Roger Federer Biography

Sports, like life, is, many tmes, absolutely unpredictable. 

Having said that, I can undoubtedly say that there is not a single soul on the planet who foresaw the greatness that Roger Federer has unleashed on his unsuspecting foes and the overall tennis establishment in general. 

Federer, a 25-year-old Swiss, is currently the number one ranked player in the world and has been ranked number one since February 2004. As of August 2006, he holds the third-longest consecutive stay as the world’s number one player. Only Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl have had longer unbroken streaks at number one. 

Federer started playing tennis at the age of eight and played on the junior circuits until 1998 which is the year he won the Wimbledon Juniors title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. 

Federer joined the ATP tour in July 1998 but finished the year as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion. In 1999, Federer debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team and finished the year as the youngest player inside the ATP's top 100. 

In 2000, he reached the semi-finals in the Sydney Olympics, but lost the bronze-medal match. In February 2001, Federer won his first ATP tournament in Milan, Italy. He also won three matches for his country in the Davis Cup in a 3-2 victory over the United States and advanced to the quarterfinals in the fourth round and finished the year ranked 13th. 

In 2002, Federer had a decent season winning a few tournaments, however, his year was marked by early-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon (where he lost to Mario Ancic, who is the last man to beat Federer on grass), and U.S. Open. He also lost his long-time Australian coach Peter Carter in a car crash in August. 

Federer started 2003 by winning two tournaments in a row in Dubai and Marseille. He also won in Munich without losing a set but exited the French Open again in the first round. On July 6th, 2003, he defeated Mark Philippoussis and won his first Grand Slam title at the Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first Swiss man to do so. Incredibly, Federer dropped only one set during the entire tournament.