Early Life
The Swiss tennis player, Federer, was born on August 8, 1981. He was the son of Swiss father Robert and South African mother, Lynette. Spending most of his life near the German and French border, his French, English, and German became articulate.
Being a Roman-Catholic, he started playing tennis and soccer at an early age. One of the top tennis players in the world, Roger Federer, is the one who made his family’s enjoyment his career. He made a promise to make the game big, and since then, he’s leading the tennis world.
The male Swiss citizens in those times were bound to join the military. Federer, as a Swiss, got subjected to the compulsory military services of the Swiss Armed Forces for which he could not fulfill the military obligations.
He served in the civil protection force instead of serving in the armed forces. The future tennis player used to play basketball and badminton in his childhood in which he credits as his success in his hand-eye coordination.
Tennis as a career
Roger started playing tennis in his early childhood. When he turned 11, he made his place in the Top 3 Junior Tennis players in Switzerland. Giving all his efforts to tennis, at the age of 14, started to work hard to become a professional.
This age was the age when he entered in the tournaments and got his hands on the National Junior Championship held in Switzerland. He became part of the junior tennis circuit named International Tennis Federation in 1996. His talent brought him to the success that the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens sponsored him.
In 1998, Federer launched himself as a professional, and before that. He won the junior Wimbledon and Orange Bowl, which marked him as an amateur. These victories gave him the title of I.T.F. World Junior Tennis Champion of the Year. After being professional, he played against Lucas Arnold Ker in Gstaad, Switzerland, which unfortunately Federer lost. But Federer did not let himself down as he knew that the professional requires time and experience.
After losing some matches, he, along with Martina Hingis played against American contenders Monica Seles and Michael Gambill and won the Hopman Cup in 2001. He got his first singles victory at Milan Indoor Tournament against Julien Butter.
Federer got success in matches one after another, making the series of victories. He displayed power-packed performances in the French Open and Wimbledon. He reached in the quarter-finals of both tournaments, leaving everyone delighted by winning against the ruling champion Pete Sampras in Wimbledon.
Getting better with each passing game, he broke his record and finished the year 2002 by being number 6 on the ATP ranking. Winning seven matches out of nine in the ATP tour and victory in Wimbledon’s singles, he got 2nd on the ATP ranking in 2003. 2004 was the year when he got gold in the Grand Slams by winning the Australian Open, U.S. Open, and Wimbledon.
Not only this, but he also got success in ATP Master Series 1000 and 500. These series of victories made him gain the first rank in the world ranking.
The start of 2005 proved terrible for him as he lost 2 Grand Slam titles. His performance was disappointing, and he came back strong and won the Wimbledon and U.S. Open. After that, Federer got four victories in ATP Master Series 1000 and two in ATP 500 series. These victories helped him get back his top rank. He continued to achieve successes, but his extravagant records went down as he only won a single title in Grand Slam and three titles in 250-level events. The failure affected his ATP greatly. He covered it all up by giving his in the 2009 Gram Slams and won all four titles of it. He also won his first French Open and made his name to the only tennis player in the world to win 15 Grand Slams singles title
In the following year of 2010, Federer gave a disappointing game, despite the excellent start by winning the Australian Open, Federer lost French Open and Wimbledon and even could not take it to semi-finals. In the U.S. Open, he made it to semi-finals but could not manage to win the game, which took his position to 2nd on the list. Federer continued to fail in securing even a single title in 2011, which dropped him out of top 3. By the end of the year, he managed to win the two titles, one of Swiss Indoors and the other was his debut in Paris Masters. He after losing a couple of titles gave his best and revitalized his career as he defeated David Ferrer and reached the finals of the year-end championship of 2011. This performance helped him to get back the position of number 3 in ATP ranking.
He won 2012 Wimbledon by giving tough time to Andy Murray and participated in many international games. In the Summer Olympics, Murray gave Federer a tough time and let him win only the silver medal. He disappointed his fans by delivering a lousy performance in 2013. And losing to win and even reaching the finals of Grand Slam. Federer only won Gerry Weber Open this year but copped up his return in 2014 by reaching the finals of Wimbledon. He got 2nd in the ATP ranking for the year 2014. 2015 was of a great start as he won the Brisbane ATP tour making it his 1000th victory. In 2016, Federer suffered a knee injury due to which his ATP ranking dropped to 16.
With his resurgence in 2017, Federer displayed a great show, winning Grand Slam titles in Australia and Wimbledon, 3 ATP Masters 1000, and 2 series 500, which revived his ranking and made him the world’s one of the top 2 players. The following year, fans expected to see Federer win, but he lost in ATP Finals, making his rank lowered down to number 3. Federer secured 3rd position in the Australian Open in 2019and won his career’s 100th single at Dubai Tennis Championship. The player made it to the finals of Wimbledon, which he lost. But created history by making the match of the longest men’s final.
Achievements of the Swiss Maestro
- Federer won Fans Favorite Award by ATP World Tour from the year 2008 to 2018.
- He won Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award, 13 times from the year 2004-2009 and then in 2011 and 2017.
- Federer is the five-time winner of Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award.
- Receiving it from the year 2005-2008 and after that in 2018.
- He also won Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013.
Maestro as a philanthropist
Holding several ATP records, the world’s number one tennis player is also an angel helping the poor. Federer has a foundation named Roger Federer Foundation, which aids the children of Africa and Switzerland, facing poverty, by providing them with education. The foundation works with transparency and, through selling the products, manages give schooling to the poor.
Endorsements
His fans gave Federer the name of G.O.A.T. (greatest of all times). The athlete, after his rank in ATP, made his rank on number 5 in the Forbes. One of the highest-paid athlete list according to his net worth of $450 million. He is sponsored by various clothing brands, making him the ambassador of Nike. The extend in sponsorship of Mercedes-Benz China made it a global partnership deal.
Private Life
Federer married a tennis player Miroslava Federer on April 11, 2009. He met the Women’s Tennis Association player at the 2000 Sydney Olympics while they were both playing for Switzerland. In the same year of marriage, Mrs Federer gave birth to identical twin baby girls. In the year 2014, the couple again had a pair of identical twins, and this time it was boys.
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