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Roger Federer

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Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Country: Switzerland
Residence: Oberwil, SUI
Height: 185 cm (6'1")
Weight: 80 kg (177 lbs.)
Plays: Right- with one handed backhand.
Turned pro: 1998
Highest singles ranking: 1 (2004-02-02)
Singles titles: 32
Career Prize Money: $19,336,073
Grand Slam Record
Titles: 6
Australian Open W ('04)
French Open SF ('05)
Wimbledon W ('03, '04, '05)
U.S. Open W ('04, '05)

Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland) is a 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. He has been praised by critics for his excellent shot making ability along with a profound and fluent style of play. Sometimes nicknamed "the Swiss Genius," while some claim he has the potential to be one of the greatest tennis players the game has produced, tennins analysts point out that he is playing in a time of unusually thin competition, with an aged Andre Agassi and a frustrated Andy Roddick being his primary and insufficient competitors. Critics point out that even at the twilight of his career Pete Sampras was able to handily defeat both players, as was so aptly demonstrated in the 2002 US Open. While at the beginning of Sampras' career he had to defeat players such as John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Jim courier, and a young, fierce Andre Agassi, Federer has only had to defeat competition that Sampras was beating in his 30's. At this point, most experts agree, any claims that Federer's skills approach those of Sampras are not only premature, but errant and misguided. Nonetheless, Federer is still an impressive talent who is clearly the dominant player of the present generation.

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.

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.

2005 began with 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 the year's first two ATP Masters Series titles at Indian Wells and Miami. He won his third Hamburg Masters clay court title in May, 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. 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 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.

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.

Biography

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

His father met Roger's mother while on a business trip to South Africa for the Basel based chemical company Ciba Specialty Chemicals. 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 nursing student, and lives in Miami, Florida. 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, whose 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.

Style

See Roger Federer's playing style for an extensive description.

Equipment

Roger Federer currently uses the Wilson nSix-One tour tennis racquet.

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.

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 Björn 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 Björn 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.
  • After his victory against Victor Hanescu in the quarterfinals of the French Open, he became the second active player (the other is Andre Agassi) to have reached the semi-finals at four consecutive grand slam events.
  • 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 84 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 Björn 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 a Grand Slam event (Wimbledon) the year after having won three Grand Slam events in the same year.
  • His dog's name is Skip.
  • 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.
  • Victory in Cincinnati meant that Federer had become the first player to win four Tennis Masters 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 with 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 25 matches including tournament wins at Halle, Wimbledon, Cincinnati, and the US Open. 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 years (2003: 78-17, 2004: 74-6, 2005: 71-3).
  • By winning the US Open in September 2005, Federer won his 23rd 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.
  • He is now 6-0 in Grand Slam finals; the best since Tony Trabert when he won his first 5 finals between 1953-1955.
  • He becomes the first man to win the rare double-double -- Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in back-to-back years-- since Budge (1937-38), and only the third man ever. (First to do that in Open Era)
  • Federer's win in the 2005 US Open finals was his 35th consecutive win on the hardcourt surface, breaking a 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

Titles (39)

Legend
Grand Slam (6)
Tennis Masters Cup (2)
ATP Masters Series (8)
ATP Tour (16)
Titles by Surface
Hard (20)
Clay (5)
Grass (6)
Carpet (1)

Singles (32)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. Jan 29, 2001 Milan, Italy Carpet Julien Boutter (France) 6-4 6-7 6-4
2. Jan 7, 2002 Sydney, Australia Hard Juan Ignacio Chela (Argentina) 6-3 6-3
3. May 13, 2002 Hamburg, Germany Clay Marat Safin (Russia) 6-1 6-3 6-4
4. Oct 7, 2002 Vienna, Austria Hard Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) 6-4 6-1 3-6 6-4
5. Feb 10, 2003 Marseille, France Hard Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 6-2 7-6
6. Feb 24, 2003 Dubai, UAE Hard Jiri Novak (Czech Republic) 6-1 7-6
7. Apr 28, 2003 Munich, Germany Clay Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 6-1 6-4
8. Jun 9, 2003 Halle, Germany Grass Nicolas Kiefer (Germany) 6-1 6-3
9. Jun 23, 2003 Wimbledon, London, Britain Grass Mark Philippoussis (Australia) 7-6 6-2 7-6
10. Oct 6, 2003 Vienna, Austria Hard Carlos Moya (Spain) 6-3 6-3 6-3
11. Nov 10, 2003 Tennis Masters Cup, Houston, USA Hard Andre Agassi (USA) 6-3 6-0 6-4
12. Jan 19, 2004 Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard Marat Safin (Russia) 7-6 6-4 6-2
13. Mar 1, 2004 Dubai, UAE Hard Feliciano López (Spain) 4-6 6-1 6-2
14. March 8, 2004 Indian Wells, USA Hard Tim Henman (UK) 6-3 6-3
15. May 10, 2004 Hamburg, Germany Clay Guillermo Coria (Argentina) 4-6 6-4 6-2 6-3
16. Jun 7, 2004 Halle, Germany Grass Mardy Fish (USA) 6-0 6-3
17. Jun 24, 2004 Wimbledon, London, Britain Grass Andy Roddick (USA) 4-6 7-5 7-6 6-4
18. Jul 5, 2004 Gstaad, Switzerland Clay Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-2 6-3 5-7 6-3
19. Jul 26, 2004 Toronto, Canada Hard Andy Roddick (USA) 7-5 6-3
20. Sep 12, 2004 U.S. Open, New York, USA Hard Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-0 7-6 6-0
21. Sep 27, 2004 Bangkok, Thailand Hard Andy Roddick (USA) 6-4 6-0
22. Nov 15, 2004 Tennis Masters Cup, Houston, USA Hard Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-3 6-2
23. Jan 3, 2005 Doha, Qatar Hard Ivan Ljubičić (Croatia) 6-3 6-1
24. Feb 14, 2005 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard Ivan Ljubičić (Croatia) 5-7 7-5 7-6
25. Feb 21, 2005 Dubai, UAE Hard Ivan Ljubičić (Croatia) 6-1 6-7 6-3
26. Mar 07, 2005 Indian Wells, USA Hard Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 6-2 6-4 6-4
27. Mar 23, 2005 Miami, USA Hard Rafael Nadal (Spain) 2-6 6-7 7-6 6-3 6-1
28. May 9, 2005 Hamburg, Germany Clay Richard Gasquet (France) 6-3 7-5 7-6
29. Jun 6, 2005 Halle, Germany Grass Marat Safin (Russia) 6-4 6-7 6-4
30. Jun 21, 2005 Wimbledon, London, Britain Grass Andy Roddick (USA) 6-2 7-6 6-4
31. Aug 21, 2005 Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Hard Andy Roddick (USA) 6-3 7-5
32. Sep 11, 2005 U.S. Open, New York, USA Hard Andre Agassi (USA) 6-3 2-6 7-6 6-1

Singles Finalist (8)

  • 2000: Marseille (lost to Marc Rosset)
  • 2000: Basel (lost to Thomas Enqvist)
  • 2001: Rotterdam (lost to Nicolas Escude)
  • 2001: Basel (lost to Tim Henman)
  • 2002: Milan (lost to Davide Sanguinetti)
  • 2002: Miami AMS (lost to Andre Agassi)
  • 2003: Rome AMS (lost to Felix Mantilla)
  • 2003: Gstaad (lost to Jiri Novak)

Performance timeline

Tournament 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 Career
Australian Open SF W 4r 4r 3r 3r - - 1
French Open SF 3r 1r 1r QF 4r 1r - 0
Wimbledon W W W 1r QF 1r 1r - 3
U.S. Open W W 4r 4r 4r 3r - - 2
Tennis Masters Cup W W SF - - - - 2
Grand Slam Win-Loss 24-2 22-1 13-3 6-4 13-4 7-4 0-2 0-0 78-20
Tournaments Played 13 17 24 25 21 28 14 3 141
Finals reached 10 11 9 5 3 2 0 0 38
Tournaments Won 10 11 7 3 1 0 0 0 32
Hardcourt Win-Loss 45-1 46-4 46-11 30-11 21-9 21-15 4-5 2-2 208-57
Grass Win-Loss 12-0 12-0 12-0 5-3 9-3 2-3 0-2 0-0 52-11
Carpet Win-Loss 0-0 0-0 5-2 11-4 10-4 10-5 9-5 0-0 45-20
Clay Win-Loss 14-2 16-2 15-4 12-4 9-5 3-7 0-5 0-1 69-30
Overall Win-Loss 71-3 74-6 78-17 58-22 49-21 36-30 13-17 2-3 374-119
ATP Race points 1210 1267 875 518 349 216 N/A N/A N/A
ATP Entry Ranking pointsTemplate:Fn 6335 4375 2590 1745 1080 749 119 N/A
Year End RankingTemplate:Fn 1 2 6 13 29 64 301 N/A

Template:Fnb: End of Year Ranking points only. ATP Entry System is a rolling 52-week calculation. The highest number of ranking points ever achieved by Federer for a rolling 52-week was 6980 points in the rankings published by ATP on June 6 and June 13, 2005. Template:Fnb: Ranking based on the year-end 52-week ATP Entry Ranking, not ATP Race.

Doubles (7)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. Feb 19, 2001 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) Petr Pala / Pavel Vizner (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-0
2. Aug 9, 2001 Gstaad, Switzerland Clay Marat Safin (Russia) Michael Hill (Australia) / Jeff Tarango (USA) 1-0 RET
3. Feb 18, 2002 Rotterdam, Netherlands Hard Max Mirnyi (Belarus) Mark Knowles (Bahamas) / Daniel Nestor (Canada) 4-6 6-3 6-4
4. Aug 30, 2002 Moscow, Russia Carpet Max Mirnyi (Belarus) Joshua Eagle / Sandon Stolle (Australia) 6-4 7-6
5. Mar 17, 2003 Miami, USA Hard Max Mirnyi (Belarus) Leander Paes (India) / David Rikl (Czech Republic) 7-5 6-3
6. Oct 6, 2003 Vienna, Austria Hard Yves Allegro (Switzerland) Mahesh Bhupathi (India) / Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 7-6 7-5
7. Jun 6, 2005 Halle, Germany Grass Yves Allegro (Switzerland) Joachim Johansson (Sweden) / Marat Safin (Russia) 7-5 6-7 6-3

Famous matches

  • Wimbledon 2001 4th Round: defeated Pete Sampras, 7-6(7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5. Federer ended Sampras' 31-match winning streak at All England Club with a dramatic five-set victory on Centre Court. He considers this to be his biggest win because he idolized Sampras and still considers him to be the best of all time.
  • Wimbledon 2003 Final: defeated Mark Philippoussis, 7-6(5), 6-2 7-6(3). This was Federer's first Grand Slam final win, and the beginning of his dominance in men's tennis.
  • U.S. Open 2004 Quarterfinal: defeated Andre Agassi, 6-3 2-6 7-5 3-6 6-3. The match lasted two days and was concluded in extremely windy conditions (to the point where chairs were toppling over and both players could only hope to get the ball in). This match was unique in that although Federer was in-form and low on unforced errors, the match still went to five sets. Either player could have taken the match, but it was Federer who forced the error from Agassi and got the break in the fifth set.
  • U.S. Open 2004 Final: defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 6-0, 7-6(3), 6-0. Federer dominated 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 Semi-final: 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 three other longest tiebreakers of same score, to outlast the talented Safin's instinctive power play.
  • Australian Open 2005 Semi-final: defeated by Marat Safin, 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 6-7(6), 7-9 in an epic 5-set battle of talents spanning 4 hours and 28 minutes. Federer had a match point in the 4th set, but Marat Safin finally won the match at his seventh match point. Later Safin described the match as "a brain fight." In this loss, Federer actually won more points than Safin.
  • Miami Masters 2005 Final: defeated Rafael Nadal, 2-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-1 in a 3 hours and 42 minute-long epic battle. Federer was trailing at 1-4 in the third set but managed to prevail. This victory marks only the second time Federer has come back from two-sets down to win a match.
  • Wimbledon 2005 Final: defeated Andy Roddick, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-4 in the thrilling re-match of the 2004 Final. Considered one of the most dominant performances in the Finals by a defending champion.
  • US Open 2005 Final: defeated Andre Agassi, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(1), 6-1. Fought back from down a break in the third set against a rejuvenated Agassi and a boisterous pro-Agassi crowd. He considers this to be one of the biggest wins in his career. Agassi played well enough to beat just about anyone else, and after this match claimed Federer to be "the best I've ever played."

Head-to-Head

  • vs. Agassi, Andre: 8-3 (won last 8 meetings)
  • vs. Chang, Michael: 4-1
  • vs. Henman, Tim: 4-6 (won last 3 meetings)
  • vs. Ferrero, Juan Carlos: 7-3 (won last 4 meetings)
  • vs. Hewitt, Lleyton: 11-7 (won last 9 meetings)
  • vs. Gonzalez, Fernando: 5-0
  • vs. Johannson, Thomas: 7-0
  • vs. Kiefer, Nicolas: 7-3 (won last 6 meetings)
  • vs. Ljubicic, Ivan: 7-3
  • vs. Moya, Carlos: 6-0
  • vs. Nadal, Rafael: 1-2
  • vs. Nalbandian, David: 3-5 (won last 3 meetings)
  • vs. Philippoussis, Mark: 4-1
  • vs. Rafter, Patrick: 0-3
  • vs. Roddick, Andy: 10-1 (won last 6 meetings)
  • vs. Safin, Marat: 7-2
  • vs. Sampras, Pete: 1-0

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Roger Federer.

{{#invoke:Navbox|navbox | name = Tennis World ATP Number Ones (men) | title = Tennis world No. 1 men's singles players | state = autocollapse | bodyclass = hlist | nowrapitems = yes | above =

  • Current ATP world No. 1 in bold, as of week of 4 November 2024
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