Roger Federer

Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981, Basel, Switzerland) is a Swiss professional tennis player who, in 2004, became the world's top tennis player and the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three (out of four) grand slam events in the same year. He currently seems to be the only Swiss person with superstar status.

File:FedereAO05.jpg

Roger Federer blasts a perfect forehand

Tennis Career

Federer joined the ATP tour in July, 1998 at the age of 16. 1998 was also his last year in the Junior circuits and he finished the year as the World Junior Tennis champion.

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

In 2000, he reached the semifinals in the Sydney Olympics, but lost the bronze-medal deciding match. He also managed to reach the finals in Basel and Marseille but couldn't convert them into championship wins.

In February, 2001, Federer won his first ATP tournament in Milan. In the same month, he famously won 3 matches for his country in the Davis Cup in a 3-2 decider to eliminate the Unites States team from the first round for the first time since 1993. He also advanced to the quarterfinals at both the French Open and Wimbledon. En route to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, he beat Pete Sampras in the fourth round, ending Sampras's record of 31 consecutive wins at Wimbledon. This match marked the emergence of Federer as a prominent player on the tour.

2002 was a little disappointing for Federer as he could not get past the fourth rounds at the any of the Grand Slams. He also lost his long time Austrailan coach Peter Carter in a car crash in August. Earlier in February, he won both his Davis Cup singles against Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, but couldn't help Switzerland get past the first round. In the ATP tour, he performed well enough throughout the year to qualify for the first time in the prestigious year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, where he lost in the semifinals against Lleyton Hewitt.

In 2003, he won four Davis Cup matches for Switzerland without losing a set to take them through to the semifinals. On July 6, 2003, he made history by becoming the first Swiss man to win the Wimbledon championship, defeating Australia's Mark Philippoussis by a score of 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3). He finished 2003 by winning the Tennis Masters Cup without losing a match and ranking second in the ATP tour race.

In 2004, Federer completed arguably the most dominating and successful year by a tennis player in the Open era. He won the Australian Open for the first time defeating Marat Safin. In May 2004, he won the Hamburg Masters (clay) beating Guillermo Coria, the hottest clay court player in the circuit (Coria had won 31 successive clay-court matches before the final). He then defended his Wimbledon crown, overcoming Andy Roddick's power game in a rain-affected final. By winning the Gstaad tournament on clay and the Toronto Masters Series on hardcourt shortly after winning the Wimbledon on grass, he completed a rare triple of consecutive tournament victories on three different surfaces. In September, he crushed Lleyton Hewitt (6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0), in the most lop-sided final in the 120 year history of the tournament, to win the men's singles US Open grand slam event. He finished the year taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second time in a row by winning 5 straight matches against the top 8 players in the world. With a win-loss record of 74-6 (18-0 against top 10 opponents; 23-0 dating back to late 2003), and 11 tournament wins (including multiple tournament wins on hard, grass and clay surfaces), the year 2004 belonged to Federer.

Perhaps what makes 2004 truly Federer's own is that he did it without a coach (he parted ways with Swedish mentor Peter Lundgren in December 2003). Throughout 2004, Federer relied solely on his fitness trainer Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend Mirka, and a few friends. In 2005, Federer was able to convince Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.

Federer is touted by many (including his childhood idol Boris Becker, Rod Laver, and John McEnroe; see quotes ) as perhaps being the best player the world has ever produced, and the most likely player with a chance to break Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles.

Personal

Federer grew up 10 minutes from Basel proper, in suburban Münchenstein. His father, Robert, met Roger's South-African-born mother, Lynette, while on a business trip for Ciba-Geigy, South Africa (they both still work for the pharmaceutical giant). Roger has an elder sister, Diana, who is a nursing student. He speaks three languages (German, French and English) fluently and conducts press conferences in all of them.

He currently resides in Oberwil, Switzerland. He is dating former WTA player and fello Swiss Miroslava (Mirka) Vavrinec, who retired from the game in 2002 after a foot injury. The two met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Federer spends his off-court time playing cards, cricket, ping pong, other sports and sitting on the beach.

He co-established the Roger Federer Foundation in December 2003, whose goals include funding projects that benefit disadvantaged children, primarily in South Africa. In January 2005, he called for relief 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 his signature fragrance cosmetics line called RF Cosmetics in October 2003.

Style

File:Federerforehand.gif

Roger Federer executes an inside-out forehand

Federer possesses outstanding control over his racket speed, angle and topspin. Aided further by superior anticipation and unusually quick movement, he can subtly dictate the momentum and the direction of the game. He also shows rare mental adaptability and stroke-making versatility as he is known to switch his playing style in the middle of a match or tweak a few things in his game to outsmart and outplay his opponents. He displays unusual calm and an uncommon lack of visible frustration when he makes errors.

Federer has all kinds of tennis shots in his repertoire. His serves are relatively fast, hovering around 120mph. More important than the speed of his serve is his deceptive ability to produce them accurately at different angles and bounces using the same serving motion, a skill that was perfected by Pete Sampras. The Guardian points out that "[Federer's] brightest jewels [are] slow-motion aces, objects of beauty because the rare combination of insidious accuracy and slick disguise [makes] great speed redundant."Template:Fn Federer is also exceptional at reading fast serves and returning them. He doesn't punish services with his returns like Andre Agassi, preferring a steadier slice shot that neutralizes the server's advantage, but his anticipation and ability to read the return appears equal to or superior to Agassi's.

File:Federerbackhand.gif

Roger Federer executes a one-handed backhand

Federer has technically flawless forehand and backhand shots that he can unleash with great power, often at speeds near 100mph, anywhere on the court, prompting many commentators to exclaim that he makes the court look smaller or that he reduces tennis to mere ping-pong. He is one of the few top players who play with a one-handed backhand.

Federer usually plays with moderate aggression and doesn't go for the dominant shots all the time. He has a knack of creating all kinds of spectacular shots when pushed into compromising positions (usually when an opponent approaches the net expecting easy putaways): looping crosscourt backhand passes, wristy and instinctive backhand pickups from the midcourt placed at very acute angles, exceptionally accurate down-the-line backhand passing shots while on the run, a heavily-topspinned forehand crosscourt pull from the baseline that, upon bounce, spins and fades away from lunging opponents, crushing forehand shots from the baseline that land inside the service box and speed away, and more.

He has great defense at the back of the court and is exceptionally good at returning deep, close-to-the-baseline shots from his opponents with effortless, Andre Agassi-like but even better, instinctive half-volleys and John McEnroe-like behind-the-body backhand flick returns. He is among the best in the world - one might say on par with Lleyton Hewitt, but without the gritty terrier-like tenacity and with nonchalant grace - at chasing down his opponents' dominant baseline shots and keeping balls in play.

In addition to these, he deliberately "mixes up" his game to keep his opponents guessing all the time. Some of his more creative shots while not under pressure include a beautifully executed, both feet on the air, inside-out forehand from his backhand side, generated using a unique, almost-complete lateral rotation of his torso, a backhand slice - a shot not used often in men's tennis any more - to slow down the tempo of the game and dying, back-spinning dropshots placed at the foot of the net, both forehand and backhand, employed successfully from the back of the court against the fastest runners and anticipators in the game.

He has great touch at the net - his foot-movement behind his well-timed and technically perfect volleys is reminiscent of Stefan Edberg's, and his feathery light pickups of Pete Sampras's - and it has helped him win many grass tournaments including two back-to-back Wimbledons.

Federer also demonsrates uncanny disguise in his ability to hold the point of contact with the ball (and consequentially his opponent) a split second longer. In the absence of anticipatory cues, Federer's opponents can not readily get a jump on his shots. He can play down the line or crosscourt off the identical stance and seemingly identical swing - directing the ball either left or right by a subtle change in timing. As his ATP peer Tim Henman points out: "I can watch when I'm playing him and there are certain times where I will hit a shot, I will be at the net and it almost looks he's got a split second longer than most other players...Sometimes he comes across to hit a backhand pass when you feel like you've hit a good approach and it's like he has got a bit longer to hit it." Template:Fn

Federer's mastery, beyond being able to hit all shots and angles, combines a number of intangible factors, including fluid strokes with little mental interference, genius in constructing points, seamless transitions from defense to offense, an intuitive understanding of his opponent's options and likely responses, and a clear, calm mind that executes instantly. As he commented after the Australian Open 2004 final win against Safin: "I feel when a guy is going to hit the ball, I know exactly with the angles and the spins, I just feel that I've got that figured out. And that is just a huge advantage."Template:Fn Fellow ATP player Ivan Ljubicic also points out that "[Federer] usually tries to hit winner[sic] at the beginning of game which causes panic in his opponent. After that, he patiently waits for his opportunity or hits winner[sic] when needed."Template:Fn

All that being said, Federer isn't a machine; he does make human errors that belie his creative human genius, his opponents do manage to genuinely outplay him once in a while and he does have occasional bad days, although the number of those days seems to be dwindling as he matures from tournament to tournament. His only enemies seem to be fatigue and injury due to overplay, and handling those adversaries physically and mentally is also a crucial long-term skill, and it remains to be seen how Federer performs in that respect.

Template:FnbJago, Richard (Jan. 8, 2005). Cool Federer forges ahead. Template:Fnb Tennis News (Jan 15, 2005). Henman in Awe of "Incredible" Federer. Template:FnbTranscribed Interview (Feb. 1, 2004). An interview with Roger Federer. Template:FnbLjubicic, Ivan (Jan. 8, 2005) Tough without the serve.

Records

• In 1999, Federer became the youngest player (18 years, 4 months) to finish a year inside ATP Ranking's Top 100. Later his record was broken by Spain's Rafael Nadal in 2003.

• 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.

• By winning in Doha (Qatar) at the beginning of 2005, Federer won his 14th straight final dating back to Vienna, October 2003. His undefeated streak in finals is a new Open era record.

• Federer is the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986-87 to win back-to-back Masters Cup titles without losing a match.

• In 2004, Roger 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 Björn Borg in 1979 to win consecutive tournaments on three different surfaces, having captured titles at Wimbledon (grass), Gstaad (clay) and Toronto (hard) in 2004.

• 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 ATP tour ranking points since the ATP circuit began in 1990, although the points breakdown changed slightly in 2000. The previous highest 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 has the record with a .965 percentage and an 82-3 record in 1984.

• He holds a record 24 consecutive wins against top ten ranked opponents at the beginning of the 2005 season, a streak dating back to October 2003.

• He also holds a 24-matches winning streak on grass; the best since Björn Borg, who won 41 consecutive matches between 1976 and 1980.

• He has held two winning streaks that encompassed 20 consecutive matches or more (the first was a 23-match winning streak in mid 2004, and the second is a 25-match one yet to be finished), a feat only duplicated by Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg in recent times.

• In the semifinal of the Tennis Masters Cup 2004 Federer won the second set tie-break against Marat Safin with 20-18. It tied the record for the longest tie-break ever played since it was introduced in 1970. Besides Federer, only Björn Borg (1st round Wimbledon 1973 against Premjit Lall) and Goran Ivanisevic (1st round US Open 2003 against Daniel Nestor) won such a remarkable tie-break.

Awards

2003

• ATP European Player of the Year.
• Swiss Sportsman of the Year.
• Swiss of the Year.

2004

• ATP Player of the Year.
• 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. Thirty-three sports editors and journalists in over 20 countries voted.
• BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year.
• International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) Player of the Year. Also ITWA's Ambassador for Tennis award for his efforts to promote the sport.
• Golden Bagel Award. Federer is the first recipient of this award, presented to the men's pro tennis player who serves up more "bagels" (sets won 6-0), than any other player. Federer gave out 12 "bagels" in 2004. He also served 23 "bread sticks" (6-1 sets won).

2005

• Ambassador of United Nations' Year of Sport and Physical Education.

Titles (23)

Legend

Grand Slam (4)

ATP Masters Series (4)

Tennis Masters Cup (2)

ATP Tour (13)

No.	Date	Tournament	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	2001-29-01	Milan	Julien Boutter (France)	6-4 6-7 6-4
2.	2002-07-01	Sydney	Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina)	6-3 6-3
3.	2002-13-05	Hamburg	Marat Safin (Russia)	6-1 6-3 6-4
4.	2002-07-10	Vienna	Jiri Novak (Czech Republic)	6-4 6-1 3-6 6-4
5.	2003-10-02	Marseille	Jonas Björkman (Sweden)	6-2 7-6
6.	2003-24-02	Dubai	Jiri Novak (Czech Republic)	6-1 7-6
7.	2003-28-04	Munich	Jarkko Nieminen (Finland)	6-1 6-4
8.	2003-09-06	Halle	Nicolas Kiefer (Germany)	6-1 6-3
9.	2003-23-06	Wimbledon	Mark Philippoussis (Australia)	7-6 6-2 7-6
10.	2003-06-10	Vienna	Carlos Moya (Spain)	6-3 6-3 6-3
11.	2003-10-11	Tennis Masters Cup (Houston)	Andre Agassi (USA)	6-3 6-0 6-4
12.	2004-19-01	Australian Open	Marat Safin (Russia)	7-6 6-4 6-2
13.	2004-01-03	Dubai	Feliciano Lopez (Spain)	4-6 6-1 6-2
14.	2004-08-03	Indian Wells	Tim Henman (UK)	6-3 6-3
15.	2004-10-05	Hamburg	Guillermo Coria (Argentina)	4-6 6-4 6-2 6-3
16.	2004-07-06	Halle	Mardy Fish (USA)	6-0 6-3
17.	2004-21-06	Wimbledon	Andy Roddick (USA)	4-6 7-5 7-6 6-4
18.	2004-05-07	Gstaad	Igor Andreev (Russia)	6-2 6-3 5-7 6-3
19.	2004-26-07	Toronto	Andy Roddick (USA)	7-5 6-3
20.	2004-12-09	US Open	Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)	6-0 7-6 6-0
21.	2004-27-09	Bangkok	Andy Roddick (USA)	6-4 6-0
22.	2004-15-11	Tennis Masters Cup (Houston)	Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)	6-3 6-2
23.	2005-03-01	Doha	Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)	6-3 6-1

Performance Timeline

Tournament	2005	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000	1999	1998
Australian Open		W	4r	4r	3r	3r	-	-
Roland Garros		3r	1r	1r	QF	4r	1r	-
Wimbledon		W	W	1r	QF	1r	1r	-
US Open		W	4r	4r	4r	3r	-	-
Tennis Masters Cup		W	W	SF	-	-	-	-
Finals reached	1	11	9	5	3	2	0	0
Tournaments Won	1	11	7	3	1	0	0	0
Win-Loss	5-0	74-6	78-17	58-22	49-21	36-30	13-17	2-3
ATP Race points	50	1267	875	518	349	216	N/A	N/A
Year End Ranking		1	2	6	13	29	64	302

Famous Matches

• Wimbledon 2001 4th Round: defeated Pete Sampras, 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5. Federer ended Sampras's 31-match winning streak at All England Club with a dramatic five-set victory on Centre Court.

• U.S. Open 2004 Final: defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 6-0 7-6 (7/3) 6-0. Federer simply destroyed the in-form Hewitt, who was until then the hardcourt player of the season, in the most one-sided final in Open Era, handing him a double "bagel" (tennis lingo for 6-0 sets). No player had lost two sets at love in the Open final in 120 years.

• Tennis Masters Cup 2004 Semifinal: defeated Marat Safin, 6-3, 7-6 (18). Federer endured a 26-minute second set tiebreak to finally win it at 20-18, tied with the two other longest tiebreakers of same score, to outlast the talented Safin's instinctive power play.

External links

• RogerFederer.com - official site