Roger Federer was born in 1981 in Switzerland and is one of the best-known tennis players in the world, with as many as 18 Grand Slam victories to his credit. He has a huge fan following and is seldom known to lose to his opponents.
He became the first Swiss to win a Grand Slam title when he was victorious at Wimbledon in 2003. Since then, he has won 17 other championships and is quite renowned for the very graceful way in which he plays the game. To learn more about Roger Federer and his life, read on.
Early Life
Roger Federer is a native of Basel, Switzerland. His mother, Lynette Du Rand, is South African while his father Robert Federer is Swiss. His parents both worked for a pharmaceutical company where they met each other for the first time.
Federer took to sports at a very early age and was fond of playing both tennis as well as soccer. He was only 8 years old when he started to acquire mastery over both these games, and by the age of 11, he was one of the best-known junior tennis players in his country.
When he was 12 years old he decided to remove his attention from other sports and focus solely on tennis. When he was 14, he was fully immersed in the game and took part in as many as 2 to 3 tournaments a month while practicing many hours every week.
Glory as Tennis Star
In 1998 Federer ended up winning both the doubles and the single Wimbledon titles. He created a huge sensation when he knocked out legendary tennis player Pete Sampras in the fourth round of the singles tournament. At the start of 2004, Federer was ranked 2nd in the world, the same year in which he won the US Open, the Australian Open, and the ATP Masters while retaining the Wimbledon title too.
Personal Life
Roger Federer is married to childhood sweetheart Mirka Vavrinec who also played tennis for some time. He and Mirka became parents to twin girls Charlene and Myla in July 2009.
In the month of May in 2014, Federer and Mirka welcomed twin baby boys into the world named Leo and Lenny. Federer and his family live in Bottmingen, Switzerland.
Federer established a foundation known as the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 that gives grants to countries where child mortality rates are high.