Tennis-Stars.net

Career

[edit] Early years

Ferrer moved to Gandia at age 13, followed two years later by a move to Barcelona to attend the Catalan Tennis Federation. He spent nine months at Equelite, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s Academy in Villena before moving back to Jávea while practicing in Denia. He turned professional in 2000, finishing as world number 419, winning in Poland F1 and Spain F3 finishing runner-up in Spain F1. 2001 wasn’t a particularly good year for him. He captured his first career Challenger title in Sopot and reached the SF at Manerbio the following week. He also reached the semifinals in Spain F15 and Spain F16.

[edit] 2002

He played consistently in ATP (10-6) and Challenger (35-13) tournaments, winning his first ATP title in Bucharest (defeated Acasuso) and reaching his first ATP final in just his second ATP event in Umag (defeated Nalbandian, Coria, lost to Moyà). He won Challenger titles in Napoli, Valencia and Sassuolo. All 10 ATP match wins and 34 of 35 Challenger wins came on clay.

[edit] 2003

The highlight of 2003 was Ferrer’s defeat of Andre Agassi in R64 at the Rome Masters. He made his debut at all four Grand Slam tournaments, as well as six ATP Masters Series events. At AMS Roma, he upset the defending champion Agassi in the first round (lost to Ljubi?i? in second round). David advanced to the 2nd round at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. He reached his third career final in Sopot (lost to Coria). In doubles, he reached his first career final in Acapulco (with his partner Fernando Vicente). He compiled a 13-16 record on clay courts, 6-10 on hard, 1–1 on grass and had a season-end ATP ranking of #71.

[edit] 2004

Ferrer reached the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires, Valencia and at the ATP Masters Series Hamburg (defeated No. 6 David Nalbandian, lost to Coria). He advanced to the semifinals in Stuttgart (l. to Gaudio). Late in the year he advanced to the quarterfinals in Bucharest and the semis in Palermo (l. to Berdych) and Lyon (defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero, lost to Xavier Malisse). He ended the season with an ATP ranking of #49.

[edit] 2005

Ferrer advanced to the semifinals of AMS Miami by defeating Nalbandian, Ferrero and Hrbatý (lost to Nadal). In his hometown of Valencia, he reached his lone final of the year (lost to Andreev in three sets). He advanced to the quarterfinals at Monte Carlo Masters (lost to Coria) and semifinals at AMS Roma (defeated Gaudio, lost to Nadal). He made his third appearance at Roland Garros and turned in a Grand Slam-best QF, rallying from a 0–4 fifth set deficit against defending champ Gaudio in the 4th RD before losing to eventual champ Nadal. He reached the semifinals at New Haven (lost to López). He followed up with the US Open-his best result 3rd RD (lost to Hrbatý). He closed the season with QF showings at AMS Madrid (defeated Puerta, lost to Ginepri) and AMS Paris (lost to Roddick). He lost only once in the 1st RD of nine Masters Series events, while compiling a 20-9 record. In doubles David won first two ATP titles in Viña del Mar and Acapulco (with partner Ventura) and earned a career-high of $951,772. He finished the season with an ATP ranking of #14.

[edit] 2006

Ferrer opened the season with a quarterfinal showing in Auckland (lost to Olivier Rochus). He broke into the Top 10 ATP rankings for the first time following a personal-best 4th round effort at the Australian Open (defeated An?i?, lost to Santoro) on January 30. He was in the Top 10 for five weeks during the year. Then, playing in the 1st round Davis Cup tie vs. Belarus, he went 2–3 indoors, losing to Voltchkov in the second rubber (won reverse dead rubber). In March he reached the semifinals in Miami for a second straight year (defeated No. 4 Roddick, lost to Roger Federer). In his second clay court tournament of the season at ATP Masters Series Monte-Carlo, he lost to Federer. He also advanced to the quarterfinals at the Masters Series Hamburg, falling to eventual champion Tommy Robredo. In Düsseldorf he posted wins over two Top 10 players, No. 4 Ljubicic and No. 9 Gonzalez. He reached the 3rd round at Roland Garros and a career-best 4th round at Wimbledon (defeated Fernando González in 3rd round, lost to Hewitt). In July he won a second career ATP title in a five-hour final in Stuttgart (In 2008 it’s a Masters Series Tournament). He came back from two sets to one and a 1–5 deficit against Acasuso, saving one match point down 4–5 in the fourth set. In August he reached the quarterfinals at Cincinnati Masters (defeated No. 10 Baghdatis, lost to González), followed by a 3rd round showing at New Haven (lost to Calleri). At the U.S. Open he reached the 3rd round for the 2nd year in a row (lost to Youzhny). Ferrer closed the season with reaching the quarterfinals in Basel (lost to Federer). For the season he went 3–5 vs. Top 10 opponents and compiled records of 18-8 on clay and 17-13 on hard court. He finished the season ranked #14 and in the Top 15 for the second year in a row.

[edit] 2007
Dadid Ferrer serving during the 2007 Spanish National Masters Cup.

Ferrer began the year winning Auckland, defeating Tommy Robredo in the final, 6–4, 6–2. At the Australian Open he defeated Kristian Pless, Thomas Johansson, and Radek Št?pánek) and lost in the fourth round to Mardy Fish in 5 sets. One month later he reached the quarterfinals at Rotterdam. He had quarterfinal finishes at Indian Wells and Monte-Carlo, and reached the fourth round in Miami, the semifinals in Barcelona, and the quarterfinals in Hamburg.

At Roland Garros, he was stopped by Fernando Verdasco in the third round. During Wimbledon, he was eliminated by Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round.

In July, he captured his second title of the year and fourth of his career, beating Nicolás Almagro in the final of the Swedish Open in Båstad, Sweden. He then advanced to the quarterfinals at the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Andy Roddick in the third round. At the US Open, he was seeded #15 and knocked out #24 seed David Nalbandian in the 3rd round and then upset #2 seed and compatriot Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, 6–7, 6–4, 7–6, 6–2, in a match dominated by powerful rallies. He beat #20 seed Juan Ignacio Chela in the quarterfinals and reached his first Grand Slam semifinal where he was defeated by the #3 seed, Novak Djokovic. His performance at the US Open brought his ATP ranking up to #8. After, Ferrer captured his third title of the year in Tokyo, defeating Richard Gasquet in the final, 6–1 6–2. At the Paris Masters, he made it to the quarterfinals, where he lost to David Nalbandian, 6–7, 7–6, 2–6.

Ferrer qualified as the #6 seed for the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup, where he had an outstanding run at the tournament. To begin, Ferrer shocked #3 seed Novak Djokovic, 6–4, 6–4, in his first round-robin match, and then defeated #2 seed Rafael Nadal, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3. He sealed his qualification to the knock-out stage by pummeling #8 seed Richard Gasquet, 6–1, 6–1. He was the only man to have a perfect record in the round-robin stage, and had the best win/loss set record (6–1). Ferrer came up next against #5 seed Andy Roddick in the semifinal, and beat him 6–1, 6–3. In the finals, he lost to #1 seed Roger Federer in three straight sets, 2-6, 3-6, 2-6. He then ended the season with a career high ATP ranking of #5.
Ferrer hits a backhand at the 2008 Pacific Life Open.

[edit] 2008

Ferrer opened the 2008 season with a disappointing quarterfinal loss to unseeded Julian Benneteau of France at Auckland where Ferrer was seeded #1. He reached the 2nd week of the Australian Open however, as the #5 seed, without dropping a set in the first 3 rounds. He then went on to defeat #22 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in 4 sets in the 4th round, before falling to #3 seed and eventual champion, Novak Djokovic 6–0,6–3,7–5 in the quarterfinals. On February 25, Ferrer became World No. 4 despite losing in the second round at Rotterdam.

On April 20, he captured his first ATP title of the year, and the sixth in his career, when he defeated Nicolás Almagro 4–6, 6–2, 7–6(2) in the finals of the 2008 Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana. He saved three match points against Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals, and in the finas,l won the definitive set when he lost 5-2 in the third set, with two break points for Almagro.

Ferrer arrived at the quarterfinals in the Monte Carlo Masters, losing against the future tournament champion Rafael Nadal 6-1, 7-5. Ferrer had five set points in the second set but eventually lost the set to Nadal. At the 2008 Torneo Godó held in Barcelona the following week, Ferrer was able to arrive at the finals defeating Nicolás Lapentti, #6 seed Tommy Robredo, and #14 seed Stanislas Wawrinka along the way. He would lose to Rafael Nadal in the finals (1-6, 6-4, 1-6).

Ferrer made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open, matching his previous best appearance in 2005. He had strong performances in his first two rounds, defeating Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 in the first round, and Fabrice Santoro 6-0, 6-1, 6-0 in the second. He then prevailed in two tough five-set matches over Lleyton Hewitt and Radek Št?pánek in the third and fourth rounds, respectively. He eventually fell to local favorite Gael Monfils, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Ferrer then began his grass court season successfully with another title at ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. He defeated Mario An?i? and Argentine Juan Martín del Potro en route to the final, where he won 6-4, 6-2 over Frenchman Marc Gicquel. This was his seventh career title and the first on grass. With this win, he became the second Spaniard (after Rafael Nadal) to win a grass court tournament after a 36-year drought.

At Wimbledon, Ferrer was the #5 seed. In the first round, he passed Sergiy Stakhovsky, who forfeited the match while down in sets 2-0 and up 3-1 in the third set. In the second round, Ferrer defeated Russian Igor Andreev 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. He was then eliminated by Croatian Mario An?i? in the third round, losing 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-7(3).

At the 2008 US Open, Ferrer reached the third round as the #4 seed. His run was ended as he was defeated by World No. 126, Kei Nishikori in five sets in a match (4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 5-7) lauded as one of the biggest upsets in the tournament. Ferrer was able to come back from 2 sets down and saved 5 match points, but ultimately lost the match.

Seeded #1 at the 2008 China Open in Beijing, he was defeated by Israeli Dudi Sela in the second round, losing 6-3, 6-3.

Following a first-round bye, #6 seed Ferrer was knocked out in the second round of the Madrid Masters by fellow Spaniard Feliciano López.The score was 6-4, 7-6(4).

David Ferrer Ern (born April 2, 1982 in Jávea/Xàbia, Spain) is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia. He turned professional in 2000. Ferrer is currently ranked 5th in the world, as of October 13, 2008.

Ferrer is especially known for his fighting spirit and unwillingness to concede defeat. He is known as a particularly dangerous clay court player, though he has had several respectable results on hard courts as well, especially his back-to-back semifinal appearances at the NASDAQ-100 Open in 2005–2006 and his semifinal appearance at the 2007 U.S. Open. Interestingly, his first two titles came at the expense of the same player in the final, José Acasuso. The other three titles came in 2007 against Tommy Robredo and Nicolás Almagro of Spain, and Richard Gasquet of France. He broke into the top 10 in the ATP Tour singles rankings for the first time in 2006. His highest ranking to date is World Number 4, which he reached on 25 February 2008.

He wears Lotto Sport Italia shoes and clothes and uses a Prince racquet. He is 5′9″ tall and nicknamed Ferru (normatively should be written ferro, but the word is pronounced with a final “u” sound), meaning iron in Valencian/Catalan. In fact ferrer means literally smith (or blacksmith) in this romance language.

Early life

Andy Murray was born to Willie and Judy in Glasgow, Scotland.[1][2] His maternal grandfather was a professional footballer who played reserve team matches for Hibernian and senior football for Stirling Albion;[9] as a result, Murray is a Hibs fan.[10] Murray has a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood.[11][12] Murray attended Dunblane Primary School, where he experienced the Dunblane Massacre of 1996.[13] Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people, mostly children who were in a younger age group than Murray, before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray himself took cover in a classroom.[14] Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he says that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother gave him rides in her car.[15] Murray went on to attend Dunblane High School.[16][17]

Murray first picked up a tennis racquet when he was two years old, and was soon playing with his older brother Jamie. Leon Smith, Murray’s tennis coach from 11 to 17, said he’d never seen a five-year-old like Murray, describing him as “unbelievably competitive.” Murray attributes his abilities to the motivation gained from losing to Jamie, who had been the second-best junior player in the world. He first beat Jamie in an under-12s final in Solihull, afterwards teasing Jamie until his brother hit him hard enough to lose a nail on his left hand. At 12, Murray won the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for under-12s. [18] He briefly moved away from tennis, turning towards football instead, but soon reverted back.[19]

When playing against Rafael Nadal, who was a year older than Murray, he found out Nadal was training with Carlos Moyà, the world number one.[16][17] Murray was angry that he had only his brother to practise with, so when he was 15 he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he attended the Schiller International School[20] and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this as “a big sacrifice to move away from your family, and spend money training over there when you’re not making any back”.[17] His schoolwork was also sacrificed during this period; despite being bright, he left without qualifications. While in Spain he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world number one doubles player.[17] In September 2004, he won the junior US Open and was selected for the Davis Cup match against Austria later that month.[21] Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.[22]

[edit] Career

[edit] 2005

2005 was Murray’s breakthrough year. He came to public attention after reaching the third round at both the Stella Artois championship at Queens and at Wimbledon. Almost all of his ATP tour results came on hard and grass courts, though he has claimed to prefer clay courts, a liking tied to his training in Barcelona as a junior.[23]

In March 2005, he was called up to play doubles for the United Kingdom’s Davis Cup team to play against Israel, and became the UK’s youngest ever Davis Cup player in doing so. Murray and David Sherwood produced a surprise win over the Israeli doubles team, who at the time were the World number eight pairing and had reached the Wimbledon semi-final in 2003. This helped the UK to a 3–2 victory.

The Scot reached the semi-finals of the Boys’ tournament at the French Open, Prior to the Junior French Open in April, Murray turned professional and played his first senior tournament when he was given a wild card to the ATP Open SEAT clay-court event in Barcelona, his adopted home town. He lost in the first round to Jan Hernych.

The Barcelona Tournament gave Murray his first senior ranking point, and he was soon handed a second wild card for the Stella Artois championship at Queens. He progressed to the third-round but retired due to a cramp.[24]

Murray was awarded a wildcard for Wimbledon. He went into his first senior grand slam ranked 374th in the world, but managed to produce a major upset by defeating fourteenth seed Radek Št?pánek in straight sets. He was the first Scottish person in the Open era to reach round three at Wimbledon, and was the only Briton remaining in the men’s or ladies’ singles championship. Murray’s run in Wimbledon 2005 came to an end when he was beaten by David Nalbandian after leading by two sets to love.

During the tournament his performances saw Henman Hill re-christened as Murray Mound/Mount and Murrayfield (a reference to Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh),[25] and Henmania became ‘Andymonium’.

Mark Petchey, who had been coaching Murray through the early part of that grass court season was then confirmed as the player’s full time coach, Murray stating:

“I’m so pleased to have Mark as my coach, I respect him a great deal. He has helped me massively over the last few weeks and I am excited to work with him moving forward.”[citation needed]

He began the U.S. hardcourt season by winning his first title at the Aptos Challenger Series hardcourt event without dropping a set. A wildcard afforded him entry to the Cincinnati Masters event where he played his first match against a top-ten player, Marat Safin, in the second-round. Murray lost the match, 6–4, 1–6, 6–1.

Murray was ranked No. 122 in the world and had to qualify for the U.S. Open. He was able to reach the second-round, playing two five-set matches. On the 29th September he finally reached the top 100, when he beat Robin Söderling in the Thailand Open. He reached his first ATP final by beating home favourite Paradorn Srichaphan in the semi-finals but lost to World no.1 Roger Federer in the final. His world ranking rose to No. 72.

Murray returned from a short injury layoff to play at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors. He was drawn in the first-round against British number one Tim Henman, with this tie being first time the two had met in professional competition. Murray defeated Henman, 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(4). He then defeated Thomas Berdych in three sets before losing in the quarter finals to world number 10 Fernando González 6–4, 3–6, 6–1. However, he rose to a career high ranking of 65.

In December Murray won the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year 2005.

[edit] 2006

Murray began the 2006 season with second round exits in two tournaments, followed by a first round loss to Juan Ignacio Chela in his first Australian Open appearance. After winning a match against Kenneth Carlsen at the Heineken Open in Auckland, Murray told an on-court reporter that he thought “we both played like women in the first set”.[26] He later explained that he had recently watched a match between two women which featured nine breaks of serve in a set, and he was comparing that to his match against Carlsen.[26][27][dead link]

Murray then won his first ATP title, the SAP Open in San Jose, California, by beating two former world number one players in the form of Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. He reached the quarter-finals in his next tournament in Memphis. He lost in the first round of six of the next nine tournaments he played in, including first round exits at the French Open and at Queen’s Club. During this run, Murray unsuccessfully partnered Greg Rusedski in the UK’s Davis Cup tie, after missing the singles through injury.

As he climbed into the top 100 players, Murray gained a reputation of being “petulant” with the media.[28][29] When playing in Davis Cup doubles with Greg Rusedski, against Nenad Zimonji? and Ilija Bozoljac, Murray incurred a $2,500 fine for swearing at the umpire. His words were over a line call which was caught on microphone and televised live. Later he admitted swearing, saying “We got an absolute shocker and I told the umpire how bad he was”.[30]

Murray’s cramping problems contributed to his defeat in the first round of the 2006 Monte Carlo Masters,[31] and he was hampered by a back problem in his defeat to Gael Monfils at the 2006 French Open. Murray put his fitness problems down to the fact that he was still growing, saying “I had an X-ray and it showed the bones aren’t fully grown. That’s why my back gets sore and that’s why I get cramp.”[32]

At Wimbledon, Murray reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, after defeating third seed Roddick in the third round. His run was then ended with a straight-sets loss to Marcos Baghdatis. He reached the semi-final and final of the next two tournaments he entered (the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport and the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, respectively). In between, he won a singles match against Andy Ram in the Davis Cup tie with Israel.

Murray reached the semi-final of the Canada Masters, losing to Richard Gasquet. In the next tournament, the Cincinnati Masters, he lost to Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals after earlier defeating the then world number 1, Roger Federer. Murray was one of only two players to beat Federer in 2006, the other being Rafael Nadal. The final grand slam of the year, the U.S. Open, saw Murray reach the fourth round, before losing to the seeded Nikolay Davydenko in four sets. This was followed by his final Davis Cup appearance for the year, in which he won both singles rubbers in straight sets and lost the doubles en route to a British victory over the Ukraine, which ensured the team’s continued presence in group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone for 2007.

In the final set of tournaments in 2006 he lost to Tim Henman in the first round of the Thailand Open (where he had reached the final the year before) He reached the final of the doubles, partnered by his brother. At the Madrid Masters, he defeated number 3 seed Ivan Ljubi?i? before losing to Novak ?okovi? in the round of 16. In his final tournament of the year, the Paris Masters, Murray beat Chela, and lost in the next round to Dominik Hrbatý. At the end of the year, Murray was ranked 17th in the world.

[edit] 2007

At the Australian Open, Murray’s first Grand Slam of the calendar year, he was seeded 15th. In his first round match he beat Alberto Martín of Spain 6–0, 6–0, 6–1, which equalled the largest-ever victory at the Australian Open, in the Open Era, which began in 1968. In the fourth round Murray faced Rafael Nadal for the first time in his career. After leading by 2 sets to 1, Murray lost in 5 sets to Nadal, 6–7(3), 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, 6–1. After the match Murray stated that it was the best performance of his career.[33]

Andy Murray successfully defended his San Jose title, beating Ivo Karlovi? 6–7(3), 6–4, 7–6(2) in a closely fought final. His brother also won the doubles title. They became the first pair of brothers to win singles and doubles titles at the same event since Emilio and Javier Sánchez at Kitzbühel in 1989.[34]

At the Indian Wells Masters event Murray made his way into the quarter finals after a 7–6(5), 6–4 victory over number four seed Nikolay Davydenko. He then proceeded to save two match points and recover from a serious fall, in which he injured his ankle and hip, and bounce back to beat German Tommy Haas to progress to the semi-finals, winning 3–6, 6–3, 7–6(8). He could not make it to the final though, hampered by the injury he sustained in the quarter final against Haas, he lost 6–2, 6–3 to Novak Djokovic. Despite the loss, he rose to a career high ranking of 12th in the world.[35] At the Miami Masters he faced Djokovic again, and lost heavily 6–1, 6–0. It was reported that Murray had been injured in training the day before and was a doubt for the Davis Cup tie the following week.[36] However, he did rise to a career high ranking of 11th in the world. On April 13, Murray clinched a place in the top 10 after the former No. 10 Tommy Haas failed to reach the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships semi-finals in Houston.[37]

After the Hamburg Masters, where Murray was forced to abandon in the first set of his first round match against Italian Filippo Volandri due to a wrist injury, he announced that he was forced to withdraw his participation to the 2007 French Open. Shortly after this, he announced that he would not be able to take part in the tournament of Queen’s, the preparatory tournament to The Championships, Wimbledon. He announced that he could not take part in Wimbledon either.[38] Murray rose to No. 8 in the world even though he was inactive, because other players failed to defend points. After missing Wimbledon and several other tournaments, he dropped to 14th in the rankings.

Murray returned to play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, three months after sustaining the wrist injury and lost in the second round to world number 139 Fabio Fognini 6–2, 6–2. The following week at Cincinnati Murray lost in the opening round to Marcos Baghdatis 6–1, 6–2 and his ranking fell to number 19. He reached the third round of the U.S. Open. After an opening straight sets victory over against Pablo Cuevas, he needed five sets to defeat Jonas Björkman. Then he fell to Lee Hyung-taik in four sets, 6–3, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5.

Murray then won a £50,000 exhibition event; the Betfair Turbo Tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London. He defeated former Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivaniševi? 7–4 in the final. Murray commented afterwards, “I really enjoyed myself, and the crowd were unbelievable. It was a lot of fun playing a tennis match like this. For me to play against two Wimbledon champions in one day was great.”[39][dead link]

Murray went on to compete for Great Britain in the Davis Cup tie against Croatia played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. He defeated Marin ?ili? in a close five set match to take Britain to a 1–0 lead. Tim Henman won the second rubber and partnered with Jamie Murray to win the doubles title. Murray played the fourth rubber defeating Roku Karanusi? 6–4, 7–6(4).

Murray started the Autumn indoor season with a strong showing at the Metz International in France. Wins over Janko Tipsarevi?, Michaël Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Guillermo Cañas saw him reach the final of the tournament. In the final Murray took on top seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo and lost 0–6, 6–2, 6–3; showing inconsistent form. Murray then headed to the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, where he had a solid opening-round win over young Russian hopeful Evgeny Korolev, before falling to Janko Tipsarevi?—the man who he beat in Metz the previous week—in the second round. Murray also spoke out in the British press claiming that “everyone is aware” of the match fixing problems that exist in tennis.[40]

Murray reached the third round of the Madrid Masters, where he defeated Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round. He met Rafael Nadal in the third round, and both players traded breaks of serve throughout the match, but Murray eventually lost 7–6(5) 6–4. Following this Murray competed in St Petersburg taking out Dmitry Tursunov in a tight match 3–6, 7–6(2), 6–4 to reach a semi-final against Mikhail Youzhny. Murray reached his 7th career final in St Petersburg with a 6–2, 5–7, 7–6(1) win. He faced Fernando Verdasco in the final, winning 6–2, 6–3.

Murray then played in the 2007 Paris Masters, and defeated Fabrice Santoro in the third round 6–4, 6–2 before falling to home favorite Richard Gasquet 6–3, 0–6, 6–4 in the quarterfinals. This defeat ended his chances of qualification for the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup, while Gasquet received the last available place. After the tournament, Murray stood at number 12.[41]

In late November, Murray split from coach Brad Gilbert, replacing him with a “team of coaches”.[8]

[edit] 2008
Murray playing a backhand at the 2008 Pacific Life Open.

Murray trained hard in the off-season, working with fitness experts Jez Green, Matt Little and Miles Maclagan in Miami, leading Murray to say he had never been better prepared for a season.[42] Murray’s hard work paid off immediately as he sealed his fourth career title at the 2008 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, defeating top seed and world number four Nikolay Davydenko 6–4, 6–3 in the semifinals, before defeating up-and-coming Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6–4, 4–6, 6–2 in a tight final, which assured Murray rose back into the Top 10.

Murray was seeded ninth at the 2008 Australian Open, his first time in the Top 10 seeds at a Grand Slam, but lost to eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round. Murray withdrew from Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie against Argentina, a decision that provoked controversy; his brother Jamie commented, “It’s not that Andy doesn’t enjoy the Davis Cup, it’s just that he obviously felt that it was more important for him to concentrate on Marseille and play well there rather than come here.”[43]

Murray won his fifth career title at his next tournament in Marseille, defeating Mario An?i? in the final. In Murray’s opening match in Dubai, he defeated world number one Roger Federer but exited in the quarter-finals; Murray posted early losses at the subsequent Masters Series events in Indian Wells and Miami.

Onside Law, the legal firm representing Andy Murray’s official website, made an official legal request to fan site murraysworld.com to cease and desist all use of photographs and images of Andy Murray unless given explicit permission from the copyright holders in April 2008. [44] The lawyers claimed the use of such material constituted copyright infringement; the fan site claimed the legal request was an attempt to “suppress a website that is often critical, and in some cases damaging to Murray’s image due to its journalistic principles”. [45]

In a bid to improve his results on clay, which had been thus far his least successful surface, Murray began working with former French Open runner-up Alex Corretja. However, Murray failed to go beyond the third round of any of his pre-French Open clay court tournaments. Murray reached the third round of the Open, and completed a convincing second-round win over clay specialist José Acasuso 6–4, 6–0, 6–4, which BBC Sport described as “his best ever performance on clay”.[46]

At Queen’s, Murray reached the quarterfinals, but withdrew from his quarterfinal match against Andy Roddick owing to a thumb injury. As the twelfth seed at Wimbledon, Murray defeated his first two opponents, Fabrice Santoro and Xavier Malisse, before defeating Tommy Haas 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–3, 6–2 in the third round. In the fourth round, he defeated Richard Gasquet 5–7, 3–6, 7–6(3), 6–2, 6–4, even though Gasquet had served for the match in the third set. In his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal however, Murray was defeated by eventual champion Rafael Nadal, 6–3, 6–2, 6–4.
Murray playing a shot at Cincinnati in August on course to his first ATP Masters Series title.

Murray returned to action on the US Open Series, where he has so far encountered success. In the Toronto Masters he reached the semi-finals, defeating Novak Djokovic for the first time on his route there, before defeating Djokovic again, in the final of the Cincinnati Masters, to win his first Master Series shield. This ensured that Murray reached a career high of No. 6 in the world.[47]

After winning in Cincinnati, Murray went into the men’s singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics as one of the favourites for gold,[48] but he suffered a shock defeat to Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan in the first round.[49] Murray also entered the men’s doubles, where he was paired with his brother Jamie. Andy and Jamie won 4–6 6–3 6–4 in the first round against Canada’s Daniel Nestor and Frederic Niemeyer,[49] but were beaten in the second round by the French duo of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra in straight sets, 6–1 6–3.

In the U.S. Open, Murray progressed from the third round by coming back from being two sets down against Jürgen Melzer. He then beat 10th seed Stanislas Wawrinka 6–1, 6–3, 6–3 to reach the quarter-final. In that match he stopped 17th seed Juan Martín del Potro’s 23 match winning streak by winning 7–6, 7–6, 4–6, 7–5, coming back from a break down in both the first and fourth sets. Murray was assured of a world ranking high of No. 4 by reaching the semi-final, benefitting from the losses of David Ferrer, Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko. Murray played top seed Rafael Nadal in the semi-final, which was moved forward and on to the Louis Armstrong Stadium court owing to rain expected to be caused by Hurricane Hanna. Murray won the first two sets, 6–2, 7–6(5), but Nadal however, was up a break in the third set as the play was suspended owing to the rain’s arrival. The match continued on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court the following day, with Murray triumphing 6–2, 7–6(5), 4–6, 6–4.[50] Murray became the first British man since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to reach the final of a Grand Slam, and only the third in the open era (John Lloyd being the first, in 1977).[51] Rusedski said, “There’s no doubt Murray’s playing the best tennis of the two players. He’s been so impressive.”[52] Describing the semi-final result as “awesome”, Murray was asked about his prospects in the final, saying, “Roger’s played better in his last couple of matches after struggling earlier in the tournament. I’m going to have to play great to have a chance of winning that.”[53] He called it an “honour” to play against “probably the greatest player ever” in a Slam final. “I’ve played well against him in the past. Hopefully I can do the same again.”[54] Murray lost the final to Roger Federer in straight sets, 6–2, 7–5, 6–2.

At the 2008 Madrid Masters, Murray received a bye in the first round as the No. 4 seed and faced Italian Simone Bolelli. Murray completely dominated the first set, 6–0 before Bolelli retired in the second owing to injury. He then overcame a tough test against Marin Cilic, winning 7–5, 7–6(2) to progress to the quarterfinals, where he defeated Gael Monfils 6–2, 6–2. In the semifinals, he defeated World No. 2, Roger Federer in a rematch of their US Open final. Murray won in 3 sets, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5 to bring their overall head-to-head record to 3–2 in Murray’s favour. In the tournament final, he defeated Gilles Simon 6–4, 7–6(6) to win his fourth title of the year as well as securing back-to-back Masters Series titles. He became the first Briton to win four titles in a season. He won the St. Petersburg Open on 26 October with a “comfortable” 6–1, 6–1 victory over Andrey Golubev, which was his 23rd victory in 25 ATP games. His defense of the title made him the first British player to win back-to-back titles since Mark Cox in March 1975 when Cox won at London and Washington.

[edit] National identity

Murray identifies himself as “Scottish, but also British”.[4][5] Prior to Wimbledon 2006, Murray caused some public debate[55] when he was quoted as saying he would “support anyone but England” at the 2006 World Cup. He received large amounts of hate mail on his website as a result.[56] It was also reported that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt on the day of England’s World Cup match with the South American team.[57]

Murray explained that his comments were said in jest in response to provocation from Englishmen who asked him if he would be supporting Scotland in the World Cup, in the knowledge that Scotland had failed to qualify for the tournament.[58] Murray protested that he is “not anti-English and never was”[4] and he expressed disappointment over England’s subsequent elimination by Portugal.[59] In an interview with Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live, Tim Henman confirmed that the remarks had been made in jest and were only in response to Murray being teased by a journalist and Henman.[60] He also stated that as far as he was aware the rumour that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt was untrue.[60]

In an interview with Gabby Logan for the BBC’s Inside Sport programme, Andy said that he was both Scottish and British and was comfortable and happy with his British identity.[61] He said he saw no conflict between the two and was equally proud of them. He has also pointed out that he is quarter English with some of his family originating from Newcastle, his coach is English and that his girlfriend, Kim Sears, is English.

Andrew “Andy” Murray (born May 15, 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player who is currently the highest-ranked British player.[4][5] Murray broke into the official ATP Top 10 for the first time on 16 April 2007, and reached a career-high of No. 4 after the 2008 U.S. Open, in which he reached the final, losing to Roger Federer.[6]

In December 2005, Murray won the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year Award and the sport section of the Top Scot awards. His elder brother Jamie is Great Britain’s highest ranked doubles player. Murray is most proficient on a fast surface (such as hard courts or grass), although he has worked hard recently on improving his clay court game.[7] Murray works with a team of fitness experts,[8] with Miles Maclagan currently acting as his main coach.[8] He was previously coached by American Brad Gilbert.

Biography

Djokovic was born May 22, 1987 in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia. He was born to father Sr?an and mother Dijana, and is the oldest of their three sons.[4] His two younger brothers, ?or?e and Marko, are also tennis players with professional aspirations.[5] He started playing tennis at the age of four, and was spotted by Yugoslav tennis legend Jelena Gen?i? at the age of eight, who stated “This is the greatest talent I have seen since Monica Seles.”[4] At twelve years old, he spent three years at Nikola Pili?’s tennis academy in Munich, Germany, and at age fourteen, his international career began, winning European championships in singles, doubles, and team competition.[4] He currently resides in Monte Carlo, Monaco and is coached by a former Slovak tennis player, Marián Vajda.[6]

Djokovic speaks Serbian and English fluently. He also speaks a bit of Italian and German. In 2008, he mentioned in several interviews that he wanted to learn French as he lives in Monte Carlo.[citation needed]

Djokovic is also known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends. This became evident to the tennis world after his 2007 US Open quarterfinal win over Carlos Moyà, where he entertained the audience with impersonations of Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.[7]

Tennis career

2003-2005

In the beginning of his professional career, Djokovic mainly played in Futures and Challenger tournaments, winning three of each type.

2006

He participated in the 2006 Hopman Cup with fellow Serbian player Ana Ivanovi?, with the pairing narrowly missing the final.

In May 2006, various reports appeared in the British media about Djokovic’s mother Dijana reportedly approaching Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association about her son joining British tennis ranks and the possibility of their entire 5-person family moving from Serbia to live in Britain.[8] All the rumours didn’t affect Djokovic’s play, however. He started 2006 ranked 78th, but with an excellent path to the quarterfinals at the French Open and a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon, he found himself in the top 40.

Just three weeks after Wimbledon, he won his maiden title at the Dutch Open in Amersfoort without losing a set, defeating Nicolás Massú in the final. Djokovic won his second career title at Open de Moselle in Metz, and with this victory moved into the top 20 for the first time in his career.

At the US Open, Djokovic lost in the third round to former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 6–3, 6–1, 6–2.

2007
Novak Djokovic at 2007 US Open

Djokovic began the year by winning in Adelaide, defeating Australian Chris Guccione in the final. At the Australian Open, he lost in the fourth round to eventual champion Roger Federer in straight sets.

His performances at the Masters Series events in Indian Wells, California and Key Biscayne, Florida, where he was the runner-up and champion respectively, pushed him well into the world’s top ten. In those tournaments, which were his first and second Masters Series finals, he defeated Andy Murray in the semifinals without dropping a set in either match. Djokovic lost the Indian Wells final to Rafael Nadal but defeated Nadal in the Key Biscayne event before defeating the resurgent Guillermo Cañas in the final.

He later played in the Masters Series Monte Carlo Open where he was defeated by David Ferrer in the third round in straight sets. At the Estoril Open, Djokovic defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the final. He then reached the quarterfinals of both the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome and the Masters Series Hamburg but lost to Carlos Moyà and Nadal, respectively.

At the French Open, Djokovic reached his first Grand Slam semifinal ever, where he lost to eventual champion Nadal.

During Wimbledon, Djokovic won a five hour quarterfinal against Marcos Baghdatis 7–6(4), 7–6(9), 6–7(3), 4–6, 7–5. The match lasted just 5 minutes shy of the longest singles match in a single day in Wimbledon history.[citation needed] In his semifinal match, he was forced to retire against Nadal due to a back injury and foot problem.

Djokovic then won the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal. He defeated World No. 3 Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals, World No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals, and World No. 1 Federer in the final. This was the first time a player had defeated the top three ranked players in one tournament since Boris Becker in 1994. And Djokovic was only the second player, after Tomáš Berdych, to have defeated both Federer and Nadal since they became the top two players players in the world. After this tournament, Bjorn Borg stated that Djokovic “is definitely a contender to win a Grand Slam (tournament).”[9] However, the following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic lost in the second round to Carlos Moyà in straight sets.

He nevertheless reached the final of the US Open. Djokovic had five set points on serve in the first set and two against serve in the second set but lost them all before losing the final to top-seeded Federer in straight sets. On his way to the final, Djokovic won a nearly five hour second round match against Radek Št?pánek 6–7(4), 7–6(5), 5–7, 7–5, 7–6(2).

After recovering from a minor injury, Djokovic won his fifth title of the year at the BA-CA TennisTrophy in Vienna, defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. Djokovic’s next tournament was the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, where he lost to David Nalbandian in the semifinals 6–4, 7–6(4). At the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, he was upset by Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.

Djokovic, then assured of finishing the year as World No. 3, went to Shanghai for the Tennis Masters Cup, being the first player to arrive. He was also the first player to exit the tournament, losing all three of his round-robin matches to Ferrer 6–4, 6–4; Gasquet 6–4, 6–2; and Nadal 6–4, 6–4.

2008
Djokovic at the Rod Laver Arena during the 2008 Australian Open.

Djokovic started the year by playing the Hopman Cup along with fellow Serbian World Number 3 Jelena Jankovi?. He won all of his round-robin matches and the team, seeded number one, reached the final. They lost 2–1 to the second-seeded American team consisting of Serena Williams and Mardy Fish.

At the Australian Open, Djokovic defeated the top-seeded and defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5). This ended at ten Federer’s streak of consecutive Grand Slam finals. Djokovic also became the first person to beat Federer in straight sets in a Grand Slam tournament since Gustavo Kuerten in the 2004 French Open. Djokovic then defeated unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final to earn Serbia’s and his first ever Grand Slam singles title. At the age of 20 years and 250 days, he was the youngest male to win the Australian Open singles title since Stefan Edberg in 1985.[10] This win also enabled Djokovic to surpass US$6 million in career prize money.

At the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, Djokovic was upset by Frenchman Gilles Simon in the second round 6–2, 6–7(6), 6–3. Djokovic’s next tournament was the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open, where he lost in the semifinals to World No. 6 Andy Roddick 7–6(5), 6–3.
Djokovic at the 2008 Pacific Life Open.

At the Masters Series Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, Djokovic won his ninth career singles title, defeating American Mardy Fish in the three-set final. At the Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, Djokovic was upset in the second round by Kevin Anderson 7–6, 3–6, 6–4.

On red clay at the Monte Carlo Masters, Djokovic retired from his semifinal match with Federer while trailing 6–3, 3–2. However, two weeks later, Djokovic won his tenth career singles title and fourth Master Series singles crown at the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome after defeating Stanislas Wawrinka in the final. The following week at the Hamburg Masters, Djokovic lost to Nadal in a three-hour semifinal match 7–5, 2–6, 6–2.

At the French Open in Paris, Djokovic was the third-seeded player behind Federer and Nadal. Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals 6–4, 6–2, 7–6(3). He once again played Nadal, this time in the Artois Championships final in Queen’s Club, London, losing 7–6(6), 7–5.

At Wimbledon, Djokovic was the third seeded player; however, he lost in the second round to former World No. 1, but unseeded, Marat Safin 6–4, 7–6(3), 6–2.

Djokovic then failed to defend his 2007 singles title at the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals by eighth-seeded Andy Murray 6–3, 7–6(3). The following week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Djokovic advanced to the final after having beaten World No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals 6-1, 7-5, ending the Spaniard’s 32-match winning streak. In the final, he lost to Andy Murray 7–6(4), 7–6(5).

His next tournament was the Beijing Olympics, his first Summer Olympics. He and Nenad Zimonji?, seeded second in men’s doubles, were eliminated in the first round by the Czech pairing of Martin Damm and Pavel Vízner. Seeded third in singles, Djokovic lost in the semifinals to Nadal, the eventual champion, 6–4, 1–6, 6–4. Djokovic then defeated James Blake, the loser of the other semifinal, in the bronze medal match 6–3, 7–6(4).

After the Olympics, Djokovic entered the US Open as the #3 seed. During his fourth round match with Tommy Robredo, he was plagued by problems related to both a hip injury, for which he required two time-outs, and exhaustion. Nevertheless, he would go on and win the match in a tough five setter, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. A controversial incident would eventually happen when #8 seed Andy Roddick said in a press conference that Djokovic was “either quick to call a trainer or the most courageous guy of all time”, insinuating that his opponent had a reputation for being injured, as well as giving a list of ailments he thought Djokovic might have. After defeating Roddick, 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), in the quarterfinals, he was booed on the court during in a courtside interview, after sarcastically saying “Andy was saying that I have 16 injuries in the last match, obviously I don’t, right?” Djokovic would later apologize to Roddick, saying that it was a misunderstanding.[11] His run at the US Open ended at the semifinals when he faced Roger Federer, losing 6–3, 5–7, 7–5, 6–2 in a rematch of the 2007 US Open final.

At the finals of the Thailand Open, in a rematch of the 2008 Australian Open final, he lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets, 7-6(4), 6-4.

He was upset in the third round of the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid by Croat Ivo Karlovi? in straight sets, 7-6(4), 7-6(5) without any breaks of serve during the match. Two weeks later at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, he lost in the third round once again to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, losing 4-6, 6-1, 3-6.

Davis Cup

He is good friends with fellow junior graduate (and sometimes doubles partner) Andy Murray, who was part of the British team that Serbia and Montenegro defeated in the Davis Cup in Glasgow in April 2006. Djokovic got the decisive win on April 9, 2006 by defeating Greg Rusedski in four sets in the fourth match, giving his team a 3–1 lead in their best of 5 series, thus keeping Serbia and Montenegro in the Group One Euro/African Zone of Davis Cup.

Djokovic has represented Serbia since Montenegro gained independence in June 2006. By winning all three of his matches, Djokovic played a key role in the 2007 play-off win over Australia, promoting Serbia to World Group in 2008. In Serbia’s tie against Russia in early 2008 in Moscow, Djokovic was sidelined due to influenza and was forced to miss his first singles match. He returned to win his doubles match, teaming with Nenad Zimonji?, before being forced to retire during his singles match with Nikolay Davydenko.

Playing style

Djokovic is an all-court player. His greatest strengths lie in his dominant groundstrokes, especially the forehand which are powerful, deep, well angled, and hit with strong topspin, although his preferred groundstroke is the backhand.[12] With considerable speed, his serve is one of his major weapons winning many free points from his flatter first serve and employing a sharp curving kick serve as his second serve. While very sound and powerful from the baseline, he would often finish his points by coming to the net similar to Roger Federer. He also utilizes a well-disguised backhand underspin dropshot and sliced backhand (groundstroke) in his repertoire.

Apparel & Equipment

Djokovic endorses and is sponsored by Wilson and Adidas; he currently uses the Wilson (K) Factor (K)Blade Tour racquet strung with Wilson Champions Choice. Djokovic also wears the Adidas Barricade V shoes and the Adidas Edge Group clothing.

Novak Djokovic - Serbian:, born May 22, 1987 in Belgrade, Serbia (part of Yugoslavia at the time), is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 3.

In January 2008, he won his first ever Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. After a straight sets win over World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals, Djokovic won the final in four sets against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He thereby became the first player representing Serbia ever to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached all four Grand Slam semifinals.[3] He was also the runner-up at the 2007 US Open and has reached six Masters Series finals, winning four of them. He also reached the semifinals of the 2007 and 2008 French Opens and the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. On his debut appearance at the 2008 Olympic Games, He claimed his first ever Olympic medal after defeating James Blake of the United States.

Family and early life

Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca to Sebastián Nadal and Ana María Parera. He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel, is a retired professional football player, having played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team.[14] He is an avid supporter of Real Madrid.[15] His other uncle, Toni, himself a professional tennis player, introduced Rafael to tennis as a 3 year-old boy and has been coaching him ever since.[16] Toni has also stated that Rafael had a natural talent playing tennis while preferring to play football.[17] By the time Rafael was five, he was going to the tennis club twice a week to play and at eight years of age, also a promising striker in the local football team, he won the regional tennis championships for under-12s. By the time Rafael was 12 he had won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing either tennis or football all the time. Then in stepped the third of the three brothers, Rafael’s father, Sebastian. He forced Rafael to choose between football and tennis so that his school work would not suffer. When Rafael was 14 years old, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Majorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis progression and training. Rafael’s parents and uncles turned down these requests, which resulted in Rafael receiving less financial support to aid his development. Sebastian covered these costs himself. By the age of 16, Rafael was ranked in the world’s top 50 players.

While Rafael’s upbringing and early years are largely kept private, he has stated growing up his passions were football, tennis, and fishing.[17]

Nadal has been dating María Francesca Perelló,[18] also from Majorca, for three years as of 2008.

Career

Early years

When Nadal was very young, his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, taught him to play left-handed even though he is naturally right-handed. Toni reasoned that Rafael’s two-handed backhand would benefit from a strong right arm. [20]

Nadal was 12 when he decided to pursue a career in tennis instead of football.[14] Toni was his primary coach, but he also trained at Nick Bollettieri’s tennis camp in Florida for portions of two summers in his early teens. In May 2001, he defeated Grand Slam champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match.[14]

2002–2004

In 2002, Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramón Delgado in Majorca. He became the ninth player in the open era to win an ATP match before the age of 16.[21]

The following year, Nadal won two Challenger titles and finished the year in the top 50. He is the second-youngest man to be ranked this high. At his Wimbledon debut, Nadal became the youngest man to reach the third round since Boris Becker in 1984.[22]

In 2004, Nadal played his first match against World No. 1 Roger Federer at the 2004 Master Series Miami. Nadal won the match in straight sets. He then missed most of the clay court season, including the French Open, because of a stress fracture in his left ankle.[14]

2005

At the Australian Open, Nadal lost in the fourth round to eventual runner-up Lleyton Hewitt in five sets. Two months later, Nadal reached the final of the ATP Masters Series 2005 Master Series Miami, and despite being two points from victory in straight sets, he was defeated in five sets by World No. 1 Roger Federer. Both of these performances were considered to be breakthroughs for Nadal.[23] [24]

He then dominated the spring clay court season. He won 24 consecutive singles matches, which broke Andre Agassi’s open era record of 23 consecutive match wins for a male teenager.[25] Nadal won the tournament in Barcelona, Spain and beat 2004 French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria in the finals of the ATP Masters Series tournaments in Monte Carlo and Rome. These tournament victories increased his ranking to World No. 5[26] and made him one of the favorites at his career-first French Open. On his 19th birthday, Nadal defeated Federer in the French Open semifinals, preventing the Swiss from potentially achieving a career Grand Slam. Two days later, he defeated Argentina’s Mariano Puerta in the final, becoming the seventh male player to win a Grand Slam tournament in his first appearance at the event and the first since Agassi at the 1995 Australian Open.[citation needed] He also became the first male player to win the French Open on his first attempt since Mats Wilander in 1982[27] and the first teenager to win a Grand Slam singles title since Pete Sampras won the 1990 US Open at age 19.[28] Winning the French Open increased Nadal’s ranking to World No. 3.[29]

Three days after his victory in Paris, Nadal’s 24-match winning streak was snapped in the first round of the grass court tournament in Halle, Germany.[30] He then lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Gilles Müller of Luxembourg.

Immediately after Wimbledon, Nadal won 16 consecutive matches and three consecutive tournaments. Winning the clay court events in Bastad and Stuttgart caused Nadal’s ranking to rise to World No. 2 on 25 July 2005. At age 19 years, 1 month, and 22 days, he became the third teenager to reach World No. 2 in the history of the ATP computer rankings, which began in 1973, joining Boris Becker (age 18 years, 9 months, and 17 days) and Björn Borg (age 18 years, 10 months, and 2 days) as the only teenagers to be ranked second.[citation needed]

Nadal started his North American summer hard court season by defeating Agassi in the final of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Montreal, Canada but losing in the first round of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nadal was seeded second at the US Open, where he was upset in the third round by World No. 49 James Blake in four sets.

Nadal played only three events the remainder of the year. In September, he defeated Coria in the final of the China Open in Beijing and won both of his Davis Cup matches against Italy. In October, he won his fourth ATP Masters Series title of the year, defeating Ivan Ljubi?i? in the final of the tournament in Madrid. He then suffered a foot injury that prevented him from competing in the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup.[31]

Overall, both Nadal and Federer won eleven singles titles and four ATP Masters Series titles in 2005. Eight of Nadal’s titles were on clay and the remainder on hard courts. Nadal won 79 matches, second only to Federer’s 81. Nadal won the Golden Bagel Award for 2005 with twelve 6-0 sets during the year.

2006
Nadal at the 2006 French Open

Nadal missed the Australian Open because of a foot injury. In February, he lost in the semifinals of the first tournament he played, the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France. Two weeks later, he handed Roger Federer his first loss of the year in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open. To complete the spring hard court season, Nadal was upset in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California and in the second round of the 2006 Master Series Miami, both of which were important Masters Series events.

On European clay, Nadal won all four tournaments he entered and 24 consecutive matches. He defeated Federer in the final of the Masters Series Monte Carlo in four sets. The following week, he defeated Tommy Robredo in the final of the Open Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. After a one week break from tournament play, Nadal won the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, defeating Federer in a fifth set tiebreaker in the final after Nadal saved two match points. Nadal broke Argentinian Guillermo Vilas’s 29-year record of 53 consecutive clay court match victories when he won his first round match at the French Open. Vilas, however, refused to acknowledge Nadal’s feat as more impressive than his own because Vilas’s winning streak was in a single year.[32] Nadal went on to play Federer in the final of the French Open. The first two sets of the match were hardly competitive as the rivals traded 6–1 sets. Nadal won the third set easily and served for the match in the fourth set before Federer broke him and forced a tiebreaker. Nadal won the tiebreaker and became the first player to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final.[33]

On grass, Nadal injured his shoulder while playing a quarterfinal match against Lleyton Hewitt at the Artois Championships, played at Queen’s Club in London. Nadal was unable to complete the match, which ended his 26-match winning streak. Nadal was seeded second at Wimbledon but was two points from defeat against American qualifier Robert Kendrick in the second round before coming back to win in five sets. In the third round, Nadal defeated World No. 20 Andre Agassi in his last career match at Wimbledon 7–6(5), 6–2, 6–4. Nadal won his next three matches in straight sets, which set up another final with Federer, who had won this tournament the three previous years. Federer won the match in four sets. Nadal and Federer were the only pair of men during the open era who had reached the Wimbledon final after having just played each other in the French Open final.

During the lead up to the US Open, Nadal played only the two Masters Series tournaments in North America. He was upset in the third round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto and the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. Nadal was seeded second at the US Open but lost in the quarterfinals to World No. 54 Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in four sets.

Nadal played only three tournaments the remainder of the year. Joachim Johansson, ranked World No. 690, upset Nadal in the second round of the if… Stockholm Open 6–4, 7–6. The following week, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals of the last Masters Series tournament of the year, the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid. After the tournament, Nadal blamed mental and physical exhaustion for his recent losses.[citation needed] During the round robin stage of the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup, Nadal lost to James Blake but defeated Nikolay Davydenko and Robredo. Because of those two victories, Nadal qualified for the semifinals, where he lost to Federer 6–4, 7–5. This was Nadal’s third loss in nine career matches with Federer.

2007

Nadal started the year by playing in six hard court tournaments. He lost in the semifinals and first round of his first two tournaments and then lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to eventual runner-up Fernando González. After another quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Tennis Championships, he won the Masters Series Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California before Novak Djokovic defeated him in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series 2007 Master Series Miami.

He had comparatively more success after returning to Europe to play five clay court tournaments. He won the titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo, the Open Sabadell Atlántico in Barcelona, and the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome before losing to Roger Federer in the final of the Masters Series Hamburg. This defeat ended his 81-match winning streak on clay, which is the male open era record for consecutive wins on a single surface. He then rebounded to win the French Open for the third straight year, defeating Federer once again in the final.

Between the tournaments in Barcelona and Rome, Nadal defeated Federer in the “Battle of Surfaces” exhibition match in Majorca, Spain, with the tennis court being half grass and half clay.[34]

Nadal played the Artois Championships at Queen’s Club in London for the second consecutive year. As in 2006, Nadal was upset in the quarterfinals. Nadal then won consecutive five-set matches during the third and fourth rounds of Wimbledon before losing to Federer in the five-set final. This was Federer’s first five-set match at Wimbledon since 2001.[35]

In July, Nadal won the clay court Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, which proved to be his last title of the year. He played three important tournaments during the North American summer hard court season. He was a semifinalist at the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Montreal before losing his first match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the second-seeded player at the US Open but was defeated in the fourth round by World No. 15 David Ferrer.

After a month-long break from tournament tennis, Nadal played the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid and the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. David Nalbandian upset him in the quarterfinals and final of those tournaments. To end the year, Nadal won two of his three round robin matches to advance to the semifinals of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, where Federer defeated him 6–4, 6–1.

During the second half of the year, Nadal battled a knee injury suffered during the Wimbledon final. In addition, there were rumors at the end of the year that the foot injury he suffered during 2005 caused long term damage, which were given credence by coach Toni Nadal’s claim that the problem was “serious”. Nadal and his spokesman strongly denied this, however, with Nadal himself calling the story “totally false”.[36]

2008
Nadal at the 2008 Pacific Life Open
Nadal at the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio

As of September 24, Nadal has a 77–9 win-loss record and has won eight singles titles, including the French Open, Wimbledon, and the Olympic Games. He also had a career-best 32 match winning streak during which he captured five titles and secured the World No. 1 ranking for the first time.

Nadal began the year in India, where he was the runner-up to Mikhail Youzhny at the Chennai Open. Nadal then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time. He also reached the final of the 2008 Master Series Miami for the second time.

During the spring clay court season, Nadal won four singles titles and defeated Roger Federer in three finals. He beat Federer at the Masters Series Monte Carlo for the third straight year, capturing his open era record fourth consecutive title there. He won in straight sets, despite Federer holding a 4–0 lead in the second set.[37] He then won his fourth consecutive title at the Open Sabadell Atlantico tournament in Barcelona. A few weeks later, Nadal won his first title at the Masters Series Hamburg, defeating Federer in the three-set final. He then won the French Open, becoming only the fifth man in the open era to win a Grand Slam singles title without losing a set.[38] He defeated Federer in the final for the third straight year, but this was the most lopsided of all their matches, as Nadal only lost four games and gave Federer his first bagel since 1999.[37] This was Nadal’s fourth consecutive French title, tying Björn Borg’s all-time record. Nadal became only the fourth male player during the open era to win the same Grand Slam singles tournament four consecutive years (the others being Borg, Pete Sampras, and Federer).

Nadal then played Federer in the final of Wimbledon for the third consecutive year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry.[39][40] Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak, including his first career grass court title at the Artois Championships, staged at Queen’s Club in London prior to Wimbledon. Federer had won his record fifth grass court title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle without facing a break point and then reached the Wimbledon final without losing a set. Unlike their previous two Wimbledon finals, though, Federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked Nadal to win.[40][41] They played the longest final in Wimbledon history, and because of rain delays, Nadal won the fifth set 9-7 in near-darkness. The match was widely lauded as the greatest Wimbledon final ever, with some long-time tennis critics even calling it the greatest match in tennis history.[42][43][44][1][45] By winning his first Wimbledon title, Nadal became only the third man in the open era to win both the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year (after Rod Laver in 1969 and Borg in 1978-80) as well as the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon. He also ended Federer’s record streak of five consecutive Wimbledon titles and 65 straight wins on grass courts.

After Wimbledon, Nadal extended his winning streak to a career-best 32 matches. He won his second Rogers Cup title in Toronto and then made it into the semifinals of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a result, Nadal clinched the US Open Series and, combined with Federer’s early round losses in both of those tournaments, finally earned Nadal the World No. 1 ranking on August 18, officially ending Federer’s record four-and-a-half year reign at the top.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the semifinals 6–4, 1–6, 6–4 and Fernando González of Chile in the final to win his first Olympic gold medal. Nadal became the first male player ranked in the top five to win the gold medal.[46]

At the US Open, Nadal was the top-seeded player for the first time at a Grand Slam tournament. He did not lose a set during his first three matches, defeating qualifiers in the first and second rounds and Viktor Troicki in the third round. He then needed four sets to defeat both Sam Querrey in the fourth round and Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, he lost to Andy Murray 6–2, 7–6(5), 4–6, 6–4. Later in the year in Madrid, Nadal helped Spain defeat the United States in the Davis Cup semifinals.

At the Mutua Madrileña Masters in Madrid, Nadal lost in the semifinals to Gilles Simon 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6). His performance at this event however, guarantees that he will become the first Spaniard during the open era to finish the year as the World No. 1.[47] Two weeks later at the BNP Paribas Masters in France, Nadal, recieved a first round bye and defeated two French favorites Florent Serra and Gael Monfils before making it to the quarterfinals where he faced Nikolay Davydenko. Nadal would lose the first set 6-1, before retiring in the second with a knee injury.[48]

Playing style
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Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (July 2008)
Nadal at the 2006 Cincinnati Masters

Nadal plays with well-angled topspin heavy strokes, a strong two-handed backhand, fast mobility on the court, and a preference to play from the deep court. Though naturally right-handed, Nadal plays left-handed, and uses his dominant right hand as an anchor for his two-handed backhand. In addition, being naturally right-handed allows him to stay balanced regardless of which foot he puts his weight on, an exceptional talent when one tries to hit the ball after starting a move in the wrong direction. Although, a natural right-hander, Nadal claims he is left footed and that it is difficult for him to play with his right hand.[49] Known for his excellent defense, Nadal hits well on the run and creates many winners from seemingly defensive positions. Because of his extreme athleticism, Nadal tends to go after every shot, even apparent winners from his opponents.[50] Historically, Nadal’s playing style has worked best on clay courts, and he was once considered a clay-court specialist. Recent success on other surfaces has helped Nadal shed that label, though he is still considered most dominant on clay.

Nadal uses a full western grip forehand, which allows him to hit heavy, powerful topspin forehands, giving him a bigger margin of error because of the height at which his shot clears the net and the speed at which the ball drops due to the topspin that is applied to the ball. Nadal’s heavy topspin makes the ball bounce up high in the air for his opponent, making it difficult to return. These types of shots tend to be returned short in length, but the spin kicks it up so high that this kind of play is sufficient on clay.

For many years, Nadal’s serve was not considered one of his strengths. However, it has become more of a weapon lately; Nadal currently possesses a highly effective first serve and a moderate second serve. Usually employing a hard lefty slice towards most of his opponents’ backhands (right-handed opponents), his serve can be relied upon for consistency and also for some short-point wins such as aces and bad service-returns.[50]

Another one of Nadal’s strengths is the mental aspect of his tennis game. His ability to come back from behind in a match greatly assists him. He also has good footwork, which helps him to prepare for tennis strokes and get around the court efficiently. In addition, he can put away short balls and comes to the net quite often. Rafael Nadal has an under-emphasized net game. He is able to volley deep, but his main strength at the net is his touch and feel. Nadal is good at angling volleys away from his opponents and can hit drop volleys well after running extremely quickly up to the net to return any drop shot made by his opponent.

Equipment

Nadal uses a Babolat AeroPro Drive racquet without the cortex system. However, his racquet has the paintjob of the Aero Pro Drive with Cortex, in order to commercialize and promote the current model that Babolat sells. This model’s handle is (L2 grip= 4 1/4)) with no replacement grip, instead Nadal wraps 2 over grips, and the racquet strung between 53 and 55 pounds with Duralast 15L strings, although he promotes Babolat’s Pro Hurricane Tour strings. His clothing sponsor is Nike and he is known for his unconventional wear, turning up in sleeveless tops and Capri pants in a variety of colours. He also wears the Nike Air Max Breathe Cage II shoes[51] which have been customized for him with the famous “Vamos Rafa” slogan written on the back of them.[52] Currently, his shoes display his nickname “Rafa” on one shoe and a logo specifically designed by Nike featuring a stylistic bull head on the other. His Babolat tennis bag displays his nickname as well as 4 brown stars symbolizing his 4 victories at the French Open and 1 green star symbolizing his victory at Wimbledon.

Rafael Nadal Parera (IPA: [rafa'el na'ðal]) (born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player who has been ranked World No. 1 since 18 August 2008. He has won five Grand Slam singles titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. He has captured the last four French Open singles titles, joining Björn Borg in 2008 as the only men to have won four consecutive singles titles there. In 2008, Nadal became the second Spaniard to win Wimbledon. Nadal is the only player in the open era to have won the French Open, the AEGON Championships (held at Queen’s Club on grass beginning the day after the French Open), and Wimbledon in the same year.[citation needed]

For much of his career, Nadal has had a rivalry with Roger Federer, which many critics consider to be the greatest rivalry in tennis history.They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in six Grand Slam finals, with Nadal winning four of those matches. Nadal was ranked World No. 2 behind Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot. Nadal has won 12 of their 18 singles matches.[6]

He has been especially successful on clay courts. He has a 22–1 record in clay court tournament finals and is undefeated in 43 best-of-five-set matches on clay.[citation needed] In each of the last four years, he has won both the French Open and two clay court Masters Series tournaments. He also owns the longest single-surface winning streak in the open era, having won 81 consecutive matches on clay from April 2005 to May 2007. As a result, some tennis critics and top players already regard him as the greatest clay-court player of all time.

On 18 October 2008, Nadal clinched the year-end World No. 1 ranking for 2008. The same year, he was given the prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for his achievements in sports.

Early life

Federer was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Swiss-German Robert Federer and South African Lynette Federer (née Durand).[10] He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, ten minutes from Basel and close to the borders of France and Germany.[11] In addition to tennis, he also played football as a boy and considered becoming a professional footballer before deciding to pursue a career in tennis. He continues to support FC Basel, his hometown club and is a fan of Italian club AS Roma.[12][13] As a youngster, he enjoyed watching Marcelo Ríos in action.[14] He especially liked Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Marcelo Ríos and has cited them as idols.[15].

Junior tennis

Federer started playing tennis at the age of six.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19]

Career on the ATP

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)[20].

2001

Federer’s first ATP tournament victory came in February, when he defeated Julien Boutter in the final of the Milan Indoor, where his tennis idol Stefan Edberg had won his first career title in 1984. 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.[21] He finished the year ranked 13th.
(All results in 2001)[22]

2002

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 US Open and the untimely, devastating loss of his long-time Australian coach and mentor, Peter Carter, in a car crash in August,[23] 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)[24]

2003

Federer challenged for the top ranking in men’s tennis during 2003, finishing the year at World No. 2 just behind Andy Roddick and just ahead of Juan Carlos Ferrero.

In the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, Federer lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open to David Nalbandian. He then won two hard court tournaments in Marseille and Dubai before being upset in early round matches at the Tennis Masters Series (TMS) tournaments in Indian Wells, California and Key Biscayne, Florida.

On clay, Federer won the tournament in Munich, was the runner-up at the TMS tournament in Rome, and lost in the third round of the TMS tournament in Hamburg. Although Federer was seeded fifth at the French Open, he lost to Luis Horna in the first round.

Federer won both of the grass court tournaments he played. He defeated Nicolas Kiefer in the final of the tournament in Halle before winning his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon. He defeated Roddick in the semifinals and Mark Philippoussis in the final and lost only one set during the tournament, to Mardy Fish in the third round.

During the North American summer hard court season, Federer lost to Roddick in the semifinals of the TMS tournament in Montreal and to Nalbandian in the second round of the TMS tournament in Cincinnati. At the US Open, Nalbandian again defeated Federer, this time in the fourth round.

During the autumn, Federer played four consecutive indoor tournaments in Europe. He won the tournament in Vienna but failed to reach the finals of the tournament in Basel and the TMS tournaments in Madrid and Paris.

To end the year, Federer won the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston. As the third-seeded player, he defeated Andre Agassi, Nalbandian, and Ferrero during the round robin phase before beating top-seeded Roddick in the semifinals and Agassi in the final.

(All results in 2003)[25]

2004

Federer had one of the most dominating and successful years in the open era of modern men’s tennis.[26] He won three of the four Grand Slam singles tournaments, did not lose a match to anyone ranked in the top ten, won every final he reached, and was named the ITF Tennis World Champion.[27] His win–loss record for the year was 74–6 with 11 titles.

Federer won his first Australian Open singles title by defeating Marat Safin in the final in straight sets. This win helped him succeed Andy Roddick as the World No. 1, a ranking he would hold for four years until August 18, 2008. He successfully defended his Wimbledon singles title by defeating Roddick in the final and won his first US Open singles title by defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Federer was the top-seeded player at the Athens Olympics but lost in the second round to Tomáš Berdych 4–6, 7–5, 7–5. Federer finished the year by taking the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston for the second consecutive year, defeating Hewitt in the final. Federer’s only loss at a Grand Slam tournament was at the French Open, where he lost to former World No. 1 and 3-time French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in straight sets.

Federer did not have a coach during 2004, 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.[28]

(All results in 2004)[29]

2005

To begin the year, Federer hired former Australian tennis player Tony Roche to coach him on a limited basis.[30] He then reached the Australian Open semifinals before falling to eventual winner Marat Safin in a five-set night match that lasted more than four hours, 5–7, 6–4, 5–7, 7–6(6), 9–7.[31] 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.[32] He then dropped only two sets en route to his second consecutive US 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 US 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 (He was playing with an injury to his ankle).[33] 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)[34]

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, Rafael Nadal.[35] 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.[36] 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.[37]

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 US Open, he defeated American Andy Roddick in four sets for his third consecutive title at Flushing Meadows. During the open era, 2006 is the only year in which same man (Federer) and woman (Justine Henin) reached the finals of all four Grand Slams. 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)[38]

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 Björn Borg in 1980 to win a Grand Slam singles tournament without losing a set.[39] 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.[40] [41]

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.[42] This defeat meant he had gone four tournaments without a title, his longest stretch since becoming World No. 1.[42] 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.[43] 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.[44] 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 fifth 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 Wimbledons in a row.

Federer won the Cincinnati Masters title for the second time, beating James Blake in the final, to collect his 50th career singles title, his 14th ATP Masters Series title, and the 2007 US Open Series points race.

In the US Open final, Federer beat third seed Novak Djokovic. It was Federer’s 12th Grand Slam title, tying Roy Emerson. As champion of the US Open Series points race, Federer received a bonus of $1 million, in addition to the $1.4 million prize for winning the US Open singles title.[45]

Federer entered the year-ending Tennis Masters Cup where he lost his first round robin match to the 2007 Australian Open runner-up, Fernando González, 3–6 7–6(1) 7–5 . This marked the first time a player had defeated Federer in the round robin of the Tennis Masters Cup and González’s first win against Federer. Federer went on to defeat Rafael Nadal 6–4, 6–1 in the semifinals and David Ferrer in the finals 6–2, 6–3, 6–2.

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.”[46] Two days later, Sampras again lost to Federer 7–6, 7–6. However, Sampras won the last match of the series 7–6(6), 6–4, though his stated goal was to just win a set.
(All results in 2007)[47]

2008

Federer began the year by attempting to defend his title at the Australian Open. He lost, however, in the semifinals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic 7–5, 6–3, 7–6(5). This ended his male record of ten consecutive Grand Slam finals. It was the first time that Federer had lost in straight sets in a Grand Slam singles match since he lost in the third round of the 2004 French Open. His last straight-sets loss at a hard court Grand Slam tournament was during the fourth round of the 2002 US Open.

In March, Federer revealed that he had recently been diagnosed with mononucleosis and that he may have suffered from it as early as December 2007. Federer also had an illness related to food poisoning prior to the start of the Australian Open. He noted, however, that he was now “medically cleared to compete”.[48]

Although Federer was seeded first and was the defending champion at the Dubai Tennis Championships, he lost to Andy Murray in the first round with a score of 7-6(6), 3-6, 4-6. On March 10, Federer won his third exhibition match out of four against former World No. 1 and fourteen-time Grand Slam singles titlist Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden in New York City 6–3, 6–7, 7–6.[49]

At the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, the first Tennis Masters Series event of the year, Federer lost in the semifinals to American Mardy Fish for the first time, thus ending his 41-match winning streak against American players dating back to August 2003.[50] Federer’s next tournament was the Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where he lost in the quarterfinals to American Andy Roddick. Roddick’s last official win against him was in 2003.

Federer began the clay court season at the Estoril Open in Portugal, which was his first optional clay-court tournament since Gstaad in 2004[citation needed] and his first tournament with coach José Higueras.[51] Federer won his first tournament of the year when Nikolay Davydenko retired from the final while trailing 7–6, 1–2 with a leg ligament strain.

Federer then played three Masters Series tournaments on clay. At the Masters Series Monte Carlo, Federer lost to three-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the final in straight sets. Federer made 44 unforced errors, lost a 4–0 lead in the second set, and fell to 1–7 against Nadal on clay courts.[52] At the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome, Federer lost in the quarterfinals to Radek Št?pánek 7–6(4), 7–6(7). Federer was the defending champion at the Masters Series Hamburg and won his first four matches in straight sets to set up a repeat of the previous year’s final against Nadal. In the first set of the final, Federer built a 5–1 lead and served for the set twice. Nadal, however, won six consecutive games to win the set 7–5. Nadal again broke Federer’s serve in the opening game of the second set, but Federer broke back and won the set 7–6(3). Nadal then won the third set 6–3 and the tournament.

At the French Open, Federer was beaten by Nadal in the final 6–1, 6–3, 6–0. The last time Federer had lost a set 6-0 was his first round match in 1999 against Byron Black at the Artois Championships played at Queen’s Club in London.[53] This was also the fourth consecutive year that Federer and Nadal had played at the French Open, with Federer losing his third consecutive final to Nadal as well as their semifinal match in 2005.

Federer bounced back by winning the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany without dropping a set or a service game. This was Federer’s second title of the year, 55th overall career title, and the fifth time he has won this event. With this result, he tied Pete Sampras’s record for most titles on grass in the open era with ten.[54]

At Wimbledon, Federer reached his 17th consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinal and his 16th Grand Slam final, tying Björn Borg for fourth most in male tennis history. He once again played World No. 2 Nadal in the final. A victory for Federer would have been his sixth consecutive Wimbledon singles title, breaking Borg’s modern era record, and equaling the all-time record held since 1886 by William Renshaw. Federer saved two championship points in the fourth set tiebreak but eventually lost the match 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(8), 9–7. The rain-delayed match ended in near darkness after 4 hours, 48 minutes of play, making it the longest (in terms of elapsed time) men’s final in Wimbledon recorded history, and 7 hours, 15 minutes after its scheduled start. The defeat also ended Federer’s 65 match winning streak on grass. John McEnroe described the match as, “The greatest match I’ve ever seen.”[55] [56]

Federer made early exits in his next three singles tournaments.[57] At the Masters Series Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada, Federer lost in the second round to Gilles Simon after receiving a first round bye. At the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati, Ohio, Federer was the defending champion but lost in the third round to Ivo Karlovi? for the first time in seven matches between them. At the Summer Olympics in Beijing, Federer lost in the quarterfinals to James Blake for the first time in their nine matches.[58] Federer however, finally won his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s doubles when he and compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka upset favourites and world no. 1 doubles pairing Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the United States in the semifinals, and beat Sweden’s Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final 6–3, 6–4, 6–7(4), 6–3.

On August 18, Federer lost his World No. 1 ranking to Rafael Nadal after a record 237 consecutive weeks.

At the US Open, Federer defeated Máximo González of Argentina, Thiago Alves of Brazil and Radek Št?pánek of Czech Republic to reach the fourth round without dropping a set. There he faced Russian Igor Andreev and won in a tough five setter, 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. He defeated Gilles Müller in the quarterfinals 7-6(5), 6-4, 7-6(5), and then in a rematch of the 2007 US Open Final, he topped No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic in 4 sets, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2. On a Monday final, he defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2, dominating the 1st and 3rd set, to win his 13th grand slam title, his fifth straight US Open and extended his win streak to 34 at the U.S. Open. [59] Federer became the first player ever to have five consecutive wins at both Wimbledon and the US Open.

Rivalry with Nadal

Main article: Federer-Nadal rivalry

Federer and Nadal have been rivals since 2005, and this rivalry is a significant part of both men’s careers:

* They are the only men in the open era who have played each other in 6 Grand Slam finals.[60]
* Their 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis critics.[55][61][62][63]
* Many critics consider their rivalry to be the greatest in tennis history.[63][64][65]

Country     Switzerland
Residence     Oberwil, Switzerland
Date of birth     August 8, 1981 (1981-08-08) (age 27)
Place of birth     Basel, Switzerland
Height     1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight     80.0 kg (176 lb/12.60 st)
Turned pro     1998
Plays     Right-handed; one-handed backhand

Roger Federer 8 born August 8, 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 2. He was the World No. 1-ranked player for a record 237 consecutive weeks, from February 2, 2004, through August 17, 2008. Many tennis critics, legendary players, and current players consider him the greatest tennis player ever.

Federer has won 13 Grand Slam singles titles (three Australian Open, five Wimbledon, five US Open), four Tennis Masters Cup titles, and 14 ATP Masters Series titles. Federer holds many records in the game, including having appeared in 10 consecutive Grand Slam men’s singles finals (2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2007 US Open) and 18 consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals (2004 Wimbledon - present). He also holds the open era records for consecutive wins on both grass courts (65) and hard courts (56). At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Federer won the men’s doubles gold medal for Switzerland, partnering with Stanislas Wawrinka. He has a storied rivalry with Rafael Nadal, who succeeded him as the World No. 1 player.

In 2008, he was named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record fourth consecutive time.

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