Roger Federer (/ˈfɛdərər/ FED-ər-ər, Swiss Standard German: [ˈrɔdʒər ˈfeːdərər]; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men’s singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks (second-most of all time), including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Federer won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most since the start of the Open Era in 1968, including 20 major men’s singles titles (among which a record eight men’s singles Wimbledon titles, and an Open Era joint-record five men’s singles US Open titles) and six year-end championships.

For nearly two decades, Federer was a leading figure in men’s tennis alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, collectively known as the Big Three. A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and former ball boy, Federer won his first major singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21.^[3] For the next several years Federer was the dominant player in men’s tennis, playing in 20 out of 24 major singles finals between 2004 and 2009. He won three of the four majors and the Tour Finals in 2004, 2006, and 2007, as well as five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Federer completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three consecutive runner-up finishes to Nadal, his main rival until 2010. At age 27, he surpassed Pete Sampras‘ record of 14 major men’s singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.

Federer and Stan Wawrinka led the Switzerland Davis Cup team to their first title in 2014, following their Olympic doubles gold victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also won a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. After a half-year hiatus in 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal and a record eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2018 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win 20 major singles titles and shortly after the oldest ATP world No. 1 at the time, at age 36. In September 2022, he retired from professional tennis following the Laver Cup.

A versatile all-court player, Federer’s grace on the court made him popular among tennis fans.^[4][5] Originally lacking self-control as a junior,^[6] he transformed his on-court demeanor^[7] to become well-liked for his graciousness, winning the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 13 times. He also won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award a joint-record five times. Outside of competition, Federer played an instrumental role in the creation of the Laver Cup team competition. He is also an active philanthropist. He established the Roger Federer Foundation, which targets impoverished children in southern Africa, and has raised funds in part through the Match for Africa exhibition series. By the end of his career, Federer was routinely one of the top-ten highest-paid athletes in any sport, and ranked first among all athletes with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020.^[8]

Early life

Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland.^[9][10] A member of the Federer family, his Swiss father, Robert Federer, is from Berneck in the canton of St. Gallen and his Afrikaner mother, Lynette Federer (née Durand), is from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa.^[11] He has one sibling, his older sister, Diana,^[12] the mother of twins.^[13] Since Federer’s mother is South African, he holds both Swiss and South African citizenship.^[14][15] He is related to Swiss prelate Urban Federer as well as Swiss politician and philanthropist Barbara Schmid-Federer.^[16]

As youngsters, Federer and his elder sister Diana used to accompany their parents, both of whom worked for Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, to the company’s private tennis courts at the weekends, where he first played tennis at the age of three.^[17]

Soon after enrolling in school at the age of six, Federer became the best in his age group.^[18] Feeling that Federer had outgrown the Ciba club and needed to be amongst better juniors, his mother Lynette enrolled him at age eight in the elite junior programme of the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel, where he received his initial tennis instruction from veteran Czech coach Adolf Kacovsky.^[17] Federer began using a one-handed backhand from an early age not only because Kacovsky was a fan of it, but also because all of his childhood idols — Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and later Pete Sampras — used the stroke too.^[17] From ages 8 to 10, Federer received group and individual training from Kacovsky.^[17] At age 10, Federer began being taught at the club by Australian former tennis player Peter Carter.^[17] Federer has credited Carter for his “entire technique and coolness”.^[17]

Federer grew up playing many sports, such as badminton, basketball, football, and tennis, but he was most taken by the latter two.^[17][19] He also tried skiing and swimming and spent hours playing soft tennis on the street.^[18] He credits his hand–eye coordination to the wide range of sports he played as a child.^[20] In 1993, Federer won the under-12 Swiss national junior championships in Lucerne.^[17][21] Becoming the best junior in the country helped him decide to become a professional tennis player, so he stopped playing football at age twelve to concentrate solely on tennis, where he felt he had more control over his victories or defeats, as opposed to team sports where he relied more on the performances of his teammates.^[17][19][18] Federer was also a ball boy at his hometown Basel event, the Swiss Indoors in 1992 and 1993, and even received a medal after the 1993 final, together with the other ballboys, from tournament champion Michael Stich.^[15][22]

He was brought to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center, then located in Ecublens in the canton of Vaud, between 1995 and 1997. It was in this new setting that he learned French at the age of 14. He completed his compulsory education at La Planta secondary school in Chavannes-près-Renens and obtained his certificate in July 1997, in the upper division, commercial studies section.^[23]

Tennis career

1990s and 2000s

1995–1998: Junior years

Main article: Roger Federer junior years

In 1995, at age 13, Federer won the U14 Swiss national junior championship and was subsequently invited to train at the prestigious National Tennis Centre in the French-speaking Écublens, where he enrolled shortly after his 14th birthday.^[19][24] There, he had the opportunity to combine three hours of tennis training per day along with education, but Federer had little interest in studying and struggled to balance his education with his tennis commitments.^[17] Speaking little French and struggling with living away from home, Federer found his first months at Écublens depressing.^[17] He was the youngest player in the group and also felt singled out as the “Swiss German” by many of the students and staff at the academy, experienced mild bullying, and was often on the verge of packing his bags and returning home.^[17] Federer credits this difficult period of his life as the reason for his independent spirit.^[17]

Federer played his first ITF junior match in July 1996, at the age of 14, at a grade-2 tournament in Switzerland.^[25] He then played in the 1996 NEC World Youth Cup Final in Zürich against tennis players like Lleyton Hewitt.^[26][27] In January 1997, at age 15, Federer won both the indoor and outdoor U18 Swiss national championship, defeating the Yves Allegro who was three years older than him, in both finals.^[28] In May, Federer won his first-ever ITF junior title on the clay courts of a second-category tournament in Prato, doing so without the loss of a set.^[29] In September, Federer earned the first 12 ATP points of his career in a four-week Swiss satellite tournament in Bossonnens, thus making his debut in the ATP rankings at No. 803, just five spots ahead of future rival Lleyton Hewitt.^[28][29][30]

His main accomplishments as a junior player came at Wimbledon in 1998, when he won both the Boys’ singles final over Irakli Labadze,^[31] and the Boys’ doubles final, teamed with Olivier Rochus, defeating the team of Michaël Llodra and Andy Ram.^[32] Federer then reached the US Open Junior final, which he lost to David Nalbandian. This was the only occasion Federer lost a final on the junior circuit.^[29] He then brought his junior career to an end at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Miami, where he defeated Nalbandian in the semifinals and Guillermo Coria in the final.^[29] By the end of 1998 he had attained the No. 1 junior world ranking and was named ITF Junior World Champion.^[33] He ended his junior career at the end of 1998 with a high ranking of No. 1 in singles and No. 7 in doubles (both achieved on 31 December 1998) and a win–loss record of 78–20 in singles and 36–21 in doubles.^[34]

Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:

Australian Open: SF (1998)
French Open: 1R (1998)
Wimbledon: W (1998)
US Open: F (1998)

Junior Grand Slam results – Doubles:

Australian Open: SF (1998)
French Open: 1R (1998)
Wimbledon: W (1998)
US Open: 1R (1998)

1998–2002: Early professional career

Main article: Roger Federer’s early career

In July 1998, an almost 17-year-old Federer made his ATP debut at the Swiss Open Gstaad, in his home country of Switzerland, losing to No. 88 Lucas Arnold Ker in the first round.^[35][36] Later that year, he won his first ATP match against Guillaume Raoux in Toulouse.^[37] He then received a wildcard to the 1998 Swiss Indoors in his hometown in Basel, where he lost in the first round to former world No. 1 Andre Agassi.^[38] He finished 1998 ranked 301st in the world.^[33]

In April 1999, Federer made his Davis Cup debut in a World Group first round against Italy, defeating Davide Sanguinetti.^[39] In August, Federer won his first-ever professional title on the Challenger tour in Segovia, pairing with Sander Groen to beat Ota Fukárek and Alejandro Hernández in the final, which was played on Federer’s 18th birthday.^[40] Despite losing in the first rounds of both the French Open and Wimbledon and having just turned 18, he entered the world’s Top 100 for the first time on 20 September 1999.^[33] Later that month, Federer won his first and only singles ATP Challenger title in Brest, defeating Max Mirnyi in the final.^[41] In his first full year as a professional, Federer jumped up to world No. 64,^[24] and in doing so at 18 years and four months of age, he became the youngest player in the year-ending world top 100.^[42][43]

His first Grand Slam win came at the Australian Open, where he defeated former World No. 2 Michael Chang.^[26] His first singles final came at the Marseille Open in February 2000, where he lost to fellow Swiss Marc Rosset.^[42] Federer then entered the Top 50 in March and ended 2000 ranked 29th in the world.^[33] Federer made his Olympic debut at Sydney, where he surprised many by reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Tommy Haas and then to Arnaud Di Pasquale in the bronze medal match.^[42][44] In January 2001, Federer won the Hopman Cup representing Switzerland, along with world No. 1 Martina Hingis.^[45][46] The duo defeated the American pair of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill in the finals. Federer later said that his experience with Hingis “definitely helped me to become the player I am today.”^[47]

In 2001, Federer won his first singles title at the 2001 Milan Indoor tournament, where he defeated Julien Boutter in the final.^[42][48] Federer then reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open, losing to former world No. 2 and eventual finalist Àlex Corretja.^[49] His international breakthrough came at the Wimbledon Championships, when the 19-year-old Federer faced the four-time defending champion and all-time Grand Slam leader Pete Sampras in the fourth round. Federer defeated the No. 1 seed in a five-set match to snap Sampras’ 31-match win streak at Wimbledon before losing in the quarter-finals to Tim Henman.^[42][50][51]

In 2002, Federer reached his first Masters final at the Miami event, where he lost to Andre Agassi,^[52] but then won his first Masters title in Hamburg, defeating Marat Safin in the final; the victory put him in the top 10 for the first time.^[53] On 1 August, Federer suffered the devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in South Africa.^[33] Although he suffered first-round losses in the three tournaments he entered immediately after Carter’s death, Federer gathered himself and began playing with more determination than ever after that.^[54] After reaching the fourth round of the US Open, he won the Vienna Open,^[55] jumping from No. 13 at the end of September to No. 7 in the rankings by early November, which allowed him to qualify for the year-end Masters Cup for the first time, where he won all of his matches in the round-robin stage before losing to then-world no. 1 and eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals.^[56] At age 21, he ended 2002 ranked as the world No. 6.^[53]

2003: Grand Slam breakthrough at Wimbledon

Main article: 2003 Roger Federer tennis season

In 2003, Federer won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, beating Andy Roddick in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis in the final.^[57][58] In doing so, he joined the likes of Björn Borg, Pat Cash and Stefan Edberg as the only singles players to win both the junior and senior Wimbledon titles.^[29] In August he had a chance to take over the No. 1 ranking for the first time from Andre Agassi if he made it to the Montreal final. However, he fell in the semifinals to Roddick, in a final-set tiebreaker, leaving him 120 points behind Agassi.^[59] This, coupled with early losses to David Nalbandian at Cincinnati and the US Open, denied Federer the chance to become No. 1 in 2003.^[60]

Federer won his first and only doubles Masters event in Miami with Max Mirnyi, beating the pair of Leander Paes and David Rikl in the final.^[61] He then reached the singles final of the Rome Masters on clay, which he lost to Félix Mantilla.^[62] Federer reached nine finals on the ATP Tour and won seven of them on four different surfaces, including the 500 series events at Dubai and Vienna, defeating Jiří Novák and Carlos Moyá in the respective finals.^[63] Lastly, Federer won the year-end championships over Andre Agassi, finishing the year as world No. 2, narrowly behind Andy Roddick by only 160 points.^[64]

2004: Imposing dominance

Main article: 2004 Roger Federer tennis season

In 2004, Federer won three Grand Slam singles titles, becoming the first person to do so in a single season since Mats Wilander in 1988. His first major hard-court title came at the Australian Open over Marat Safin, making him the world No. 1 for the first time.^[65] He then won the Indian Wells on hardcourts and the Hamburg Masters on clay, beating Tim Henman and Guillermo Coria in the finals respectively, snapping the latter’s 31-match winning streak on clay.^[66] Federer won his second Wimbledon crown over Andy Roddick.^[67]

At the Summer Olympics in Athens, Federer was the clear favorite after claiming the world No. 1 ranking for the first time earlier in the year.^[65] However, he lost in the second round to 18-year-old Tomáš Berdych.^[68] He then won the Canada Masters, defeating Roddick in the final.^[69] At the US Open, Federer defeated the 2001 champion, Lleyton Hewitt, for his first title there.^[70] Federer also won his first tournament on home soil by capturing the Swiss Open in Gstaad and he wrapped up the year by winning the year-end championships for the second time after beating Hewitt in the final.^[71]

His 11 singles titles were the most of any player in two decades, and his record of 74–6 was the best since Ivan Lendl in 1986.^[72]

2005: Consolidating dominance

Main article: 2005 Roger Federer tennis season

In 2005, Federer failed to reach the finals of the first two Grand Slam tournaments, losing the Australian Open semifinal to eventual champion Safin after holding match points, and the French Open semifinal to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.^[73] However, Federer reestablished his dominance on grass, winning Wimbledon for a third time by defeating Andy Roddick.^[74] At the US Open, Federer defeated Andre Agassi in the latter’s last major final.^[75][76]

Federer also took four Masters wins: Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinnati on hard court, and Hamburg on clay.^[75] The win in Miami was particularly noteworthy as it was the first final contested between Federer and Nadal. Federer recovered from two sets down to take the final in five sets. Furthermore, Federer won two ATP 500 series events at Rotterdam and Dubai.^[75] Federer lost the year-end championships to David Nalbandian in five sets while playing through a foot injury that sidelined him for almost the rest of the season after September.^[77] He maintained his position as No. 1 for the entire season.^[75]

That year, Federer won 11 singles titles, which tied his mark during the 2004 season. Federer’s 81 match victories were the most since Pete Sampras in 1993, and his record of 81–4 (95.2%) remains the third-best winning percentage in the Open Era behind John McEnroe‘s 1984 and Jimmy Connors‘s 1974.^[78]

2006: Career-best season

Main article: 2006 Roger Federer tennis season

The 2006 season was statistically the best season of Federer’s career. In November 2011, Stephen Tignor, chief editorial writer for Tennis.com, ranked Federer’s 2006 season as statistically the second-best season of all time during the Open Era, behind Rod Laver‘s Grand Slam year of 1969.^[79]

n 2006, Federer won three Grand Slam singles titles and reached the final of the other, with the only loss coming against Nadal in the French Open.^[80] This was Federer and Nadal’s first meeting in a Grand Slam final. He was the first man to reach all four finals in a calendar year since Rod Laver in 1969. Federer defeated Nadal in the Wimbledon Championships final. In the Australian Open, Federer defeated Marcos Baghdatis,^[81] and at the US Open, Federer defeated 2003 champion Roddick.^[80] In addition, Federer reached six Masters finals, winning four on hard surfaces and losing two on clay to Nadal. Federer, however, consistently pushed Nadal to the limit on clay throughout the season taking him to fourth-set tiebreakers in Monte-Carlo and Paris, and a thrilling match in Rome that went to a deciding fifth-set tiebreaker.^[82]

Federer won one ATP 500 series event in Tokyo and captured the year-end championships for the third time in his career, again finishing the year as world No. 1.^[81] Federer only lost to two players during 2006, to Nadal four times in finals, and to 19-year-old Andy Murray in the second round of the 2006 Cincinnati Masters, in what was Federer’s only defeat before the final of a tournament that year.^[83] Federer finished the season on a 29-match winning streak, as well as winning 48 of his last 49 matches after the French Open.^[84]

Near the end of the season, he won his hometown tournament, the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland for the first time, having finished runner up in 2000 and 2001, and missing the tournament in 2004 and 2005 due to injuries.^[85]

2007: Holding off young rivals

Main article: 2007 Roger Federer tennis season

In 2007, Federer reached all four Grand Slam singles finals, winning three of them again. At the Australian Open, he became the first man since Björn Borg in 1980 to win a major without dropping a set, beating Fernando González in the final.^[86] Federer captured his fourth Dubai crown to extend his winning streak to 41 matches, the longest of his career and only five shy of the all-time record. Federer then entered Indian Wells as the three-time defending champion, but his streak ended in controversy when he was defeated by Guillermo Cañas, who had failed a drug test for illegal doping.^[87] This surprising first-round loss marked the first time that he was defeated since August 2006, a period spanning over seven months.^[88]

During the clay season, Federer snapped Nadal’s 81-match winning streak on clay, an Open-era record, in the final of the Hamburg Masters after turning the match around from a set down, including a final set bagel.^[89] This win convinced some that Federer could win the French Open to become the first man in almost 40 years to hold all four majors simultaneously, but instead he lost in a four-set final to Nadal again.^[90] At Wimbledon, Federer defeated Nadal for a second consecutive year in the final, this time in a thrilling five-set encounter that many analysts hailed as the greatest Wimbledon final since 1980. This victory equaled him with Björn Borg for the record of five consecutive Wimbledon championships.^[91]

At the Canada Masters, Federer lost in the final to Novak Djokovic in a final-set tiebreaker upset. Federer rebounded in Cincinnati to capture his fifth title of the year.^[92] Federer entered the US Open as the three-time defending champion and faced Djokovic in the final. This time, Federer prevailed in a close straight-set match.^[93] This victory moved him ahead of Laver and Borg for third on the all-time list of major championship victories. He closed out the year with victories in Basel and the year-end championships in Shanghai.^[94]

He finished the season as the year-end No. 1 for the fourth year in a row, compiling an impressive 68–9 record. After his phenomenal triple Grand Slam season yet again, Federer became the only player in history to win three majors in a year for three years (2004, 2006, 2007).^[95] It was the third consecutive