ROGER FEDERER

Tennis Career

Federer started playing tennis at the age of six.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14] 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.[15] 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 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.
(All results and ranking history from ATP)[16]

[edit] 2001

Federer's first ATP tournament victory came in Milan in February 2001. During the same month, he won three matches for his country in its 3–2 Davis Cup victory over the United States. He later reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, defeating four-time defending champion and seven-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round in a closely fought match, a victory that many consider to be the turning point of his career, as well as ending Sampras's 31-match winning streak in the tournament.[17] He then lost to Tim Henman in the quarterfinal and finished the year ranked 13th.
(All results in 2001)[18]

[edit] 2002
Roger Federer at the 2002 U.S. Open
Roger Federer at the 2002 U.S. Open

Federer reached his first ATP Masters Series (AMS) final at the Miami Masters, where he lost to Andre Agassi. He won his next AMS final in Hamburg. He also won both his Davis Cup singles matches against former world number ones, Russians Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov). Despite early-round exits at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open and the untimely, devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in August,[19] Federer reached No. 6 in the ATP Champions Race by the end of the year and thus qualified for the first time in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup. His run at the tournament was ended in the semifinals by then #1 seeded and ranked Lleyton Hewitt (who eventually went on to win the Cup).
(All results in 2002)[20]

[edit] 2003

In 2003, Federer challenged for the top ranking in men's tennis. Federer began his Grand Slam campaign at the Australian Open where he lost to David Nalbandian in the round of 16. He then won two hard court tournaments in Marseille and Dubai. He also won a clay court tournament in Munich, then lost in the first round of the French Open to Luis Horna. However, he won the tournament in Halle on grass, and in July, he won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon, defeating Andy Roddick in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis in the finals, losing only one set in the tournament (to Mardy Fish in the round of 32). He lost to Roddick and to Nalbandian the Masters tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati, respectively. As in the Australian Open, he lost to Nalbandian at the U.S. Open, again in the round of 16. He won on hard courts in Vienna and ended the year on a high note by winning the year-end Tennis Masters Cup tournament in Houston, defeating Andre Agassi in the final. In a three-way battle for supremacy, Roddick captured the year-end No. 1 ranking over Federer and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
(All results in 2003)[21]

[edit] 2004
Federer at the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Federer at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

In 2004, Roger Federer had one of the most dominating and successful years in the Open Era of modern men's tennis.[22] He won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments, did not lose a match to anyone ranked in the top ten, and won every final he reached. He won his first Australian Open title by defeating Marat Safin in straight sets. This win helped him succeed Andy Roddick as the World No. 1, a ranking which he has maintained as of March 2008. He successfully defended his Wimbledon title by defeating Andy Roddick, and won his first U.S. Open title by defeating Lleyton Hewitt. He finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup at Houston for the second consecutive year, defeating Hewitt in the final. Federer's only Grand Slam loss of the year was at the French Open, where he lost to former world number one and 3-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets. His win-loss record for the year was 74-6 with 11 titles. Federer was named the ITF Tennis World Champion[23] and Laureus World Sportsman of the Year in early 2005,[24] edging out the likes of Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi, Lance Armstrong, and Michael Phelps. Throughout 2004, Federer did not have a coach, relying instead on his fitness trainer Pierre Paganini, physiotherapist Pavel Kovac, and a management team composed of his parents, his girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec, and a few friends.[9] In 2005, Federer hired former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.[25]
(All results in 2004)[26]

[edit] 2005
Federer at Wimbledon, 2005.
Federer at Wimbledon, 2005.

To begin the year, Federer reached the Australian Open semifinals before falling to eventual winner Marat Safin in a five-set night match that lasted more than four hours.[27] He rebounded to win the year's first two ATP Masters Series (AMS) titles: Indian Wells (by defeating Lleyton Hewitt of Australia in straight sets) and Miami (by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain in five sets after being down two sets to love). He won his third Hamburg clay court title in May by defeating Richard Gasquet, to whom he had earlier lost in Monte Carlo. He then entered the French Open as one of the favorites, but lost in the semifinals in four sets to eventual winner Nadal.

Federer successfully defended his Wimbledon title, winning for the third consecutive year by defeating Andy Roddick in a rematch of the previous year's final. Federer also defeated Roddick in Cincinnati to take his fourth AMS title of the year (and sweep all the American AMS events) and become the first player in AMS history to win four titles in one season.[28] He then dropped only two sets en route to his second consecutive U.S. Open title, defeating Andre Agassi in four sets in the final. He became the first man in the Open Era to win Wimbledon and the U.S. Open back-to-back in consecutive years (2004 and 2005). He failed to defend his Tennis Masters Cup title, however, losing to David Nalbandian of Argentina in a four-and-a-half hour, five-set match.[29] Had he won the match, he would have finished the year 82-3, tying John McEnroe's 1984 record for the highest yearly winning percentage in the open era.
(All results in 2005)[30]

[edit] 2006
Federer playing in Basel at the Swiss Indoors, 2006.
Federer playing in Basel at the Swiss Indoors, 2006.

Federer won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments and ended the year ranked number one, with his points ranking several thousand points greater than that of his nearest competitor.[31] Federer won the year's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, by defeating Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. In March, Federer successfully defended his titles at the Indian Wells and Miami Masters, and became the first player ever to win the Indian Wells-Miami double in consecutive years. Federer then started the clay-court season by reaching the final of the ATP Masters Series (AMS) event at Monte Carlo losing in four sets to Rafael Nadal. He then reached a consecutive AMS final, along with Nadal, at the Rome Masters where it seemed as though Federer would finally defeat his rival on clay; however, Nadal won the epic five-set match, which lasted five hours, in the decisive tiebreak after saving two match points.[32] Federer chose not to defend his title at the Hamburg Masters, where he had won in the previous two years. At the French Open, Federer lost in the final to defending champion Nadal in four sets. Had he won the French Open, he would have completed a career Grand Slam and become the first man since Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam singles titles at the same time. Although the clay Grand Slam title eluded him, he became one of only two then-active players who had reached the finals of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments, the other being Andre Agassi.[33]

Federer entered Wimbledon as the top seed and reached the final without dropping a set. There, Federer beat Nadal in four sets to win the championship. This was Federer's fourth consecutive Wimbledon title. Federer then started his North American tour and won the 2006 Rogers Cup in Toronto, defeating Richard Gasquet of France in the final. In the year's last Grand Slam tournament, the U.S. Open, he defeated American Andy Roddick in four sets for his third consecutive title at the Flushing Meadows. At the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup at Shanghai, Federer defeated defending champion David Nalbandian in one of his three round robin matches and Nadal in a semifinal. Federer then defeated American James Blake 6–0, 6–3, 6–4 in the final to win his third Masters Cup title. In 2006, Federer lost to only two players: Nadal in the French Open, Rome, Monte Carlo, and Dubai finals; and Andy Murray in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters. The Cincinnati loss to Murray was Federer's only straight-sets loss of the year and the only tournament out of 17 (Davis Cup excluded) in which he did not reach the final.
(All results in 2006)[34]

[edit] 2007

Federer won his third Australian Open and tenth Grand Slam singles title when he, as defending champion, won the tournament without dropping a set, defeating Fernando González of Chile in the final. He was the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament without losing a set.[35] His winning streak of 41 consecutive matches ended when he lost to Guillermo Cañas in the second round of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, after winning this tournament three consecutive years. At the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, Federer again lost to Cañas, this time in the fourth round in three sets. He was awarded four ATP Awards during a ceremony at the tournament, making him the first player to receive four awards during the same year.[36] [37]

Federer started his clay-court season by reaching his second consecutive final of the Monte Carlo Masters. As in 2006, he lost to second seeded Rafael Nadal. Federer lost in the third round of the Internazionali d'Italia in Rome to Filippo Volandri.[38] This defeat meant he had gone four tournaments without a title, his longest stretch since becoming World No. 1.[38] On May 20, 2007, however, Federer defeated Nadal on clay for the first time, winning the Hamburg Masters tournament, and ending Nadal's record of 81 consecutive match wins on clay.[39] At the French Open, Federer reached the final for the second consecutive year but lost to Nadal for the third consecutive time. The day after the final, Federer announced that he was withdrawing from the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, which he had won the last four years. He cited fatigue and fear of getting an injury.[40] He therefore entered Wimbledon for the first time without having played a warm-up grass-court tournament. Despite this, Federer once again defeated Nadal in the final, however Nadal was able to push Federer into a fith set, with his last five-set match at Wimbledon coming from 2001 where he beat Pete Sampras. With the win over Nadal, Federer tied Björn Borg's record of five Wimbledon's in a row.

Federer won the Cincinnati Masters title for the second time, beating James Blake in the final. The victory was his 50th career singles title. Federer also won the 2007 US Open Series with this victory. In the U.S. Open final, Federer beat third seed Novak Đoković. It was Federer's 12th Grand Slam title, tying Roy Emerson. As champion of the US Open Series, Federer received a bonus of $1 million, in addition to the $1.4 million prize for winning the U.S. Open singles title.[41]

Federer reached the final of the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup when he defeated Nadal in a semifinal. Federer then went on to win his fourth Tennis Masters Cup title in five years by beating David Ferrer.

On November 19, 2007, in an exhibition match in Seoul between players recognized as among the greatest ever, Federer defeated former World No. 1 Pete Sampras 6–4, 6–3. This was the first of three exhibitions the two played in Asia. "I feel pretty good," Sampras told Korean television after the match. "I made it competitive, which was my goal. Obviously Roger is the best player in the world and I retired five years ago. I am grateful that he invited me." Federer was equally happy with the workout: "Pete was one of my idols growing up and it's great to play him. It wasn't easy for me, it wasn't easy for him as he's been retired five years. I am number one and everyone expects me to win."[42]
(All results in 2007)[43]

[edit] 2008

In January, Federer withdrew from the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament because of a stomach virus, disrupting his warm-up to the Australian Open.[44] He returned to the Australian Open to defend his title and reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Novak Đoković, 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5). This ended his record string of Grand Slam final appearances at ten, though his streak of 15 Grand Slam semi-finals was maintained. At every Grand Slam during the semi-final streak, Federer has either won the tournament or lost to the eventual champion. The loss also ended his 37-match winning streak in best of five set matches on hard courts. It was the first time that Federer had lost in straight sets in a Grand Slam singles match since he lost 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 to Gustavo Kuerten in the third round of the 2004 French Open. His last straight-sets loss at a hard court Grand Slam tournament was even further back, when he lost in the fourth round of the 2002 US Open to Max Mirnyi, 6–3, 7–6(5), 6–4. Federer himself stated that he was "quite happy with the result in the end." [44] Đoković is only the fourth player to defeat Federer more than once since Federer became World No. 1. The others at the time were Rafael Nadal (8 times), David Nalbandian (3 times), and Guillermo Cañas (2 times). Federer then returned to the Dubai Tennis Championships. Federer was seeded No.1, and was the defending champion. Federer lost to Andy Murray 7–6 (6), 3–6, 4–6 in the first round, Murray becoming the fifth player to defeat Federer more than once since he achieved the number one ranking.

In March, Federer revealed that he was recently diagnosed with mononucleosis, and that he may have suffered from it since December 2007. He noted, however, that he was now "medically cleared to compete."[45]

Federer won his third exhibition match out of four against former number one and fourteen-time Grand Slam titlist Pete Sampras in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Federer won 6–3, 6–7, 7–6.[46]

At the Pacific Life Open, the first Masters event of the year, he reached the semifinals where American Mardy Fish beat him for the first time, 6–3, 6–2, thus ended his winning streak against American players, dating back to August 2003

RAFAEL NADAL

• Full Name: Rafael Nadal Parera
• Nickname: Rafa
• Nationality: Spanish (Mallorca)
• Date of Birth: June 03, 1986 (20 years old)
• Recides: Manacor, Mallorca, Spain
• Height: 1'85m/ 6'1"
• Weight: 85kg/188lbs
• Plays: Left-handed (two-handed backhand)
• Clothing line: Nike
• Racquet: Babolat AeroproDrive
• Coach: Toni Nadal
• Family: Sebastian, Ana Maria and younger sister Maria Isabel.
• Became professional: 2001
• Favorite Movie: Titanic, The Gladiator
• Favorite Food: Sea food and pasta
• Favortie past time: Playing PSP, soccer and golf, fishing,

EARLY DAYS
Although Nadal plays left-handed, he is naturally right-handed. When he was younger, his coach, Toni Nadal aka Uncle Toni, decided that his two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm, so he taught Rafael to play with his left. It was not until Nadal was 12 that he decided to pursue a career in tennis instead of football.

RAFAEL VS FEDERER

The fierce rivalry between Nadal and Roger Federer continued into 2006. In March 2006, Nadal handed Federer his first loss of the year at the final in Dubai, winning 2–6, 6–4, 6–4. Nadal defeated Federer again at the Monte Carlo Masters by a score of 6–2, 6–7, 6–3, 7–6.

The two squared off again in the Rome Masters final. There, it seemed as though Federer might finally defeat his nemesis, thereby ending Nadal's streak of consecutive clay court matches. However, Nadal fought off two match points and won 6–7, 7–6, 6–4, 2–6, 7–6.

Nadal broke Argentinian Guillermo Vilas's 29-year record of 53 consecutive clay court match victories after defeating Robin Soderling in the first round of the 2006 French Open. Following the victory, Nadal was presented with a trophy containing the cross section of the construction of a clay court. Vilas was on hand for the ceremony, although Vilas has refused to acknowledge Nadal's feat as more impressive than his own (which was accomplished in a single season).^[10]

At the French Open, Nadal reached the final for the second consecutive year, and squared off against the world's No. 1 player, Roger Federer, in a hotly anticipated match. For Federer, the French Open was the missing link in a career Grand Slam and in holding all four majors simultaneously. For Nadal, the task of defending his French Open title, as well as maintaining a dominant winning record against Federer, was enormous, something that no other player has accomplished thus far. Though Nadal was the favorite based on his clay court ability, Federer was the overwhelming favorite with the raucous French crowd. Everyone expected a highly competitive match, much like the ones they had played in the last three Masters Series tournaments. Yet, the first two sets were hardly competitive, as the rivals traded 6–1 sets. Nadal steamrolled over Federer through the third set and most of the fourth. Federer finally broke Nadal's serve deep in the fourth set as he was serving for the match and forced a tiebreak, which Nadal won. With the win, he became the first player to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final.^[11]

With an undefeated 2006 clay court season, Nadal firmly stamped himself as the dominant clay court player in the world and as the only player able to beat Federer consistently.

In the quarterfinals of Queens Club Championships, a Wimbledon tune-up tournament, Nadal withdrew due to a shoulder injury against Lleyton Hewitt. This loss ended a winning streak of 26 matches, the last loss to Carlos Moyà in March.

Seeded No. 2 going into Wimbledon, Nadal reached the finals, securing a match against Federer by beating Marcos Baghdatis in the semifinals. During his run, Nadal was two points from defeat against American qualifier Robert Kendrick in the second round before coming back to win in five sets. Nadal also defeated Andre Agassi in the third round, in Agassi's final match at Wimbledon. All seven of the previous Nadal/Federer encounters had been played on either clay or hard courts; however, Wimbledon is played on grass, Federer's preferred surface. He had won the title three consecutive years. Though Nadal played well in the final after a sluggish start, he fell in four sets, 6–0, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3, cementing Federer's position at the top of the world rankings. Despite the loss, Nadal well exceeded most expectations by reaching the finals, winning more matches at Wimbledon (six) than he had ever won on grass in his entire career. Prior to the 2006 tennis season, Nadal's record on grass courts stood at three wins and three losses, and even the most optimistic predictions suggested that he would be several years away from being a contender on grass.^[12][13]

With their finals appearance, Nadal and Federer became the only pair of men in the open era to reach the Wimbledon final after having both played in the French Open final just a month prior. There have been several men to reach the Wimbledon final after making the French Open final, but never had the same two men accomplished such a feat at the same time. They repeated this feat in 2007.

At the 2006 U.S. Open Nadal reached the quarterfinals, his best result at the tournament to date. He lost to Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in four sets. Nadal failed, however, to reach the third round of his next tournament, the Stockholm Open, where he lost to Joachim Johansson 6–4, 7–6. Nadal also lost in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters, where he was defeated by Tomáš Berdych 6–3, 7–6 for the third time. After the tournament, Nadal blamed mental and physical exhaustion for his recent losses.

During the round robin stage of the Tennis Masters Cup, Nadal lost to James Blake, but defeated Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Robredo. Nadal reached the semifinals as the second place finisher in his group, where he lost to Federer 6–4, 7–5. This was Nadal's third loss in nine career matches with Federer. He and Federer played an exhibition match in Seoul, Korea, the week after the Master's Cup, which Federer won in three sets.