If there is still any doubt left in your mind about who the top tennis player of this decade is, well then we have nothing to say to you. The man is widely considered not only to be the greatest tennis player of the decade, but of all time. In an era of
specialists he has won tournaments on every surface there is. He holds the record for the most consecutive weeks spent as World No. 1, and has won the most Grand Slam titles than any other tennis player. Hailing from Switzerland, the greatest tennis player
of the decade is none other than Roger Federer.
Before joining the professional circuit Federer was also top ranked in the Junior World Rankings. He turned professional in 1998. He reached his first final at the Marseille Open, which he lost to Marc Rosset. His first singles win came in 2001 at the Milan
Indoor tournament. He stepped into the spotlight in 2001 when he reached the finals of the French Open, and a few months later defeated the legendary defending champion Pete Sampras at Wimbledon.
His victory over Marat Safin on clay at Hamburg Masters earned him his first Master Series victory and propelled him into the top 10 of the World Rankings. His first grand slam title came in 2003 at Wimbledon where he defeated Mark Philippoussis. In the
same year he made it into the finals of 9 singles tournaments, winning seven. He finished the year placed 2nd on the Rankings.
In 2004, he won 3 Grand Slam titles in the same year. His first was on the hard court at the Australian Open over Marat Safin. He then went on to win at Wimbledon, defeating Andy Roddick, and lastly the US Open, triumphing over Lleyton Hewitt. He also won
on clay at Hamburg, and on hard court surfaces at Indian Wells and Canada. It was in this year that he first reached the No.1 spot on the World Rankings, and would hold the place for another four years to come.
Despite losing the 2005 Australian Open semi-final to Safin and the French Open semi-final to Nadal, Federer bounced back by winning at Wimbledon for the third consecutive time. He also defeated Andre Agassi to win the US Open, in what was Agassi’s last
Grand Slam final. He again won at Indian Wells and Hamburg and also at the Miami and Cincinnati Masters.
He repeated his success in 2006 by winning three Grand Slam titles, but the French Open still eluded him where he was defeated by Rafael Nadal. Later in the year, Federer would defeat Nadal in the Wimbledon finals, thus beginning their legendary rivalry.
However he also lost two Master 1000 series tournaments on clay to Nadal, but won four others on hard surfaces.
2007 again was a great year, with Federer winning at the Australian Open, the US Open and Wimbledon but losing to Nadal in the French Open. In 2008 however, he only managed to win one Grand Slam. he lost the Wimbledon final to Nadal in a match that has been
lauded by critics to be the finest of all time. Federer had won at Wimbledon for a consecutive 5 times, and if he had won that year he would have bested Bjorn Borg’s record. He lost the Australian Open to Novak Djokovic, and the titles at Hamburg and Monte
Carlo to Nadal. His consolation came in the form of a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the doubles category.
In 2009, Federer finally won his first title at the French Open when he defeated Robin Soderling. This allowed him to complete a Career Grand Slam. After he won the Wimbledon final against Andy Roddick, he brought his total tally of Grand Slam titles to
15, breaking Pete Sampras’ record of 14 Grand Slam titles. He also managed to defeat Nadal at the Madrid Masters and avenged himself against Djokovic by defeating him at Cincinnati.
In 2010, Federer reached several personal milestones and broke several records despite having a rather disappointing year. He won the Australian Open, but for the first time in 6 years did not manage to reach the semi-final of a Grand Slam when he lost in
the French Open quarter-final to Robin Soderling. However he won his 700th match on the tournament. He lost in the quarter finals at Wimbledon and the finals at the US Open. He lost the Madrid Masters to Nadal and the Canadian Masters to Murray
but finally managed to end an eight-month long drought by winning the Cincinnati Masters. He also ended the year on a high note by winning the World Tour finals by defeating his arch-rival Rafael Nadal.
Along with his phenomenal performance on court, Federer has been actively involved in charitable work around the world and is a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF. He has won the ATP Player of the Year honours for 4 years from 2004 to 2007 and was named the
Laureas Sportsman of the Year for the same years. In recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to society he was named the 2010 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
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