Roger Federer Biography
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player and philanthropist born on 8th August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. He was the first Swiss man to win a Grand Slam singles title and currently ranked No. 2 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He is best known for very powerful first serve up to 232 km/h (144 mph) along with strong baseline groundstrokes.
Roger Federer has both Swiss and South African citizenship. He grew up in nearby Birsfelden, Riehen, and then Münchenstein, close to the French and German borders, and he speaks Swiss German, Standard German, English and French fluently, as well as functional Italian and Swedish; Swiss German is his native language.
All male Swiss citizens are supposed to undergo compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces but in 2003 Federer was ruled “unsuitable” and was subsequently not required to fulfill his military
obligation. Instead, he served in the civil protection force and was required to pay 3% of his taxable income as an alternative.
Roger Federer Age and Height
- Age: He was born on 8th August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland (36 years as at 2017)
- Height: He is 1.85m
Roger Federer Career in Tennis
At the age of eight years Roger Federer joined the Basel junior tennis program. In 1998 while a junior player he won both the boys’ singles final over Irakli Labadze, and in doubles teamed with Olivier Rochus. While he was a junior player he won four ITF junior singles tournaments including the prestigious Orange Bowl. In 1998 he was ranked as No. 1 junior world ranking and was awarded ITF junior World Champion.
Roger Federer turned professional in 1998 and made his debut as a professional during 1998 in Gstaad, where he lost to Lucas Arnold Ker in the first round.
In 1998 he won the Wimbledon boys’ singles and doubles titles. In 2001 he knocked out reigning singles champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round. In 2003 he became the first Swiss man to win a Grand Slam title when he won at Wimbledon.
Roger Federer
In 2004 Roger Federer was ranked No. 2 in world ranking and won the Australian Open, the U.S. Open, the ATP Masters and retained the Wimbledon singles title.
At the start of 2005 he was ranked No. 1. He won the Wimbledon singles title (for a third successive year) and the U.S. Open. He held onto his No. 1 ranking upto 2008.
In 2006 and 2007 he won the singles championships at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. He was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year from 2005-08.
In 2008 his ranking dropped to No. 2 after he lost at the French Open and Wimbledon to Rafael Nadal. He also lost at the 2008 Australian Open to Novak Djokovic.
The 2009 season was a memorable one for the Swiss star. He beat Robin Soderling to win the French Open and complete the career Grand Slam, and defeated Andy Roddick in an epic Wimbledon final to surpass Sampras for a record 15th Grand Slam singles title. Federer also reached the finals of the two other major tournaments, falling in five sets to Nadal at the Australian Open and to Juan Martin del Potro at the U.S. Open. His brilliant all-around play enabled him to regain the world’s No. 1 ranking.
In 2013 Roger Federer departed Wimbledon after he was knocked out in the second round by Sergiy Stakhovsky. In the 2014 men’s singles final at Wimbledon he lost to Djokovic. He then lost in the semifinals of the U.S. Open to Croatian Marin Cilic.
In July 2016 he was defeated in five sets by Milos Raonic in a historic victory for Raonic, who became the first Canadian man to reach a grand slam final.
Roger Federer suffered a knee injury after the Australian Open game where he lost to Novak Djokovic. Later in the season he suffered back problems and was forced to withdraw from the French Open to avoid further injury.
In July 2017 he set a new record, winning his eighth Wimbledon title in a 6-3 6-1 6-4 defeat of Marin Cilic. He also became the oldest men’s champion of the tournament in the Open era at the age of thirty five.
In January 2018 at the Australian Open Roger Federer defeated Cilic in five sets extending his record to an astounding 20 Grand Slam singles championships. Additionally, the victory gave him a record-tying six Aussie titles.
Roger Federer Net Worth
Roger Federer has a net worth of $450 million and total ATP career earnings of $111 million (as of June 2018).
Between June 2016 and June 2017, Federer earned an estimated $71.5 million, of which $65 million came from endorsements. Between June 2017 and June 2018, Federer earned $77.2 million.
Roger Federer Career Earnings
- 1998: $28,000
- 1999: $225,000
- 2000: $624,000
- 2001: $865,000
- 2002: $1.995 million
- 2003: $4 million
- 2004: $6.3 million
- 2005: $6.1 million
- 2006: $8.3 million
- 2007: $10.1 million
- 2008: $5.8 million
- 2009: $8.8 million
- 2010: $7.7 million
- 2011: $6.4 million
- 2012: $8.5 million
- 2013: $2.4 million
- 2014: $9.3 million
- 2015: $5 million
- 2016: $1.5 million
- 2017: $6 million
(Total career earnings: $111 million (does not include endorsements))
Roger Federer Grand Slams
Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record total of 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks.
Roger Federer French Open
Roger Federer opted out of the French Open for the third year straight after he announced in March 2018 that he would skip the entire clay- court season.
“I’m a positive thinker, every match is another opportunity. You take a break, get away from it all, and get back to practice court and work.”
In 2016 he pulled out of the French Open due to knee and back issues and in 2017 he made the decision not to play the entire clay-court swing, and instead opted to prepare for Wimbledon.
In May, he spoke about his decision: “I am not 25 any more I need to reserve some energy for Wimbledon. I love the grass more than the clay court, so that is why I won’t take part this year.”
A statement on Federer’s official website said: “Regrettably, I’ve decided not to participate in the French Open.
“I’ve been working really hard, both on and off the court, during the last month but in order to try and play on the ATP World Tour for many years to come, I feel it’s best to skip the clay court season this year and prepare for the grass and hard court seasons. The start to the year has been magical for me but I need to recognise that scheduling will be the key to my longevity moving forward.Thus, my team and I concluded today that playing just one even on clay was not in my best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season. I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year.”
Roger Federer Family/ Parents
Roger Federer father Robert Federer is Swiss from Berneck in the Canton of St. Gallen, and his mother Lynette Du Rand is South African from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa. They met while on a business trip for a pharmaceutical company, where they both worked. He has a sister, who is older, known as Diana.
Roger Federer Wife
In 2009 he married Mirka Federer (Miroslava Vavrincová), a Slovak-born Swiss former professional tennis player. She retired from competitive Tennis in 2002 after a recurring foot injury. She now operates as Federer’s public relations manager, traveling with him on tour.
Roger Federer Children
In July 2009 his identical twin girls , Myla Rose Federer and Charlene Riva Federer, were born. In May 2014 another set of twins (boys), Leo Federer and Lennart Federer were born.
Federer likes to protect the privacy of his children and does not post pictures of them on social media. During an interview with Swiss investment bank Credit Suisse he said that he is not happy when
pictures of his children are taken without his permission.
“Mobile phones can definitely be a problem sometimes, I can understand it when fans pull out their phones to take a photo of me – they might never see me again and want to seize the opportunity. But, as a family man, I get really annoyed when somebody takes a photo of my children without asking.”
Roger Federer Foundation
He established Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged children and to promote their access to education and sports. The foundation supports educational projects located in the region of southern Africa and Switzerland. The programmes on the African continent focus on the improvement of the quality of early learning and basic education and in Switzerland on the promotion of extra-curricular activities for children affected by poverty. All activities are realised and implemented by local non-governmental authorities in close collaboration with the local communities. In order to evaluate our impact, we measure the changes in the levels of supported children’s performance, rate repetitions, absences, or enrolment rates.
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Rafael Nadal & Roger Federer’s 2008 final – what made it so special?
John McEnroe describes it as “the greatest match ever played” and, 10 years on, the 2008 Wimbledon final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer remains the high point of a rivalry that continues to dominate tennis.
The final – played out over nearly seven hours because of rain delays – ended with a 22-year-old Nadal finally dethroning Federer, holding off a thrilling fightback from the five-time champion to win 6-4 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (8-10) 9-7 as darkness descended on an enraptured Centre Court.
It was the last of three successive Wimbledon finals between two players who have won a combined 37 Grand Slam titles. They have not met at Wimbledon since but, incredibly, will go into this year’s tournament ranked one and two in the world, having split the past six Slams between them.
Here, BBC Sport speaks to four people who witnessed an extraordinary occasion – seven-time Grand Slam champion McEnroe, who commentated on the match for NBC, umpire Pascal Maria, long-time Wimbledon locker-room attendant Doug Dickson, and Jonathan Overend – the BBC’s tennis correspondent from 2003 to 2013.
This is how they saw “the greatest match”.
‘Nadal was edging closer but still Federer was the king’
On 6 July 2008 – the day of the match – Federer was a month short of his 27th birthday and had spent 231 consecutive weeks as world number one.
But Nadal was close to toppling him. Four weeks earlier, he destroyed Federer at Roland Garros – winning 6-1 6-3 6-0 for his fourth consecutive French Open title. Could the Swiss recover to take revenge on his favoured surface?
Federer had beaten Nadal in four sets in the 2006 Wimbledon final, and five sets 12 months later. Both men were playing for a slice of history – Nadal trying to become the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon back to back since Bjorn Borg in 1980, Federer attempting to go ahead of Borg by winning a sixth consecutive Wimbledon.
It was also the last match played on Centre Court before a roof was installed, so the circumstances – with repeated rain interruptions, and a final finishing at twilight – are unlikely to be repeated.
Jonathan Overend: “Everybody was wondering whether this was going to be the day Federer’s great Wimbledon reign came to an end. Nadal was edging closer but still Federer was the king. It was beautifully set up.”
Doug Dickson: “Roger was his usual calm, collected self. If he was nervous, he did not show it. Rafa was also his usual self, a tiny bit on edge, which was due, I think, to the weather.”
Rain delayed the scheduled 14:00 start by 35 minutes, and the first point set the tone – a superb 14-stroke rally with both players moving each other round the court until Nadal whipped a forehand down the line. The Spaniard broke serve first – in the third game. As he served for the set at 5-4, Federer created two break-back opportunities but they were fought off, the younger man getting the job done on his third set point.
‘There was always that sense Federer would come back’
Federer came back firing in the second set, breaking Nadal’s serve at the first opportunity by whipping a vicious cross-court forehand winner and establishing a 4-1 lead. But he could not capitalise and Nadal won five games in a row to go two sets to love up.
JO: “I remember how well Nadal was moving, how cleanly he was striking the ball, how well he was serving. In those first two sets Federer knew this was going to be his toughest Wimbledon final yet. But there was always that sense that Federer would come back. Even at two sets to love, I don’t think anybody saw it as being over, simply because of Federer’s experience on that court.”
Source: bbc.com