Roger Federer(2)
Tennis career
1990s and 2000s
1995–1998: Junior years
In 1995, at age 13, Federer won the U14 Swiss national junior championship and was subsequently invited to train at the prestigious National Tennis Centre in the French-speaking Écublens, where he enrolled shortly after his 14th birthday.[19][24] There, he had the opportunity to combine three hours of tennis training per day alongside education, but Federer had little interest in studying and struggled to balance his education with his tennis commitments.[17] Speaking little French and struggling with the whole concept of living away from home, Federer found his first months at Écublens depressing.[17] He was the youngest player in the group and also felt isolated as the “Swiss German” by many of the students and staff at the academy, experienced mild bullying, and was often on the verge of packing his bags and returning home.[17] Federer credits this difficult period of his life as the reason behind his independent spirit.[17]
Federer played his first ITF junior match in July 1996, at the age of 14, at a grade-2 tournament in Switzerland.[25] He then played in the 1996 NEC World Youth Cup Final in Zürich against tennis players like Lleyton Hewitt.[26][27] In January 1997, at age 15, Federer won both the indoor and outdoor U18 Swiss national championship, defeating the three-year older Yves Allegro in both finals.[28] In May, Federer won his first-ever ITF junior title on the clay courts of a second-category tournament in Prato, doing so without the loss of a set.[29] In September, Federer earned the first 12 ATP points of his career in a four-week Swiss satellite tournament in Bossonnens, thus making his debut in the ATP rankings at No. 803, just five spots ahead of future rival Lleyton Hewitt.
His main accomplishments as a junior player came at Wimbledon in 1998, when he won both the Boys' singles final over Irakli Labadze,[31] and the Boys' doubles final, teamed with Olivier Rochus, defeating the team of Michaël Llodra and Andy Ram.[32] Federer then reached the US Open Junior final, which he lost to David Nalbandian; this was the only occasion Federer lost a final on the junior circuit.[29] He then brought his junior career to an end at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Miami, where he defeated Nalbandian in the semifinals and Guillermo Coria in the final.[29] By the end of 1998 he attained the No. 1 junior world ranking and was awarded ITF Junior World Champion.[33] He ended his junior career at the end of 1998 with a high-ranking of No. 1 in singles and No. 7 in doubles (both attained on 31 December 1998) and a win–loss record of 78–20 in singles and 36–21 in doubles.
Junior Grand Slam results – Singles:
Australian Open: SF (1998)
French Open: 1R (1998)
Wimbledon: W (1998)
US Open: F (1998)
Junior Grand Slam results – Doubles:
Australian Open: SF (1998)
French Open: 1R (1998)
Wimbledon: W (1998)
US Open: 1R (1998)
1998–2002: Early professional career
In July 1998, an almost 17-year-old Federer made his ATP debut at the Swiss Open Gstaad, in his home country of Switzerland, losing to No. 88 Lucas Arnold Ker in the first round.[35][36] Later that year, he won his first ATP match against Guillaume Raoux in Toulouse.[37] He then received a wildcard into the 1998 Swiss Indoors in his hometown in Basel, where he lost in the first round to former world No. 1 Andre Agassi.[38] He finished 1998 ranked as the world No. 301.[33]
His first Grand Slam win came at the Australian Open, where he defeated former World No. 2 Michael Chang.[26] His first singles final came at the Marseille Open in February 2000, where he lost to fellow Swiss Marc Rosset.[42] Federer then entered the Top 50 in March and ended 2000 ranked as the world No. 29.[33] Federer made his Olympic debut at Sydney, where he surprised many by reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Tommy Haas and then to Arnaud Di Pasquale in the bronze medal match.[42][44] In January 2001, Federer won the Hopman Cup representing Switzerland, along with world No. 1 Martina Hingis.[45][46] The duo defeated the American pair of Monica Seles and Jan-Michael Gambill in the finals. Federer later said that his experience with Hingis "definitely helped me to become the player I am today.
In 2001, Federer won his first singles title at the 2001 Milan Indoor tournament, where he defeated Julien Boutter in the final.[42][48] Federer then reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open, losing to former world No. 2 and eventual finalist Àlex Corretja.[49] His international breakthrough came at the Wimbledon Championships, when the 19-year-old Federer faced the four-time defending champion and all-time Grand Slam leader Pete Sampras in the fourth round. Federer defeated the No. 1 seed in a five-set match to snap Sampras' 31-match win streak at Wimbledon before losing in the quarter-finals to Tim Henman.
In 2002, Federer reached his first Masters final at the Miami event, where he lost to Andre Agassi,[52] but then won his first Masters title in Hamburg, defeating Marat Safin in the final; the victory put him in the top 10 for the first time.[53] On 1 August, Federer suffered the devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in South Africa.[33] Although he suffered first-round losses in the three tournaments he entered after Carter's death, Federer gathered himself together and began playing with more determination than ever.[54] After reaching the fourth round of the US Open, he won the Vienna Open,[55] jumping in the rankings from No. 13 at the end of September to No. 7 by early November, which allowed him to qualify for the first time for the year-end Masters Cup, where he won all of his matches in the round-robin stage before losing the semifinals to the then-world no. 1 and eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt.[56] At age 21, he ended 2002 ranked as the world No.6
