Roger Federer, from
Basel in
Switzerland, is the number two ranked tennis player in the world. Born
August 8, 1981, he has earned over $43m in prize money (the most ever). As well as being arguably the world's best
athlete, he is seen by his colleagues and the public as a thoroughly excellent
gentleman on a personal level, and a fine
role model for the young'uns.
Roger is modest about his career and speaks of his own achievements in a matter of fact way. In August 2008 he was relegated to second spot by
Rafael Nadal but in the process went into the history books for most consecutive weeks as the top-ranked singles player in the world (237), surpassing Jimmy Connors (160) and Steffi Graf (186), making him the most consistently dominant player in history. Only
John McEnroe (170 weeks),
Connors (268 weeks),
Lendl (270 weeks), and
Sampras (286 weeks) have spent more weeks in
total as the top ranked player during their careers than Federer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Federer)
In 2006, Federer earned U.S. $8,343,885 in prize money ($US160,459.33/wk), breaking the previous record of U.S. $6,498,311 earned by
Pete Sampras in 1997. He finished up his 2006 season by winning the season-ending
Shanghai Masters Tournament, bringing his total of wins for the year to 92. This is close to Ivan Lendl's 106 wins in a year (achieved twice), however what is significant is
Lendl (b.1960) played more matches to achieve this total. In 2007, Federer earned U.S. $10,130,620 in prize money, surpassing his own previous record.
Roger Federer
is the only player in history to have won both the
Wimbledon and U.S. Open singles titles in three consecutive years (2004-2006). He
is also the only player in tennis history to have won 5 consecutive Grand Slam titles at two separate Grand Slam Events: 5 Wimbledons (2003-2007) and 5 US Opens (2004-2008) in a row.
Federer also holds numerous other
open era records:
"Open Era" refers to the period after 1968 up until now
Match excellence:
Career excellence:
- Winner of his first seven Grand Slam singles finals.
*Roger Federer's victory at the 2006 Australian Open was his record seventh win in seven Grand Slam finals. Only William Renshaw (b. 1861, GBR, with 7 Wimbledons to his name; 6 in a row) and Richard Sears (b. 1863, USA, winner of 7 consecutive US Open Championships) have ever managed this run of Grand Slam final wins.
- Only male tennis player to have won eight Grand Slam singles titles in three years (2005-07) and twelve in five years (2003-07).
- Most consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals: 18 (Wimbledon 2004-2008 US Open).
- As of Sep 9, 2008, Federer has won thirteen of his seventeen Grand Slam singles finals (76.4 percent). Sampras won 14 of 18 (77.8 percent), Borg won 11 of 16 (68.7 percent), and Ivan Lendl won 8 of 19 (42.1 percent)
Federer:
- holds the best 3-year match winning percentage (94.3%) and tournament winning percentage (69.4%) (2004-2006).
- is the first man to win at least 10 titles in a season without losing in a final (2004).
- is the only player to ever have won at least three Grand Slam singles tournaments in a year twice (2004 and 2006).
- is the first man to win the ATP Masters Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back in consecutive years (2005-2006).
- is the first man to win at least 10 singles titles in each of three consecutive years (2004-2006).
- holds the best percentage of finals reached in a year, 94.1% in 2006 (16 out of 17).
- holds the record for most consecutive finals won: 24 (2003-2005).
Comparison with Sampras:
From turning pro in 1988 up until his 5th US Open win in 2002, Sampras (b. August 1971) amassed a whopping 64 singles titles including 7 Wimbledon titles (another record shared with William Renshaw). It is also worth noting that Sampras won his fourth major at age 22, a year younger than Roger, who has so far won 57 singles titles (9th overall) in just 10 years of professional play, including 5 Wimbledons in a row.
One more Grand Slam singles title would see Roger equal Pete Sampras' tally of 14.
Despite winning 13 Grand Slam singles titles, Federer has thus far failed to capture the full four (US Open, Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon), invariably conceding the French Open to the clay specialities (and perhaps youth) of Rafael Nadal (Sampras never won the French Grand Slam either).
Watching Roger Federer play tennis is a real delight. (This coming from a sports fan in general). The man is hugely dedicated to what he does, and it shows in everything he does. All else being equal, tennis is one of the most physically demanding sports out there, making it an almost gladiatorial spectacle. Go Roger.
www.wikipedia.org/www.atptennis.com