Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player born on August 8, 1981, in Basel, Switzerland. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks.

Federer trained at the Swiss national tennis center in Ecublens before turning professional in 1998. He won the junior Wimbledon title in 1998 and joined the ATP Tour the same year. He developed under coaches including Peter Carter and Peter Lundgren during his early years.

His first Grand Slam singles title came at Wimbledon in 2003. He went on to win twenty Grand Slam singles titles: eight Wimbledon, six Australian Open, five US Open, and one French Open (in 2009, completing the career Grand Slam). He also won the ATP Finals six times and an Olympic gold medal in doubles at Beijing 2008 with Stan Wawrinka, plus a singles silver at London 2012.

Federer founded the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to support educational projects in southern Africa and Switzerland. He co-created the Laver Cup team competition in 2017. After repeated knee surgeries, he retired from professional tennis at the 2022 Laver Cup in London, partnering Rafael Nadal in his final match.

The name Roger comes from the Old Germanic Hrodger, formed from hrod meaning fame and ger meaning spear. It was carried to England by the Normans after 1066 and became common across medieval Europe.