Roger Federer (born August 8, 1981) is ranked World No. 1 since February 2, 2004, for a record 225 consecutive weeks. Many tennis critics, past legends of the game, and his own peers consider him as having the potential to be the greatest player in history. In 2008, he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record fourth consecutive time.

Federer has won twelve Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, five Wimbledon, four US Open), four Tennis Masters Cup titles, and fourteen ATP Masters Series titles. He holds many records in the game, including having appeared in ten consecutive Grand Slam men's singles finals (2005 Wimbledon Championships through to 2007 U.S. Open).

Roger Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Swiss-German Robert Federer and South African Lynette Federer. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, ten minutes from Basel and close to the borders of France and Germany. Federer was also a talented football player. He had considered becoming a professional soccer player but decided instead to pursue tennis. He continues to support FC Basel, his hometown club and is a fan of Italian club AS Roma. As a youngster, he enjoyed watching Marcelo Ríos in action. Federer especially liked Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Marcelo Rios and has cited them as idols.

Federer currently resides in Oberwil, Switzerland and is dating former WTA player and Slovakia-born Miroslava Vavrinec (Mirka), who retired from tennis in 2002 after a foot injury. The two met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Federer launched a fragrance called RF Cosmetics in October 2003. He considers Swiss German his first language, but also speaks German, French, and English fluently and conducts press conferences in all three. His favourite vacation spots are Dubai, the Maldives and the Swiss mountains.He is also a good friend of golf superstar Tiger Woods. Federer is Roman Catholic, and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the Rome Masters in 2006.

Roger Federer is highly involved in various charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports to youth. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador of UNICEF from 2006. Since then, he has visited Tamil Nadu, one of the worst tsunami-affected areas in India, and South Africa. He has also appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS.

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 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. 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 (for the year) inside ATP's top 100 ranking. In 2000, Federer reached the semi-finals 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.

Victor Lamm says about him: "Roger is a tremendous competitor. He's got talent, work-ethic, passion and style. His contribution to tennis is already priceless. He's got what it takes to become the best player of all time."

Best Singles Grand Slams: Won Australian Open in 2004, 2006, and 2007. Won Wimbledon in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Won US Open in 2004, 2005, and 2006. Runner-up at Roland Garros in 2006 and 2007.

Plays: Right-handed, with a one-handed backhand.

Basic Style: All-court.

Greatest Strengths: Brilliant shotmaker, with exceptional versatility, touch, and accuracy, especially on the forehand. Capable of great power on groundstrokes and very good power on serves, with excellent placement. Movement extremely quick and smooth. Comfortable on every part of the court. Smart, calm, and increasingly confident.

Room for Improvement: No major weaknesses. A more powerful serve would provide more easy points, although his placement often does the job. Roger finds high backhands difficult, as does almost everyone. Sustaining a more consistent sharpness would make him unbeatable.

Courtesy: Wikipedia