Roger Federer-the great tennis player
The world-class tennis star Roger Federer was born in Binningen on the 8th of August 1981 to a Swiss national Robert Federer and South Africa-born Lynette Du Rand .While growing up in the suburban Münchenstein, he showed great skill in tennis and soccer; and at the age of 12, he picked up tennis as his passion. Little did people anticipate that this legend in the making would soon be known as the ‘Swiss Master.’
He began his junior career in 1996 as part of the International Tennis Federation circuit. In a year or two, his score had outdone many, by some high profile games, especially by his victories at the Wimbledon’s junior tournament and the Orange Bowl competition. He was soon named the junior champion of the year by the ITF in 1998 and it seemed that there was simply no obstruction to his path of success. The end of the ATP tours saw him finish with the 29th ranked player in the world. Year 2001 bought him closer to his goals when he scored his first championship win in Milan and defeated Pete Sampras at Wimbledon. By the end of 2003, he was ranked the second best player in the world and had the Wimbledon title to his name as well.
The year 2004 marked another high profile in the career of this champion when he won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, Tennis Masters Cup and the U.S Open titles. He was named the champion of the year by the ITF and World Sportsman of the year by Laureus.
Federer continued on the rampage to secure more titles and glory to his name. The following years saw him cap the top spot for a record of 237 consecutive weeks. He kept wining Grand Slam titles until in 2005 when he won the Wimbledon and U.S Open again. The next year he won both and added a new one, the Australian Open. The year 2007 saw him win all three again giving him a total 10 titles at Grand Slam events.
However, Roger Federer’s career never remained short of challenges and he faced his biggest challenge in the form of Spanish rival Rafael Nadal. In 2007, he lost to Nadal at the French Open only to come face to face again at Wimbledon. It was an epic battle, both players refused to budge, serves were exchanged and the match continued for nearly five hours until Nadal finally defeated Federer. However, Roger Federer took this time to up his game. He came back to secure the French Open. On the 7th of June 2009, after claiming victories in several difficult matches earlier, Roger was set to defeat Robin Soderling in the final of the French Open.
This time Roger had it easy as he scored an amazing 6-1 in the first set and won the second in a tiebreaker. The third set proved no different when he won the final point wining the last set with 6-4 leading into a thunderous roar in the crowd, which jumped to its feet. It was obvious from the beginning that Federer was the more favoured opponent as he had the full support of the crowd. This was a prominent victory for the player, as he became the sixth man ever to win a Grand Slam event on all four surfaces.
In July, he defeated Andy Roddick at the Wimbledon final to win his 6th Wimbledon and 15th Grand Slam title, breaking Pete Sampras record of 14 Wimbledon titles. Pete could admire the superstar, “He’s won all the majors, he’s won 15 now, he’s going to win a few more here. Therefore, in my book he is. He is a stud. He is only 27. He’ll contend here for many years, and the U.S open and all the majors.”
Federer could not have been happier when on July 24th 2009, he and his wife, Mirka Vavrinec announced the birth of their twin daughter’s. Nothing could make him even happier than defending his U.S Open title, but alas, he lost the match to a worthy opponent, Juan Martin Del Potro, in a match that went on for five sets, the first time in ten years. Despite this defeat, Federer qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals
The Swiss player also won this year’s Australian Open against Andy Murray securing his 16th major title. At the trophy station, Murray humoured the crowd by saying, “I can cry like Roger. It’s a shame I can’t play like him.” There is no doubt about it that it takes a lot to defeat a legend.
However, recently be it the players lack of concentration or as he has diagnosed it as his “timings”, he needs some work to do before the French Open on May 23. He lost in the fourth round of Sony Ericson to Czech Tomas Berdych and in the first match of the clay season against Ernests Gulbis with a final tally 2-6, 6-1, 7-5. Federer just could not get his serve going and he missed routine baseline shots, but hopefully after hitting the courts he will figure something out and make a grand comeback.
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