Some people are born to accomplish great things, that too in convincing manners. Roger Federer certainly was among them. Right from the very beginning, Federer has this special association of a champion with him, and he has quite fittingly lived up to that.
The living tennis legend was born on the 8th of August 1981 in Switzerland, where he started his initial tennis career. It has been reported that Federer’s initial interests were tennis and soccer; however, as he matured during those young years of his life, he focused all his efforts on tennis and certainly got the rewards as well.
By the age of 11, he had made it among the top-3 junior tennis players in the country before becoming the National Junior Champion at 14. Nobody knew Wimbledon was going to be his love for the ages, as he won the junior Wimbledon title in 1998. However, that was just the first of many Wimbledon titles to come into the living tennis legend’s life.
In 2001, Federer announced his arrival around the Wimbledon circuit as he knocked the defending Wimbledon champion, Pete Sampras, out of the event that year. Furthermore, his first men’s singles title came in 2003, when he became the first Swiss man to get his hands on the coveted Wimbledon trophy. That was also the first-ever grand slam won by a Swiss national. Federer rose to the 2nd spot on the ATP rankings in 2004, and in the same year, he won The Australian Open, The ATP Masters, The US Open, and he also won his second consecutive Wimbledon title.
The unbelievable and astonishing run at Wimbledon continued for five consecutive years has Federer won five Wimbledon titles between 2003 and 2007. For more on his performance statistics, check out the Tennis Board.
During the period, Federer won the Australian Open on three occasions, winning titles in 2004, 2006, and 2007. However, the one trophy that Federer had not managed during those years was the French Open title on clay courts, partially because of the indomitable Rafael Nadal.
Such was the success of both the tennis legends that people often believed it would be Nadal on the Clay court, while Federer was on the grass ones. However, the fortunes changed in 2008. Federer had a slightly less impressive year as he won only at the US Open and lost to Nadal in the 2008 Wimbledon.
Nadal had tasted success on the grass surface, and now it was Federer’s turn. In 2009, Federer claimed his first and so far the only French Open Title, as he managed to win against Robin Soderling in the final.
In the same year, Federer won his sixth Wimbledon title. However, the more exciting feature of the victory was that it took Federer’s total number of Grand-slam titles to 15, which at that point in time was a record of its own.
Even today, on the list of Most Grand-Slam Singles Titles, Federer shares the top spot with Novak Djokovic and Clay King Rafael Nadal, each having won 20 Grand-slam titles.
To date, Federer has won 5 US Open titles, with all five of them coming in succession between 2004 and 2008.
In 2010, Federer again claimed his hands on the Australian Open title, which was his only Grand slam that year. By now, Injuries had started to halt Federer’s progress. Nevertheless, he returned to London in 2012 to win the Wimbledon title (his seven) and also claimed a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic games.
In 2014, Federer was in line for his record-breaking 8th Wimbledon title, which he missed by a narrow margin as Serbian Novak Djokovic came out victorious in the final. With age, Federer certainly had experienced a dip in his form and performance, but in 2017, he returned to form and returned with a bang. He won his eighth (most individual singles titles) Wimbledon Men’s Singles Title. He won the fifth Australian open in the same year before repeating the heroics again at the 2018 event to win his sixth open on the Aussie surface. In 2019, Federer and Djokovic had the most iconic of their matches as the two competed in the longest ever Wimbledon final that lasted four hours and 57 minutes before Djokovic won the tie-breaker.
His overall career record stands at 1251-275, with an impressive win ratio of 82%. Federer, currently at the age of 40, is still playing and playing well at this level.
Let’s hope, wish, and pray that the living tennis legend, despite all his injuries and knee surgeries, continues to play and entertain us all in this beautiful and highly competitive sport of ours.
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