Roger Federer
Parents of Roger Federer decided to instill in their son a love of sport at an early age. So already at the age of three, the child picked up a tennis racket. Also, little Roger was involved in football and golf. And tennis happened only because the game went very easily with the boy. Roger could well have become a professional footballer, but, fortunately for millions of his fans, at age 12 he made the right choice, choosing tennis.
Interestingly, Roger liked best of all to hit the ball – so that he flew as low as possible above the net. As a result, many balls, of course, simply did not fly to the opposite half of the court. Then his coach, Sven Gruneweld, went to a little trick: he began to pull the net a little higher – and, thus, taught his ward to deliver accurate punches. Specialists first spoke about Federer in 1996, after a series of brilliant victories in junior tournaments. Everyone noted his ability to move perfectly on the court and a powerful blow.
The first major successes at the junior level came to Federer after 2 years, in 1998. This year, Roger won the Wimbledon tournament in the singles and doubles among young men. The debut at the ATP tour took place in July at the tournament in Gstaad, where the Swiss was given a special invitation from the organizers of the tournament. He played the first match in his professional career against Argentine tennis player Lucas Arnold Kehr and lost in two sets 4-6, 4-6. At the end of 1998, Roger won the prestigious Orange Bowl junior tournament in the age category under 18, and by the end of the year he was in first place in the junior ranking.
Winning Orange Bowl Tournament
In May 1999, Federer made his debut in adult competitions in the Grand Slam series tournament. This event takes place at the French Open, where in the first round a native of Basel is inferior to the 3rd at that time in the world Australian Patrick Rafter 7-5, 3-6, 0-6, 2-6. In September, for the first time in the ranking, it rises to the first hundred. But on this his growth unexpectedly slowed down. It turned out that the tennis player had serious technical problems: he preferred an exchange of shots on the back line and, in his own words, literally hated going out to the net. In addition, Federer’s progress was hindered by his temperament: Roger was completely unable to restrain his emotions and threw down racket on any occasion, which, of course, did not help him concentrate on the game. After some time, he himself realized that his behavior only interfered with the game, realized that it was necessary to control, restrain emotions inside to achieve results. Fortunately, there was an experienced trainer, Peter Lundgren, who managed to convince Federer what exactly he needed to change in the style of the game and behavior. In early February 2000, Roger played his first final at the ATP tournament. His opponent was compatriot Mark Rosset, to whom Roger was inferior to 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (5). In 2000, the Swiss also takes part in the Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, where he stops one step away from winning a medal, taking 4th place.
1st professional career title
In early February 2001, Federer wins his first career ATP title. This significant event took place at a tournament in Milan. In the final, the Frenchman Julien Butte was defeated 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-4. The press immediately called Roger the player of the month. In the summer of that year, he hit Wimbledon, where he created a small sensation, beating Pete Sampras himself, the seven-time winner of this tournament, in the fourth round, 7-6 (7), 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7 -5. In 2002, at the Masters Series tournament in Miami, Roger first played with the current first racket of the world. At that time, he was the Australian Lleyton Hewitt, whom Roger defeated 6-3, 6-4. In May, Federer wins his first tournament in the Masters series, beating Marat Safin 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the ground tournament in Hamburg. Thanks to this victory, for the first time in the ranking he rose to the top ten. But then the results began to decline. At the French Open, as well as at the Wimbledon tournament, Roger is inferior in the first round. Continues to play unsuccessfully Roger and the summer series of tournaments. And then in the early days of August, his former coach and friend, 38-year-old South African Peter Carter, died in a car accident in South Africa. Federer temporarily leaves the top ten, but returns there after winning the tournament in Vienna. At the end of the season, Roger for the first time takes part in the Final tournament of the year, where he gets to the semifinals, in which he loses to Australian Lleyton Hewitt in three sets.
1st victory in the Grand Slam tournament (Wimbledon 2003)
Federer began the 2003 season as the 6th player in the world. At the French Open, Roger unexpectedly loses to Peruvian Louis Horn in the first round. But the performance on the grass surface turned out to be truly triumphant for the Swiss. First, he wins the German tournament in Galle, and after 3 weeks he raises the championship cup of the Wimbledon tournament over his head.
