| Roger Federer | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Country: | Switzerland | |
| Residence: | Wollerau, Schwyz (Switzerland); Dubai, United Arab Emirates | |
| Date of birth: | August 8, 1981 | |
| Place of birth: | Basel, Switzerland | |
| Height: | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | |
| Weight: | 85.0 kg (187 lb; 13.39 st) | |
| Turned pro: | 1998 | |
| Plays: | Right-handed; one-handed backhand | |
| Career prize: money | US$44,644,857 | |
Career Path:
In July 1998, Federer joined the ATP tour at Gstaad. The following year he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team against Italy and finished the year as the youngest player (for the year) inside ATP's top 100 ranking. In 2000, Federer reached the semifinals at the Sydney Olympics and lost the bronze medal match to Arnaud di Pasquale of France. Federer reached his first final in Marseille which he lost to Marc Rosset and was also the runner-up in Basel. He failed to make an impression at Grand Slams and Masters Series tournaments, and ended the year ranked 29th.
2001
Federer's first ATP tournament victory came in February, when he defeated Julien Boutter in the final of the Milan Indoor, where his tennis idol Stefan Edberg had won his first career title in 1984. During the same month, he won three matches for his country in its 3–2 Davis Cup victory over the United States. He later reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, defeating four-time defending champion and seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round in a closely fought 5 set match 7–6(7), 5–7, 6–4, 6–7(2), 7–5, a victory that many consider to be the turning point of his career, as well as ending Sampras's 31-match winning streak in the tournament.He then finished the year ranked 13th. Also he won the Hopman Cup with Martina Hingis.
2002
Federer reached his first ATP Masters Series (AMS) final at the Miami Masters, where he lost to Andre Agassi. He won his next AMS final in Hamburg. He also won both his Davis Cup singles matches against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Despite early-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open and the untimely, devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in August,[24] Federer reached No. 6 in the ATP Champions Race by the end of the year and thus qualified for the first time in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup. His run at the tournament was ended in the semifinals by then #1 seeded and ranked Lleyton Hewitt (who eventually went on to win the Cup).
2003
Federer challenged for the top ranking in men's tennis during 2003, finishing the year at World No. 2 just behind Andy Roddick and just ahead of Juan Carlos Ferrero.
In the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, Federer lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to David Nalbandian. He then won two hard court tournaments in Marseille and Dubai before being upset in early round matches at the Tennis Masters Series (TMS) tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.
On clay, Federer won the tournament in Munich, was the runner-up at the TMS tournament in Rome, and lost in the third round of the TMS tournament in Hamburg. Although Federer was seeded fifth at the French Open, he lost to Luis Horna in the first round.
Federer won both of the grass court tournaments he played. He defeated Nicolas Kiefer in the final of the tournament in Halle before winning his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon. He defeated Roddick in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis in the final and lost only one set during the tournament, to Mardy Fish in the third round.
During the North American summer hard court season, Federer lost to Roddick in the semifinals of the TMS tournament in Montreal and to Nalbandian in the second round of the TMS tournament in Cincinnati. At the US Open, Nalbandian again defeated Federer, this time in the fourth round.
During the autumn, Federer played four consecutive indoor tournaments in Europe. He won the tournament in Vienna but failed to reach the finals of the tournament in Basel and the TMS tournaments in Madrid and Paris.
To end the year, Federer won the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston. As the third-seeded player, he defeated Andre Agassi, Nalbandian, and Ferrero during the round robin phase before beating top-seeded Roddick in the semifinals and Agassi in the final.
2004
Federer had one of the most dominating and successful years in the open era of modern men's tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments, did not lose a match to anyone ranked in the top ten, won every final he reached, and was named the ITF Tennis World Champion. His win–loss record for the year was 74–6 with 11 titles.
Federer won his first Australian Open singles title by defeating Marat Safin in the final in straight sets. This win helped him succeed Andy Roddick as the World No. 1, a ranking he would hold for four years until August 18, 2008. He successfully defended his Wimbledon singles title by defeating Roddick in the final and won his first US Open singles title by defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Federer was the top-seeded player at the Athens Olympics but lost in the second round to Tomáš Berdych 4–6, 7–5, 7–5. Federer finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston for the second consecutive year, defeating Hewitt in the final. Federer's only loss at a Grand Slam tournament was at the French Open, where he lost to former World No. 1 and 3-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets.
Federer did not have a coach during 2004, relying instead on his fitness trainer Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac, and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec, and a few friends.
2005
To begin the year, Federer hired former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis. He then reached the Australian Open semifinals before falling to eventual winner Marat Safin in a five-set night match that lasted more than four hours, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(6), 9–7. He rebounded to win the year's first two ATP Masters Series (AMS) titles: Indian Wells (by defeating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in straight sets) and Miami (by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in five sets after being down two sets to love). He won his third Hamburg clay court title in May by defeating Richard Gasquet, to whom he had earlier lost in Monte Carlo. He then entered the French Open as one of the favorites, but lost in the semifinals in four sets to eventual winner Nadal.
Federer successfully defended his Wimbledon title, winning for the third consecutive year by defeating Andy Roddick in a rematch of the previous year's final. Federer also defeated Roddick in Cincinnati to take his fourth AMS title of the year (and sweep all the American AMS events) and become the first player in AMS history to win four titles in one season. He then dropped only two sets en route to his second consecutive US Open title, defeating Andre Agassi in four sets in the final. He became the first man in the open era to win Wimbledon and the US Open back-to-back in consecutive years (2004 and 2005). He failed to defend his Tennis Masters Cup title, however, losing to David Nalbandian of Argentina in a four-and-a-half hour, five-set match.[34] Had he won the match, he would have finished the year 82–3, tying John McEnroe's 1984 record for the highest yearly winning percentage in the open era.
2006
Federer won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments and ended the year ranked number one, with his points ranking several thousand points greater than that of his nearest competitor, Rafael Nadal. Federer won the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, by defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. In March, Federer successfully defended his titles at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters, and became the first player ever to win the Indian Wells-Miami double in consecutive years. Federer then started the clay-court season by reaching the final of the ATP Masters Series (AMS) event at Monte Carlo losing in four sets to Rafael Nadal. He then reached a consecutive AMS final, along with Nadal, at the Rome Masters where it seemed as though Federer would finally defeat his rival on clay; however, Nadal won the epic five-set match, which lasted five hours, in the decisive tiebreak after saving two match points.[37] Federer chose not to defend his title at the Hamburg Masters, where he had won in the previous two years. At the French Open, Federer lost in the final to defending champion Nadal in four sets. Had he won the French Open, he would have completed a career Grand Slam and become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time. Although the clay Grand Slam title eluded him, he became one of only two then-active players who had reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, the other being Andre Agassi.
Federer entered Wimbledon as the top seed and reached the final without dropping a set. There, Federer beat Nadal in four sets to win the championship. This was Federer's fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. Federer then started his North American tour and won the 2006 Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Richard Gasquet of France in the final. In the year's last Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, he defeated American Andy Roddick in four sets for his third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows. During the open era, 2006 is the only year in which same man (Federer) and woman (Justine Henin) reached the finals of all four Grand Slams. At the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup at Shanghai, Federer defeated defending champion David Nalbandian in one of his three round robin matches and Nadal in a semifinal. Federer then defeated American James Blake 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 in the final to win his third Masters Cup title. In 2006, Federer lost to only two players: Nadal in the French Open, Rome, Monte Carlo, and Dubai finals; and Andy Murray in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. The Cincinnati loss to Murray was Federer's only straight-sets loss of the year and the only tournament out of 17 (Davis Cup excluded) in which he did not reach the final.
2007
Federer won his third Australian Open and tenth Grand Slam singles title when he, as defending champion, won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Fernando González of Chile in the final. He was the first man since Björn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament without losing a set. winning streak of 41 consecutive matches ended when he lost to Guillermo Cañas in the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, after winning this tournament three consecutive years. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Federer again lost to Cañas, this time in the fourth round in three sets. He was awarded four ATP Awards during a ceremony at the tournament, making him the first player to receive four awards during the same year.
Federer started his clay-court season by reaching his second consecutive final of the Monte Carlo Masters. As in 2006, he lost to second seeded Rafael Nadal. Federer lost in the third round of the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome to Filippo Volandri.[44] This defeat meant he had gone four tournaments without a title, his longest stretch since becoming World No. 1. May 20, 2007, however, Federer defeated Nadal on clay for the first time, winning the Hamburg Masters tournament, and ending Nadal's record of 81 consecutive match wins on clay. At the French Open, Federer reached the final for the second consecutive year but lost to Nadal for the third consecutive time. The day after the final, Federer announced that he was withdrawing from the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, which he had won the last four years. He cited fatigue and fear of getting an injury.[46] He therefore entered Wimbledon for the first time without having played a warm-up grass-court tournament. Despite this, Federer once again defeated Nadal in the final, however Nadal was able to push Federer into a fifth set, with his last five-set match at Wimbledon coming from 2001 where he beat Pete Sampras. With the win over Nadal, Federer tied Björn Borg's record of five Wimbledons in a row.
Federer won the Cincinnati Masters title for the second time, beating James Blake in the final, to collect his 50th career singles title, his 14th ATP Masters Series title, and the 2007 US Open Series points race.
In the US Open final, Federer beat third seed Novak Djokovic. It was Federer's 12th Grand Slam title, tying Roy Emerson. As champion of the US Open Series points race, Federer received a bonus of $1 million, in addition to the $1.4 million prize for winning the US Open singles title.
Federer entered the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup where he lost his first round robin match to the 2007 Australian Open runner-up, Fernando González, 3–6 7–6(1) 7–5 . This marked the first time a player had defeated Federer in the round robin of the Tennis Masters Cup and González's first win against Federer. Federer went on to defeat Rafael Nadal 6–4, 6–1 in the semifinals and David Ferrer in the finals 6–2, 6–3, 6–2.
On November 19, 2007, in an exhibition match in Seoul between players recognized as among the greatest ever, Federer defeated former World No. 1 Pete Sampras 6–4, 6–3. This was the first of three exhibitions the two played in Asia. "I feel pretty good", Sampras told Korean television after the match. "I made it competitive, which was my goal. Obviously Roger is the best player in the world and I retired five years ago. I am grateful that he invited me." Federer was equally happy with the workout: "Pete was one of my idols growing up and it's great to play him. It wasn't easy for me, it wasn't easy for him as he's been retired five years. I am number one and everyone expects me to win." days later, Sampras again lost to Federer 7–6, 7–6. However, Sampras won the last match of the series 7–6(6), 6–4, though his stated goal was to just win a set.
2008
Federer began the year by attempting to defend his title at the Australian Open. He lost, however, in the semifinals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5). This ended his male record of ten consecutive Grand Slam finals. It was the first time that Federer had lost in straight sets in a Grand Slam singles match since he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open. His last straight-sets loss at a hard court Grand Slam tournament was during the fourth round of the 2002 US Open.
In March, Federer revealed that he had recently been diagnosed with mononucleosis and that he may have suffered from it as early as December 2007. Federer also had an illness related to food poisoning prior to the start of the Australian Open. He noted, however, that he was now "medically cleared to compete".
Although Federer was seeded first and was the defending champion at the Dubai Tennis Championships, he lost to Andy Murray in the first round with a score of 6–7(6), 6–3, 6–4. On March 10, Federer won his third exhibition match out of four against former World No. 1 and fourteen-time Grand Slam singles titlist Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden in New York City 6–3, 6–7, 7–6.
At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Tennis Masters Series event of the year, Federer lost in the semifinals to American Mardy Fish for the first time, thus ending his 41-match winning streak against American players dating back to August 2003.'s next tournament was the Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lost in the quarterfinals to American Andy Roddick. Roddick's last official win against him was in 2003.
Federer began the clay court season at the Estoril Open in Portugal, which was his first optional clay-court tournament since Gstaad in 2004[citation needed] and his first tournament with coach José Higueras won his first tournament of the year when Nikolay Davydenko retired from the final while trailing 7–6, 1–2 with a leg ligament strain.
Federer then played three Masters Series tournaments on clay. At the Masters Series Monte Carlo, Federer lost to three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the final in straight sets. Federer made 44 unforced errors, lost a 4–0 lead in the second set, and fell to 1–7 against Nadal on clay courts.[54] At the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome, Federer lost in the quarterfinals to Radek Štěpánek 7–6(4), 7–6(7). Federer was the defending champion at the Masters Series Hamburg and won his first four matches in straight sets to set up a repeat of the previous year's final against Nadal. In the first set of the final, Federer built a 5–1 lead and served for the set twice. Nadal, however, won six consecutive games to win the set 7–5. Nadal again broke Federer's serve in the opening game of the second set, but Federer broke back and won the set 7–6(3). Nadal then won the third set 6–3 and the tournament.
At the French Open, Federer was defeated quickly by Nadal in the final 6–1, 6–3, 6–0. last time Federer had lost a set 6–0 was his first round match in 1999 against Byron Black at the Artois Championships played at Queen's Club in London. This was also the fourth consecutive year that Federer and Nadal had played at the French Open, with Federer losing his third consecutive final to Nadal as well as their semifinal match in 2005. Federer's record of 23-4 (2005-08) at the French Open is second only to Nadal's record of 28-0 during the same period.
Federer bounced back by winning the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany without dropping a set or a service game. This was the fifth time he had won this event. With this result, he tied Pete Sampras's record for most titles on grass in the open era with ten.
At Wimbledon, Federer reached his 17th consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinal and his 16th Grand Slam final, tying Björn Borg for fourth most in male tennis history. He once again played World No. 2 Nadal in the final. A victory for Federer would mean his sixth consecutive Wimbledon singles title, breaking Borg's modern era record and equaling the all-time record held since 1886 by William Renshaw. Federer saved two championship points in the fourth set tiebreak but eventually lost the match 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(8), 9–7. The rain-delayed match ended in near darkness after 4 hours, 48 minutes of play, making it the longest (in terms of elapsed time) men's final in Wimbledon recorded history, and 7 hours, 15 minutes after its scheduled start. The defeat also ended Federer's 65 match winning streak on grass. John McEnroe described the match as "The greatest match I've ever seen." Nadal surpassed him as World No. 1 later in the year, Federer stated that his main goal would be to regain the Wimbledon title rather than the top spot.
Federer made early exits in his next two singles tournaments. the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, Federer lost in the second round to Gilles Simon after receiving a first round bye. At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Federer was the defending champion but lost in the third round to Ivo Karlović for the first time in seven matches between them.
Federer was chosen to carry the national flag at the Beijing Olympics. At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Federer lost in the quarterfinals to James Blake for the first time in their nine matches. Federer however, finally won his first Olympic gold medal in the men's doubles when he and compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka upset the World No. 1 doubles team of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the United States in the semifinals and defeated Sweden's Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final, 6–3, 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–3. The following day, Federer lost his World No. 1 ranking to Nadal after a record 237 consecutive weeks.
At the US Open, Federer reached the fourth round without dropping a set. There, he defeated Russian Igor Andreev 6–7(5), 7–6(5), 6–3, 3–6, 6–3. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Gilles Müller in straight sets and then, in a rematch of the 2007 US Open final, he topped third-seeded Novak Djokovic in the semifinals 6–3, 5–7, 7–5, 6–2. On a Monday final, he defeated Andy Murray 6–2, 7–5, 6–2 to win his 13th Grand Slam title and his fifth straight US Open title and extended his US Open winning streak to 34 matches. became the first player in tennis history to have five consecutive wins at both Wimbledon and the US Open.
At the 2008 Madrid Masters, Federer reached the semifinals without losing a set. His run ended when he lost to Murray, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5. Meanwhile, he became the all-time leader in career prize money in men's tennis, earning over US$43.3 million at the end of the tournament and surpassing former World No. 1 and 14-time Grand Slam champion, Pete Sampras.
Federer won his 57th career title at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, beating David Nalbandian in the final, 6–3, 6–4. He became the only player to win the title three consecutive years. He reached the quarterfinals of his next event, the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris before withdrawing because of back pain. This was the first time in Federer's career of 763 matches that he had withdrawn from a tournament. This meant that 2008 was his first since 2003 in which he did not win a Masters Series title.
Federer entered the Tennis Masters Cup as the top-seeded player after Nadal withdrew from the tournament. He drew Gilles Simon, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick in the Red Group. In his opening match, Federer lost to Simon 4–6, 6–4, 6–3. Simon became just the second man to defeat Federer in the round robin stage of the Tennis Masters Cup. Federer kept his hopes alive by defeating Roddick's replacement, Radek Stepanek, 7–6(4), 6–4. In his third match, he faced Murray in a repeat of the US Open final and Madrid semifinal. Murray went on to win the match 4–6, 7–6(3), 7–5, although Federer came back from trailing 5–2 in the second set and 3–0 in the third set. Federer had also received medical treatment for back and hip problems in the third set and lost after saving seven match points. This was the first time that Federer had not advanced to the semifinal stage of the event. However, Federer still ended the year ranked World No. 2.
2009
After losing the exhibition championship Capitala World Tennis to Andy Murray in the semi-finals in Abu Dhabi,[70] Federer began his 2009 campaign by reaching the semifinals of the ATP World Tour 250 series Qatar ExxonMobil Open, before losing to Andy Murray 6–7(6), 6–2, 6–2.
Federer won the Kooyong AAMI Classic, an exhibition tournament after defeating Carlos Moya 6–2, 6–3 and Fernando Verdasco 6–3, 3–6, 7–6 and compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka 6–1, 6–3 in the final.
In the first round of the Australian Open, Federer beat Andreas Seppi 6–1, 7–6, 7–5. He then progressed onto the second round where he faced hard-hitting Russian Evgeny Korolev. Federer had a comfortable win over his opponent, 6–2, 6–3, 6–1. He faced Russian Marat Safin in the third round, whom he defeated in straight sets 6–3, 6–2, 7–6. In the fourth round, Federer came back from 2 sets down to defeat Tomas Berdych 4–6, 6–7(5), 6–4, 6–4, 6–2. Federer extended his semifinal record by defeating the number 8 seed, Juan Martin del Potro 6–3, 6–0, 6–0 in the quarterfinal in only 80 minutes and advancing to his 19th consecutive Grand Slam semifinal. Federer defeated Andy Roddick 6–2, 7–5, 7–5 to advance to his 18th Grand Slam Final (equaling Pete Sampras' Grand Slam final record and one behind the all time record set by Ivan Lendl). In the final, Federer was defeated by long-time rival Rafael Nadal, in their first hard-court meeting at a major. The match lasted over four hours, requiring 5 sets to finish, where Nadal was victorious, 5-7, 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3, 2-6. Federer broke down in tears during the trophy presentation and struggled to make his runner-up speech afterwards.Roger blamed the rhythm of his first serve which caused his defeat against rivalry Rafael Nadal.
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