Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Federer won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most since the start of the Open Era in 1968, including 20 major men's singles titles and six year-end championships.
For nearly two decades, Federer was a leading figure in men's tennis alongside Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, collectively known as the Big Three. A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and former ball boy, Federer won his first major singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21. For the next several years Federer was the dominant player in men's tennis, playing in 20 out of 24 major singles finals between 2004 and 2009. He won three of the four majors and the Tour Finals in 2004, 2006, and 2007, as well as five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Federer completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three consecutive runner-up finishes to Nadal, his main rival until 2010. At age 27, he surpassed Pete Sampras's record of 14 major men's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009.
Federer and Stan Wawrinka led the Switzerland Davis Cup team to their first title in 2014, following their Olympic doubles gold victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He also won a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. After a half-year hiatus in 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal and a record eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2018 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win 20 major singles titles and shortly after the oldest ATP world No. 1 at the time, at age 36. In September 2022, he retired from professional tennis following the Laver Cup.
A versatile all-court player, Federer's grace on the court made him popular among tennis fans. Originally lacking self-control as a junior, he transformed his on-court demeanor to become well-liked for his graciousness, winning a record 13 Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Awards, a record 19 consecutive ATP Fans' Favourite awards from 2003 to 2021, and a joint-record five Laureus World Sportsman of the Year awards. Outside of competition, Federer played an instrumental role in the creation of the Laver Cup team competition. He is also an active philanthropist. He established the Roger Federer Foundation, which targets impoverished children in southern Africa, and has raised funds in part through the Match for Africa exhibition series. By the end of his career, Federer was routinely one of the top-ten highest-paid athletes in any sport, and ranked first among all athletes with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020. In August 2025, estimates published by Forbes indicated that Federer, with a net worth of $1.1 billion, boosted by his minority stake in Swiss shoe and apparel brand On, had become the seventh billionaire athlete in history.
Early life
Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. A member of the Federer family, 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, the mother of twins. Since Federer's mother is South African, he holds both Swiss and South African citizenship. He is related to Swiss prelate Urban Federer as well as Swiss politician and philanthropist Barbara Schmid-Federer.As youngsters, Federer and his elder sister Diana used to accompany their parents, both of whom worked for Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, to the company's private tennis courts at the weekends, where he first played tennis at the age of three.
Soon after enrolling in school at the age of six, Federer became the best in his age group. Feeling that Federer had outgrown the Ciba club and needed to be amongst better juniors, his mother Lynette enrolled him at age eight in the elite junior programme of the Old Boys Tennis Club in Basel, where he received his initial tennis instruction from veteran Czech coach Adolf Kacovsky. Federer began using a one-handed backhand from an early age not only because Kacovsky was a fan of it, but also because all of his childhood idols — Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and later Pete Sampras — used the stroke too. From ages 8 to 10, Federer received group and individual training from Kacovsky. At age 10, Federer began being taught at the club by Australian former tennis player Peter Carter. Federer has credited Carter for his "entire technique and coolness".
Federer grew up playing many sports, such as badminton, basketball, football, and tennis, but he was most taken by the latter two. He also tried skiing and swimming and spent hours playing soft tennis on the street. He credits his hand–eye coordination to the wide range of sports he played as a child. In 1993, Federer won the under-12 Swiss national junior championships in Lucerne. Becoming the best junior in the country helped him decide to become a professional tennis player, so he stopped playing football at age twelve to concentrate solely on tennis, where he felt he had more control over his victories or defeats, as opposed to team sports where he relied more on the performances of his teammates. Federer was also a ball boy at his hometown Basel event, the Swiss Indoors in 1992 and 1993, and even received a medal after the 1993 final, together with the other ballboys, from tournament champion Michael Stich.
He was brought to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center, then located in Ecublens in the canton of Vaud, between 1995 and 1997. It was in this new setting that he learned French at the age of 14. He completed his compulsory education at La Planta secondary school in Chavannes-près-Renens and obtained his certificate in July 1997, in the upper division, commercial studies section.
Tennis career
1990s and 2000s
1995–1998: Junior years
In 1995, at age 13, Federer won the U14 Swiss national junior championship and was subsequently invited to train at the prestigious National Tennis Centre in the French-speaking Écublens, where he enrolled shortly after his 14th birthday. There, he had the opportunity to combine three hours of tennis training per day along with education, but Federer had little interest in studying and struggled to balance his education with his tennis commitments. Speaking little French and struggling with living away from home, Federer found his first months at Écublens depressing. He was the youngest player in the group and also felt singled out as the "Swiss German" by many of the students and staff at the academy, experienced mild bullying, and was often on the verge of packing his bags and returning home. Federer credits this difficult period of his life as the reason for his independent spirit.Federer played his first ITF junior match in July 1996, at the age of 14, at a grade-2 tournament in Switzerland. He then played in the 1996 NEC World Youth Cup Final in Zürich against tennis players like Lleyton Hewitt. In January 1997, at age 15, Federer won both the indoor and outdoor U18 Swiss national championship, defeating the Yves Allegro who was three years older than him, in both finals. In May, Federer won his first-ever ITF junior title on the clay courts of a second-category tournament in Prato, doing so without the loss of a set. In September, Federer earned the first 12 ATP points of his career in a four-week Swiss satellite tournament in Bossonnens, thus making his debut in the ATP rankings at No. 803, just five spots ahead of future rival Lleyton Hewitt.
His main accomplishments as a junior player came at Wimbledon in 1998, when he won both the Boys' singles final over Irakli Labadze, and the Boys' doubles final, teamed with Olivier Rochus, defeating the team of Michaël Llodra and Andy Ram. Federer then reached the US Open Junior final, which he lost to David Nalbandian. This was the only occasion Federer lost a final on the junior circuit. He then brought his junior career to an end at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Miami, where he defeated Nalbandian in the semifinals and Guillermo Coria in the final. By the end of 1998 he had attained the No. 1 junior world ranking and was named ITF Junior World Champion. He ended his junior career at the end of 1998 with a high ranking of No. 1 in singles and No. 7 in doubles and a win–loss record of 78–20 in singles and 36–21 in doubles.
Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: SF
French Open: 1R
Wimbledon: W
US Open: F
Junior Grand Slam results – Doubles:
Australian Open: SF
French Open: 1R
Wimbledon: W
US Open: 1R
1998–2002: Early professional career
In July 1998, an almost 17-year-old Federer made his ATP debut at the Swiss Open Gstaad, in his home country of Switzerland, losing to No. 88 Lucas Arnold Ker in the first round. Later that year, he won his first ATP match against Guillaume Raoux in Toulouse. He then received a wildcard to the 1998 Swiss Indoors in his hometown in Basel, where he lost in the first round to former world No. 1 Andre Agassi. He finished 1998 ranked 301st in the world.In April 1999, Federer made his Davis Cup debut in a World Group first round against Italy, defeating Davide Sanguinetti. In August, Federer won his first-ever professional title on the Challenger tour in Segovia, pairing with Sander Groen to beat Ota Fukárek and Alejandro Hernández in the final, which was played on Federer's 18th birthday. Despite losing in the first rounds of both the French Open and Wimbledon and having just turned 18, he entered the world’s Top 100 for the first time on 20 September 1999. Later that month, Federer won his first and only singles ATP Challenger title in Brest, defeating Max Mirnyi in the final. In his first full year as a professional, Federer jumped up to world No. 64, and in doing so at 18 years and four months of age, he became the youngest player in the year-ending world top 100.
His first Grand Slam win came at the Australian Open, where he defeated former World No. 2 Michael Chang. His first singles final came at the Marseille Open in February 2000, where he lost to fellow Swiss Marc Rosset. Federer then entered the Top 50 in March and ended 2000 ranked 29th in the world. Federer made his Olympic debut at Sydney, where he surprised many by reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Tommy Haas and then to Arnaud Di Pasquale in the bronze medal match. In January 2001, Federer won the Hopman Cup representing Switzerland, along with world No. 1 Martina Hingis. The duo defeated the American pair of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill in the finals. Federer later said that his experience with Hingis "definitely helped me to become the player I am today."
In 2001, Federer won his first singles title at the 2001 Milan Indoor tournament, where he defeated Julien Boutter in the final. Federer then reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open, losing to former world No. 2 and eventual finalist Àlex Corretja. His international breakthrough came at the Wimbledon Championships, when the 19-year-old Federer faced the four-time defending champion and all-time Grand Slam leader Pete Sampras in the fourth round. Federer defeated the No. 1 seed in a five-set match to snap Sampras's 31-match win streak at Wimbledon before losing in the quarter-finals to Tim Henman.
In 2002, Federer reached his first Masters final at the Miami event, where he lost to Andre Agassi, but then won his first Masters title in Hamburg, defeating Marat Safin in the final; the victory put him in the top 10 for the first time. On 1 August, Federer suffered the devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in South Africa. Although he suffered first-round losses in the three tournaments he entered immediately after Carter's death, Federer gathered himself and began playing with more determination than ever after that. After reaching the fourth round of the US Open, he won the Vienna Open, jumping from No. 13 at the end of September to No. 7 in the rankings by early November, which allowed him to qualify for the year-end Masters Cup for the first time, where he won all of his matches in the round-robin stage before losing to then-world no. 1 and eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinals. At age 21, he ended 2002 ranked as the world No. 6.