Roger Federer

Roger Federer, born on August 8, 1981, is a Swiss professional tennis player. He is a former World No. 1 ranked player, a position he held for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Federer is considered by many to be the greatest male singles player of all time.
Federer holds numerous records in the sport, including 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles (3 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 5 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), equalling the all-time record with Pete Sampras. Federer is only the sixth male player to achieve a career Grand Slam.
As of June 2009, he has reached at least the semi-finals of 20 consecutive grand slam tournaments. Federer has also equaled Ivan Lendl's all-time record of 19 grand slam finals. As a result of Federer's success in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 4 consecutive years (2005–08).

Federer started playing tennis at the age of eight. He began participating in group lessons aged nine and began weekly private coaching the following year. He played football until the age of twelve when he decided to focus solely on tennis. At fourteen, he became the national champion of all groups in Switzerland and was chosen to train at the Swiss National Tennis Center in Ecublens. He joined the ITF junior tennis circuit in July 1996.[33] In 1998, his final year as a junior, Federer won the junior Wimbledon title and the prestigious year-ending Orange Bowl. He was recognized as the ITF World Junior Tennis champion of the year.
Federer's versatility was epitomised by Jimmy Connors' statement: "In an era of specialists - you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist or a hard court specialist... or you're Roger Federer". David Foster Wallace described Federer's exceptional speed, fluidity and brute force of this forehand motion as "a great liquid whip", while John McEnroe has referred to Federer's forehand as "the greatest shot in our sport".[108] Federer plays with a one-handed backhand, and has an excellent slice, and can also fire top-spin winning shots. His serve is difficult to read because he tosses the ball in the same spot no matter where he intends to serve it and he turns his back to his opponents during his motion. His first serve is typically around 190 km/h (118 mph); however, he is capable of serving at 220 km/h (137 mph). Though Federer stands at 185 cm (6 feet 1 inch), he uses his superior speed and fluidity of movement to reach tough shots instead of using only his reach.

Rivalry with Rafael Nadal. Federer and Nadal have been playing each other since 2004, and this rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers. They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 7 Grand Slam finals, with Nadal leading 5-2. Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match of all time by many long-time tennis critics, while many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history. Nadal leads head-to-head 13-7. (wikipedia - greginhollywood.com - www.dnaindia.com -www.topnews.in)