World Entertainment: Roger Federer

Roger Federer born 8 August 1981 is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks. As of 9 January 2011, he is ranked World No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Federer has won a male record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). Many sports analysts, tennis critics, former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 22 career Grand Slam finals, of which 10 were consecutive appearances, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals over the four and a half years from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, excluding the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semi-finals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. In the 2011 Australian Open he reached his 27th consecutive quarter-finals in the grand slam tournaments, equalling the record set by Jimmy Connors.

Federer has won a record 5 ATP World Tour Finals (shared with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras) and 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments. He also won the Olympic Gold Medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. He has been year-end top 2 in the rankings, 8 years in a row (2003–2010).

As a result of Federer's successes in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008).He is often referred to as The Federer Express or abbreviated to Fed Express, the Swiss Maestro or simply Maestro.

Childhood and personal life

Federer was born in Binningen, near Basel, to Swiss national Robert Federer and South African-born Lynette. He holds both Swiss and South African citizenships. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, near Basel, close to the French-German borders and Federer speaks Swiss German, German, French and English fluently.He was raised as a Roman Catholic and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the 2006 Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in Rome. Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was deemed unfit due to a long-standing back problem and was subsequently not required to fulfill his "obligations."

Marriage and family

Federer is married to former Women's Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec. They met while competing for Switzerland in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Vavrinec retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury and has since been working as Federer's public relations manager.They were married in Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family at Wenkenhof Villa (municipality of Riehen). On 23 July 2009, Mirka gave birth to twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva.

Outreach and charitable efforts

Federer supportshis charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports. In 2005, he auctioned his racquet from his US Open championship to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 2006.At the 2005 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Federer arranged an exhibition involving several top players from the ATP tour and WTA tour called Rally for Relief. The proceeds from the event went to the victims of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . Since then, he has visited South Africa and Tamil Nadu, one of the areas in India most affected by the tsunami. He has also appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Federer responded by arranging a collaboration with fellow top tennis players Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Stosur to forgo their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open to form a special charity event called Hit for Haiti, in which all proceeds will go to the Haiti earthquake victims. He was named as a 2010 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in recognition of his leadership, accomplishments and contributions to society.

Similar to the 2010 event, Hit for Haiti, Federer participated in a charity match called Rally for Relief on 16 January 2011, to benefit those that were affected in the 2010-2011 Queensland floods.

rafael nadal

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Country: Switzerland
Residence: Bottmingen, Switzerland
Date of birth: 8 August 1981 (1981-08-08) (age 29)
Place of birth: Basel, Switzerland
Height: 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Turned pro: 1998
Plays: Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money :US$61,657,232

Singles
Career record: 753–175 (81.14%)
Career titles: 67 (4th in overall rankings in Open era)
Highest ranking :No. 1 (2 February 2004)
Current ranking: No. 2 (18 October 2010)

Grand Slam results
Australian Open W (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010)
French Open W (2009)
Wimbledon W (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009)
US Open W (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)

Other tournaments
Tour Finals W (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010)

Roger Federer born on August 8, 1981 in Basel (Switzerland), is one of the best tennis players in the world, currently ranked number 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), but a situation that occurs for the first time in nearly seven years in which he has never been ranked lower than second place.
His talent and skills as a tennis player became obvious from his early childhood, and in 1998 he succeeded in winning the junior Wimbledon title. Federer soon became a professional player and by 2007 he had already managed to win three of the four Grand Slam titles (2003 was the year in which Federer won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon). Since then he has achieved impressive records: he won the Wimbledon six times, having an outstanding percentage of victories (90.16), the US Open five times and the Australian Open four times. In 2009 Roger Federer became the male tennis player with the most singles Grand Slams, 16, by winning his first French Open tournament after defeating Robin Soderling in the final and putting an end to his famous rival’s (Rafael Nadal) series of wins in this competition.
His incredible trophy room includes a gold medal at the Olympic finals in Beijing and 17 Masters Series titles (tied for second place in this hierarchy alongside Andre Agassi and behind only Rafael Nadal, who leads with 18 victories). Up until now he has played 102 ATP tournament finals, out of which he won 71. Federer has been ranked World Number One for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and with a total of 285 he is placed just one week behind Pete Sampras, who currently remains the holder of this record.
Roger Federer has proven himself to be a true phenomenon and it is no wonder that so many fans, sports analysts and especially former important players consider the Swiss tennis player to be the greatest of all time.