Factbox on Roger Federer, who won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon men's singles title on Sunday with a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Spain's Rafael Nadal.
Born: August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland
Grand slam titles: 11 (Australian Open 2004, 2006, 2007; Wimbledon 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007; U.S. Open 2004, 2005, 2006).
* Burst on to the scene in 2001 when he ended Pete Sampras's 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon in the fourth round before falling in the quarter-finals.
* After suffering shock first-round defeats at the French Open in 2002 and 2003 and Wimbledon in 2002, he became the first Swiss man to win a Grand Slam after beating Mark Philippoussis to lift 2003 Wimbledon crown.
* Became the 23rd man and first Swiss to top the ATP rankings in 2004, during which he also became the first player since Swede Mats Wilander in 1988 to win three Grand Slams in the same year. His Australian, Wimbledon and US Open triumphs made him the first man in the professional era to win his first four Grand Slam finals.
* Lost to the eventual winners in both the 2005 Australian and French Open semi-finals but retained his Wimbledon and US Open crowns. The US Open triumph marked his 23rd successive win in a final while his run of 35 consecutive hard court wins surpassed the professional era mark twice achieved by Pete Sampras.
* His record run of 24 consecutive final victories is snapped when he loses 2005 Masters Cup final to David Nalbandian. Finished the season with an 81-4 win-loss record.
* Enjoyed his most dominant season in 2006 when he reached all four Grand Slam finals, winning in Australia, Wimbledon and the US in a haul of 12 titles and a 92-5 win-loss record.
* His defeat by Nadal in the 2006 and again in the 2007 Roland Garros final left him one match short of becoming only the third man after American Don Budge and Australian Rod Laver to hold all four Grand Slam crowns at once.
* Broke Bjorn Borg's professional era record of 41 consecutive wins on grass (now stands at 54) en route to winning his fourth successive Wimbledon title. Later became the first man to win Wimbledon-US Open double three years in a row.
* Won his 10th Grand Slam title after defeating Fernando Gonzalez in the 2007 Australian Open final, becoming the first man in the professional era to win three consecutive majors twice in his career and the first man since Bjorn Borg to win a Grand Slam without losing a set.
* Celebrated 161st consecutive week as world number one, breaking 30-year-old record of American Jimmy Connors.
* Fell five wins short of Argentine Guillermo Vilas's professional era record of 46 victories in a row after losing to Argentine Guillermo Canas in the second round of Pacific Life Open Masters Series Tournament at Indian Wells.
* Equalled Bjorn Borg's record of five consecutive Wimbledon titles, beating Nadal for the second successive year to lie three titles shy of Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam victories.
© 2024 Rediff.com -