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Nesta · 01-25-2007, 06:00 AM

Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981) is a Swiss tennis professional, currently ranked World No. 1, whose achievements rank him among the most successful players of all time. Many observers, including many of his peers, believe he may prove to be the greatest player ever. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

In 2004, Federer became the first man since Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three out of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments in the same year. In 2006, Federer repeated this feat and became the first man in the open era to win at least ten singles championships in three consecutive years. He has won nine Grand Slam men's singles titles in 30 appearances, three Tennis Masters Cup, and 12 ATP Masters Series singles titles. He is the only player to have won both the Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles in three consecutive years (2004-2006).

He has been ranked No. 1 since February 2, 2004. His current lead in the rankings guarantees that on February 26, 2007, he will break the record for most consecutive weeks as the top-ranked male player. [7]

Personal life
Federer was born in the small town of Binningen (near Basel, Switzerland), to Swiss-German Robert Federer and South African Lynette Federer. He grew up 10 minutes from Basel proper, in suburban Münchenstein. Federer has an older sister and brother. He considers his main language German, but he also speaks French and English fluently.[8] He conducts press conferences in all three. Federer spends his off-court time playing card games, table tennis, and other sports and sitting on the beach. He 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. Its goals include funding projects that benefit disadvantaged children, primarily in South Africa. In January 2005, he encouraged efforts from tennis players for the people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 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 2003.

On April 3, 2006, Federer was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador to UNICEF,[9] which helps poor children from all parts of the world. He made his first official trip as Goodwill Ambassador on December 23, 2006, when he visited children in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a region devastated by the December 26, 2004 tsunami. "It's amazing to see how young people are using the rebuilding process as an opportunity to improve their lives and strengthen their community," said Federer. "The way these children are bouncing back from even the toughest tragedy is a testament to their resiliency."[10]
Grand Slam tournaments

In 2001, Federer ended Pete Sampras's 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon in the fourth round.

By winning Wimbledon in 2003, Federer joined Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash, and Björn Borg as the only players to win both the juniors' and men's Wimbledon championships.

Federer's victory at the 2004 U.S. Open marked the first time in the open era that anyone had won his first four Grand Slam finals. He eventually won his first seven Grand Slam finals before losing to Rafael Nadal in the 2006 French Open final. Only Federer, American Richard Sears, and Briton William Renshaw won their first seven Grand Slam singles finals. As of the end of 2006, Federer had won nine of ten Grand Slam singles finals, the highest percentage among the twelve players with at least eight career Grand Slam singles titles.

Federer lost in a semifinal of both the 2005 Australian Open and 2005 French Open tournaments to the eventual winner: Marat Safin in Melbourne and Nadal in Paris. Both Safin and Nadal were celebrating their respective birthdays on the day they defeated Federer.

With his victory over Marcos Baghdatis at the 2006 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win three consecutive Grand Slam titles since Sampras in 1993-94.

Federer is the only male tennis player to have won eight Grand Slam singles titles in three years (2004-2006).

By reaching the final of the 2007 Australian Open, Federer became the first man in the open era to reach seven consecutive Grand Slam finals.
By reaching the semifinals at the 2007 Australian Open, Federer broke Ivan Lendl's previous record of ten consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances with his eleventh semifinal appearance.

By winning the 2006 U.S. Open, Federer became the only male player (and the only player in the open era) to win both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year for three consecutive years.

Federer has won four consecutive men's singles titles at Wimbledon (2003-2006), a feat accomplished only by Borg and Sampras in the open era. In the 28 matches Federer played at Wimbledon during those years, he dropped just five sets. In comparison, Borg and Sampras lost fifteen and fourteen sets respectively over a similar four-year period.

Tennis Masters Cup
In 2004, Federer became the first player since Ivan Lendl in 1986-87 to win back-to-back Tennis Masters Cup titles without losing a match.
In 2006, Federer became the first man since Lendl to reach the final of four consecutive Tennis Masters Cups. Lendl reached a record nine consecutive finals at that event.

Federer extended his run as the only person to remain unbeaten in the round robin stage of the Tennis Masters Cup 2006 for a record five years. He went on to win the tournament, defeating James Blake in three sets 6-0, 6-3, 6-4, winning his third Masters Cup in 2006.

ATP Masters Series tournaments
Federer owns 12 Tennis Masters Series shields, one more than Pete Sampras. He is second only to Andre Agassi, who owns 17 shields.

In 2005, Federer became the first player to win four Tennis Masters Series titles in one year. He repeated this feat in 2006.

Federer is only the third player to have won all four North American Masters Series events in a career (along with Agassi and Michael Chang).

Federer broke the previous record for consecutive matches won in Tennis Masters Series events when he defeated Tommy Haas in the third round of the 2006 Nasdaq 100 Open in Key Biscayne, Florida. The previous record was nineteen by Sampras. Federer's streak reached 29 matches before he lost to Rafael Nadal in the final of the 2006 Monte Carlo Open.

By winning the 2006 Nasdaq 100 Open title, Federer became the only player in history to win the first two Tennis Masters Series events of the year two years in a row.[15]

Ranking and points
In 1999, Federer became the youngest player (18 years, 4 months) in the ATP ranking's year end top 100.
Federer is the fifth player in the history of the ATP computer rankings to be the top ranked player every week during a calendar year (2005 and 2006). The others are Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, and Lleyton Hewitt.
With his tournament victory at the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, Federer set a new record of 1,674 ATP Race points, eclipsing his 2005 record of 1,345. He had also held the previous record of 1,267 points in 2004, which had broken Andy Roddick's 907-point total in 2003.

With year-end ATP tour ranking points of 6,335 in 2004, 6,725 in 2005, and 8,370 in 2006, Federer finished 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 high was Sampras' 5,097 points in 1994.

Federer holds the record for the highest ranking points at any time of the year: 8,370 points on November 20, 2006.

As of January 22, 2007, Federer has held the top spot on the ATP rankings for 156 consecutive weeks. Federer's win at the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup mathematically guaranteed that he will surpass Connors' all-time record for most consecutive weeks atop the men's rankings—160 weeks—on February 26, 2007. Only John McEnroe (170 weeks), Connors (268 weeks), Lendl (270 weeks), and Sampras (286 weeks) have spent more weeks in total as the top ranked player than Federer.

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