Roger Federer is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Federer has won more Grand Slam matches than any other player in the sport’s history and is considered by many as the best in the game.
Research into sports streaming trends shows that online searches for tennis spikes in line with major matches, as expected. This month saw Federer officially retire from tennis and play his final game, breaking down as he stood on the professional court for the last time in front of more than 17,000 fans at the O2 Arena.
We expect to see searches for some of Federer’s greatest moments spike in the next few months as fans worldwide relive some of his finest games. With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the tennis legend’s career.
How did he go from being just another kid with a racket to one of the top athletes in history?
Early Career
Roger Federer began playing tennis when he was 8 years old. He had been playing other sports, like soccer and basketball, but he was taken to the local tennis courts by his parents and fell in love with the game. He started training at a local club, and by the time he was 10, he had made his first appearance on a Swiss junior team.
He continued improving throughout his youth, winning multiple national titles before turning pro at age 16 in 1998.
Grand Slam Success
From there, Federer’s career really began to take off and he secured his first Grand Slam win in 2003, beating Australia’s Mark Philippoussis in the final and taking home the Wimbledon trophy.
The next year he won the Australian Open 2004, Wimbledon, and the US Open. A pattern that continued throughout the 2000s with most years seeing Federer win a Grand Slam, and oftentimes, more than one.
Although in terms of Grand Slam wins he skipped a year in 2011, and had a wee drought between 2012 and 2017, he picked up plenty of other titles, both for singles and doubles, along the way.
By the 2017 tennis season, he was back in full stride with his racquet swinging, winning Wimbledon and the Australian Open in nail-biting finals against Rafael Nadal and Marlin Cilic. Overall, Federer holds a whopping 20 Grand Slam titles, 103 ATP singles titles, eight singles Wimbledon titles, and six year-end championships.
Federer’s fiery side
Roger Federer certainly had an illustrious career, but it wasn’t always smooth sailing. In general, his manner on the court was cool, calm and collected (unlike some other players we know), but there were some moments when Federer’s cool disappeared and his usually elegant technique let him down.
He told crowds to “shut up”, broke racquets, and showcased some colourful language during more than one match. In the 2005 NASDAQ-100, for example, while facing emerging rival Rafa Nadal, Federer flung his racquet down in frustration, avoiding a break this time, though.
Polite to the media and friendly in interviews, the odd moment of on-court anger shouldn’t detract from Federer’s sheer level of skill, and relentless drive to succeed.
Roger Federer will go down in history as one of tennis’ true greats, a title he more than deserves. His farewell address in London, participating in the Laver Cup, was to a packed arena with tennis’s biggest stars coming together to celebrate his illustrious career.
