Roger Federer

Elegance, style and class are the three best words to describe Roger Federer’s on-field persona. The Swiss master has changed the complexion of the game with his ruthless dominance filled with beautiful strokeplay. As Federer ruled the world, he made tennis look easy. His record 20 Grand Slam titles was not the only achievement of his career. It was his elegant style of play, out-of-the-world return shots and his deadly serves made many fall in love with the game. The professional manner in which Federer conducts himself on and off the field makes him the perfect role model to budding young players. He lets his racket do the talking as the Swiss legend treats his opponents and chair umpire with nothing but respect. It is hard to believe that Federer had difficulties in controlling his temper at the nascent stage of his career. But he has come a long way in overcoming those issues to serve as a good example for the other players.

Roger Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. His Swiss father, Robert Federer, is from Berneck in the Canton of St. Gallen, and his Afrikaner mother, Lynette Federer, is from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa. He has one sibling, his older sister, Diana, who is the mother of a set of twins.

Federer is an all-court, all-around player known for his speed, fluid style of play, and exceptional shot making. Federer mainly plays from the baseline but is also comfortable at the net, being one of the best volleyers in the game. He has a powerful, accurate smash and very effectively performs rare elements of professional tennis, such as the backhand smash and skyhook, half-volley, jump smash 

He has won 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, an all-time record shared with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Federer has been world No. 1 in the ATP rankings a total of 310 weeks – including a record 237 consecutive weeks – and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Federer has won 103 ATP singles titles, the second-most of all-time behind Jimmy Connors and including a record six ATP Finals.

Federer has played in an era where he dominated men's tennis together with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who have been collectively referred to as the Big Three and are widely considered three of the greatest tennis players of all-time. A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998, Federer won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21. In 2004, he won three out of the four major singles titles and the ATP Finals, a feat he repeated in 2006 and 2007. From 2005 to 2010, Federer made 18 out of 19 major singles finals. During this span, he won his fifth consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three previous runner-ups to Nadal, his main rival up until 2010. At age 27, he also surpassed Pete Sampras's then-record of 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.

Grand Slam Singles record:

Australian open: W (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018)

French Open: W (2009)

Wimbledon: W (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017)

US Open: W (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)