Roger Federer

Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland.  Federer started playing tennis at the age of six. He began participating in group lessons at the age of nine, and began weekly private coaching when he was ten. He also played football until the age of twelve, at which time 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. 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.

In July 1998, Federer joined the ATP tour at Gstaad. The following year, he debuted for the Swiss Davis Cup team against Italy and finished the year as the youngest player inside ATP's top 100 ranking. In 2000, Federer reached the semifinals at the Sydney Olympics and lost the bronze medal match to Arnaud di Pasquale of France. Federer reached his first final in Marseille which he lost to Marc Rosset and was also the runner-up in Basel. He failed to make an impression at Grand Slams and Masters Series tournaments, and ended the year ranked 29th.   

Federer is one of the most passionate tennis players of all time.  He says he takes his career just as seriously now as he always has.  When asked what he plans to do when he retires, he says he has not thought that far, because he is still young and has no plans to retire anytime soon.