For sheer tennis talent and longevity in sport, the crown would definitely go to Swiss ace Roger Federer.
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Born on August 8, 1981, Federer’s dad Robert is Swiss and his mum Lynette is a South African. Federer has an older sister Diana. He spent his childhood in nearby Birsfelden, Riehen and then Munchenstein, close to the French and German borders.
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Though he showed an early interest in a variety of sports like badminton, cricket, football and basketball, Federer ultimately chose tennis as his first love. Once he had started training and playing at a competitive level, Federer chose to compromise with his academics at the age of 16.
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Federer’s first singles career win came at the 2001 Milan Indoor tournament, where he defeated Julien Boutter 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 in the final.
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Since then, Federer has gone on to win a record eight Wimbledon singles titles, six Australian Open, five consecutive US Open titles and one French Open crown. He is one of eight men to have achieved a Career Grand Slam. His dominance on the big stage was so huge that Federer has reached a record 31 men’s singles Grand Slam finals including 10 consecutively from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships to the 2007 US Open.
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Federer has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other male player. Federer broke the previous all-time record held by Pete Sampras (14) in 2009 and is the first, and one of only three males – Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are the other two - to win more than 15 Grand Slam singles titles in tennis history.
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As of 2019, Federer holds the third highest number of Guinness World Records within one discipline – a total of 30, which includes 18 performance based records. Federer is also the only player after American Jimmy Connors to have won 100 or more career singles titles.
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Federer has been ranked World No. 1 for longer than any other player in the Open Era. He broke the previous all-time record of 286 weeks as No. 1, that Pete Sampras had held till 2012. Federer has held the No. 1 ranking for 310 total weeks and is the only male player in the Open Era to register 300 or more weeks as world No. 1. From 2004 through 2008, Federer held the top singles ranking for 237 consecutive weeks – breaking Connors’s 31-year-old record of 160 consecutive weeks.
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Federer is the only player in tennis history who has won six or more than six titles in seven different tournaments. Federer has won a record 10 titles at the Halle Open (ATP 500), 10 titles at the Swiss Indoors (ATP 500), 8 titles at Wimbledon (Grand Slam), 8 titles at the Dubai Tennis Championships (ATP 500) starting with his first one in 2003, 7 titles at the Cincinnati Masters (Masters 1000), 6 titles at the Australian Open and 6 titles at the World Tour Finals.
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What sets Federer apart from the rest is his all-court game and a versatile style of play that involves exceptional footwork, shot-making, sheer class and finesse. The 38-year-old Swiss is probably the most popular among fans, drawing huge crowds anywhere he goes.
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Federer is quite a linguist. Besides his native Swiss German, Federer also speaks German, English and French fluently along with a functional knowledge of Italian and Swedish. During one of his visits to Dubai, Federer had voiced how tough it was for him to address media from across the world in several languages.
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Federer served as a ball boy at his hometown Basel tournament – the Swiss Indoors – in 1992 and 1993, the inaugural year of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open that concluded its 28th edition on February 29.
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He began 2020 on a sound note struggling through with a groin injury till the semi-finals of the Australian Open where he lost in straight sets against Djokovic. Just three days before he could leave for Dubai, Federer announced that he had undergone arthroscopic surgery for a right knee injury. He also announced that he would give his knee enough time to recover before making a comeback for the grass season.
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