Tennis star Roger Federer was born on August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland, to
Swiss father Robert Federer and South-African mother Lynette Du Rand.
Federer took an interest in sports at an early age, playing tennis and soccer at the
age of 8. The young athlete excelled at athletics, and by age 11, he was the Top 3
junior tennis players in Switzerland.
At age 14, Federer became the national junior champion in Switzerland, and was
chosen to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens, and had his first
sponsorship by the age of 16.
Federer won the Wimbledon boys' singles and doubles titles in 1998, and turned
professional later that year. At Wimbledon 2001, he caused a sensation by
knocking out reigning singles champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round. In 2003,
following a successful season on grass, Federer became the first Swiss man to win
a Grand Slam title when he became a Wimbledon singles champion.
Federer held on to his No. 1 ranking from 2004 to 2008.
In 2003, Federer established the Roger Federer Foundation, which helps provide
grants to poor countries that have child mortality rates of more than 15 percent, for
education- and sports-related projects, among others.
In 2009, Federer married with Mirka Vavrinec, a former professional tennis player.
That July, the couple became the parents of twin girls, Myla and Charlene. Federer
lives with his family in Oberwil, Switzerland.
Federer's career escalated once again in 2012, when he defeated defending
champion Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon semifinals, and went on to beat Andy
Murray in the Wimbledon finals and Federer won his seventh Wimbledon. The
Wimbledon 2012 win helped the 30 year old tennis star regain the No. 1 spot, and
tie the world No. 1 ranking record of 286 weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment