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Author: Kadence Buchanan
Article:
If there's one tennis player today who exhibits the stuff that
legends are made of, it has to be the current men's world number
one player, Roger Federer of Switzerland. Since gaining the top
spot in the men's tennis rankings in February 2004, Federer has
been an immovable force and now holds the distinction of staying
at number one for the third-longest time behind only Ivan Lendl
and Jimmy Connors.
And Federer has done it in style. In 2004, for instance, he
became the first man since 1988 to win three out of four Grand
Slam events in the same year, capturing the championships at the
US Open, French Open and Wimbledon. From 2003 to 2006, Federer
won an astounding seven Grand Slam singles titles and was
already being mentioned in the same breadth with some of the
greatest tennis players of all time.
Like many of the other tennis greats, Federer took up the game
early, at age eight. He dominated the junior's circuit for
several years before joining the ATP tour in 1998, but not
before an impressive reign as the ITF World Junior Tennis
champion. By 1999, he was good enough to be named to the Swiss
Davis Cup team. He finished the year as the youngest player ever
to be ranked among the ATP's top 100.
He won his first ATP tournament in 2001, but his big
accomplishment that year was when he powered the Swiss Davis Cup
team to a 3-2 victory over the United States. He was the
13th-ranked player in the world by end-2001.
He won his first ATP Masters Series (AMS) final in Hamburg in
2002 as well as the Medibank International title. The highlight
of that year was when he beat two former world number ones
(Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov) in Davis Cup
competition. Federer finished 2002 as number six in the world.
It was in 2003 when Federer started to hit his stride. He
started the year by winning two tournaments in a row. In July,
he also captured the Wimbledon Championships, his first Grand
Slam crown. He also won the Tennis Masters Cup and led
Switzerland to a semifinals appearance in David Cup action.
The year 2004 was the Year of Roger Federer as he put together
one of the most dominant seasons ever seen in the open era of
modern tennis. Aside from winning three of the four Grand Slam
events, Federer also went home with the Tennis Masters Cup for
the second straight year. He finished 2004 with a remarkable
74-6 win-loss record and was named by Tennis Magazine as its
"Player of the Year."
About the author:
Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Tennis, Games, and Recreation
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