Roger Federer Biographie
Roger Federer, born on August 8, 1981, is a Swiss professional tennis player. He is a former World No. 1 ranked player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Federer is considered by many to be the greatest player of all time.
Federer started playing tennis at the age of eight. He began participating in group lessons aged nine and began weekly private coaching the following year. He played football until the age of twelve when he decided to focus solely on tennis. At fourteen, he became the national champion of all groups in Switzerland and was chosen to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens. He joined the ITF junior tennis circuit in July 1996. In 1998, his final year as a junior, Federer won the junior Wimbledon title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. He was recognized as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion of the year.
In July 1998, Federer joined the ATP tour at Gstaad, where he lost to Lucas Arnold in straight sets. Although he played two more ATP tournaments in 1998, the majority of his matches were still at the Junior level. In April he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team against Italy and finished the year ranked 66th. He was the youngest player in the top 100.
In January 2000, Federer competed for the first time in the Australian Open, losing to 49th ranked Arnaud Clement of France.
Federer’s first ATP tournament victory came in February 2001 defeating Julien Boutter.
Federer reached his first Masters Series final in 2002 at the NASDAQ-100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lost to Andre Agassi.
Federer reached No. 6 in the ATP Champions Race by the end of 2002. He jumped in the rankings from 13th at the end of September to 7th but the middle of October.
In the first Grand Slam tournament of 2003, Federer lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to David Nalbandian.
Overall, Roger Federer holds numerous records in men’s singles, including 14 Grand Slam titles (3 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 5 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), equalling the all-time record set by Pete Sampras. Federer is the sixth player in history to achieve a career Grand Slam and the second to do so on three different surfaces after Andre Agassi. From 2005-07, Federer reached an all-time record 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals and has currently reached 15 of the past 16. In doing so, Federer matched the record 19 (non-consecutive) Grand Slam finals of Ivan Lendl and is now the only player to reach the final of each Grand Slam tournament at least four times. Since 2004 Wimbledon, Federer has reached 20 consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals, a streak spanning nearly five years.
Federer completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open in 2009.
Roger Federer Technique
Federer’s versatility was epitomised by Jimmy Connors’ statement: “In an era of specialists – you’re either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist or a hard court specialist… or you’re Roger Federer”. David Foster Wallace described Federer’s exceptional speed, fluidity and brute force of this forehand motion as “a great liquid whip”, while John McEnroe has referred to Federer’s forehand as “the greatest shot in our sport”. Federer plays with a single-handed backhand, and has an excellent slice, and can also fire top-spin winning shots. His serve is difficult to read because he tosses the ball in the same spot no matter where he intends to serve it and he turns his back to his opponents during his motion. His first serve is typically around 190 km/h (118 mph); however, he is capable of serving at 220 km/h (137 mph).
