he defeated Andre Agassi in four sets for back to back titles.

Federer is expected by many (including Rod Laver, John McEnroe, and his childhood idol Boris Becker; see quotes) to go on and become one of the game’s all time greats.

Already, Roger has become the first man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in consecutive years (2004 and 2005). He also has won three straight Wimbledon titles (2003-05), an achievement also completed by Bjorn Borg (1976-80) and Pete Sampras (1993-95; 1997-2000) in the Open Era.

Coaches

1989-1994: Seppli Kacovsky (Switzerland). Kacovsky was the head coach of the Old Boys’ Tennis Club in Federer’s home town of Basel. Roger joined Old Boys’ when he was eight years old and trained there until ‘94.
1991-1995, 1997-1998: Peter Carter (Australia). Carter privately coached Federer on a weekly basis, from the age of 10 to 14. They reunited again in a new training facility in Biel in 1997 and Carter continued coaching Federer on and off until he turned pro.

1995-1997: After he became the Swiss junior champion, Federer was selected to join the Swiss National Tennis center in Ecublens. He continued to train there until he finished school.

1999-2003: Peter Lundgren (Sweden). Federer chose former top-25 player Lundgren, whom he met in Biel, as his coach, as he entered the professional circuit. He still consulted frequently with Carter.

2005-Present : Tony Roche (Australia). Roche is a former Australian tennis champion who previously coached Patrick Rafter to the world number one ranking. He is scheduled to help Federer for a few weeks before the Grand Slam tournaments only.

Equipment

Roger Federer currently uses the Wilson nSix-One tour tennis racquet. This is the first tennis racquet in the world to utilize nanotechnology, which according to Wilson promotional literature is twice as strong and twice as stable as traditional racquets, yielding 22% more power, as well as added control and a greater life span.

Records and trivia

1999

Federer became the youngest player (18 years, 4 months) to finish a year inside ATP Ranking’s Top 100. France’s Richard Gasquet broke this record in 2003.

2001

He teamed up with Martina Hingis to win the Hopman Cup. They beat the United States 2-1 in the final. Federer beat Jan-Michael Gambill (6-4, 6-3); Hingis defeated Monica Seles (7-5, 6-4).

2003

Federer captures his first Grand Slam title by winning Wimbledon, defeating Australia’s Mark Philippoussis 7-6, 6-2, 7-6.
He also won the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time by beating Andre Agassi in straight sets. He didn’t lose one match in the tournament (5-0).

2004

Federer’s victory at the 2004 US Open marked the first time in the Open era (i.e., since 1968) that anyone had won his first four Grand Slam finals.
Federer is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986-87 to win back-to-back Tennis Masters Cup titles without losing a match.
Federer became the 10th different player in the Open era to win at least 10 singles titles in a season. He is the first year-end No. 1 to register 11 titles since Ivan Lendl in 1985. In addition, Federer is the only player to win at least 10 titles in a season without losing in a final.
Federer is the first player since Bjorn Borg in 1979 to win consecutive tournaments on three different surfaces, having captured titles at Wimbledon (grass), Gstaad (clay) and Toronto (hard).
Federer’s tally of 1267 ATP Race points in 2004 is a new record since the Race began in 2000. The previous best was Andy Roddick’s 907 in 2003.
With a total of 6335 points, Federer finished 2004 with the highest number of year-ending ATP tour ranking points since the ATP circuit began in 1990, although the points breakdown changed slightly in 2000. The previous year-ending highest rating was Pete Sampras’s 5097 points in 1994.
With a 74-6 record in 2004, Federer’s winning percentage of .925 is the best since Ivan Lendl had the same 74-6 record in 1986. John McEnroe tops the list of such players with a .965 percentage and an 82-3 record in 1984.
In the semi-final of the Tennis Masters Cup 2004, Federer won the second set tie-break against Marat Safin at 20-18 that lasted 26 minutes. It tied the record for the longest tie-break (in terms of points) ever played since the tie-break system was introduced in 1970. Besides Federer, only Bjorn Borg (1st round Wimbledon 1973 against Premjit Lal) and Goran Ivanišević (1st round US Open 1993 against Daniel Nestor, and semi-final Queen’s Club 1997 against Greg Rusedski) won such drawn out tie-breaks.
Federer was presented the inaugural “Golden Bagel award” in 2004, a light-hearted award based on a trivial statistic given to the men’s professional tennis player who serves up more “bagels” (sets won 6-0) than any other player in any given year. Federer gave out 12 “bagels” in 2004. He also served 23 “bread sticks” (6-1 sets won).

2005

Federer held a record 26 consecutive wins against top ten ranked opponents; the streak spanned from October 2003 to January 2005 (he lost to Marat Safin in the semifinal of the Australian Open).
His loss against Richard Gasquet in the Monte Carlo Masters brought his win-loss tally to 35-2 for 2005, the best start on the men’s tour since John McEnroe, who holds the record with 39-0 in 1984.
Federer lost the semi-finals of both Australian and French Open to the eventual winner: Safin in Melbourne and Nadal in Paris.
Federer also owns the record for the highest ranking points at any time of the year for performances based on the past 52 weeks: 6980 points (June 6 and June 13, 2005).
Winning the doubles title in Halle along with fellow Swiss Yves Allegro marked the fact that Federer has now won singles and doubles titles on all four surfaces: hardcourt, clay, carpet and grass. [Singles: Sydney ‘02 (hard), Hamburg ‘02 (clay), Milan ‘01 (carpet) and Halle ‘03 (grass); Doubles: Rotterdam ‘01 (hard), Gstaad ‘01 (clay), Moscow ‘02 (carpet) and Halle ‘05 (grass)]
Federer now has the #1 spot of the ATP rankings for more than 86 consecutive weeks, most since Sampras held that spot for 102 weeks from 1996 to ‘98.
He also holds a 36-match winning streak on matches played on grass; this particular streak is the best since Bjorn Borg, who won 41 consecutive matches on grass between 1976 and 1980.
Federer wins a third consecutive mens singles title at Wimbledon, a feat accomplished only by Borg and Sampras in the Open era.
In the 21 matches Federer played at Wimbledon through 2003-05 he dropped just four sets (winning 63). In comparison, Borg and Sampras lost 9 and 11 sets respectively, in a similar three-year time frame.
He has become the first player to win Grand Slam events (Wimbledon & US Open) the year after having won three Grand Slam events in the same year.
With his victory over American Andre Agassi in the final of the U.S. Open, he reached a 23-match winning streak against American players.
His victory in Cincinnati meant that Federer had become the first player to win four Tennis Masters Series titles in one season.
With his victory in Cincinnati, Federer became only the third player (and only non-American) to have won all four American ATP Masters Series events in a career (along with Andre Agassi and Michael Chang.) He and Agassi are the only two players to win the six major hardcourt titles in a career (The 4 Masters Series events plus the Australian Open and the US Open).
He has held a record-tying four winning streaks of 20 consecutive matches or more. The first one was a 23-match winning streak in mid 2004, the second one was a 26-match streak spanning the latter half of 2004 and early 2005, and the third was a 25-match streak in early 2005. The fourth streak is currently active at 31 matches including tournament wins at Halle, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, the US Open, one Davis Cup match and Bangkok. Pete Sampras also had four such streaks in his entire career; Federer’s win against Fabrice Santoro allowed him to tie the record.
With his victory over Lleyton Hewitt in the US Open semifinals he has now won 70 matches or more in three consecutive seasons (2003: 78-17, 2004: 74-6, 2005: 77-3).
He is now 6-0 in Grand Slam finals; the best since William Renshaw and Richard Sears with 7-0 in the 19th century.
Federer’s victory at the 2005 US Open marked the first time since William Renshaw and Richard Sears, in the 19th century, that anyone had won his first six Grand Slam finals.
By winning in Bangkok in September 2005, Federer won his 24rd straight final dating back to Vienna, October 2003. His undefeated streak in finals is a new Open era record. The previous record was 12 straight final wins, shared by McEnroe and Borg. It marked also the first time Federer won five straight finals in five consecutive tournaments he’s played in.
Federer’s win against Andy Murray in the final of the Bangkok tournament was his 40th consecutive win on the hardcourt surface; and Open Era record. He broke the previous record held by Pete Sampras.

Awards

2003

ATP European Player of the Year.
Swiss Sportsman of the Year.
Swiss of the Year.
Michael-Westphal Award.

2004

ATP European Player of the Year.
ITF World Champion.
Sports Illustrated Tennis Player of the Year.
Swiss Sportsman of the Year.
Swiss of the Year.
European Sportsman of the Year.
Reuters International Sportsman of the Year.
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
International Tennis Writers Association Player of the Year.

2005

Ambassador of United Nations’ Year of Sport and Physical Education.
Goldene Kamera Award.
ATP Player of the Year (for the year 2004).
Stefan Edberg Sportmanship Award.
ATPTennis.com Fan’s Favourite
Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
Michael-Westphal Award.
ESPY Award 2005 for The Best Male Tennis Player.