Roger Federer is a Switzerland famous tennis player who held the ATP No. 1 position for a record 237 successive weeks from 2 February 2004 to 18 August 2008. He had been ranked number 1 for a total of 285 weeks, second only by a week to Pete Sampras' 286 weeks. As of 16 April 2012, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three  to do so on three different surfaces. He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times and also the final at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam tournament finals, including a men's record ten in a row, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. At the 2012 Australian Open, he reached a record 31st consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Federer has won a record six ATP World Tour Finals and a record 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments (tied with Nadal). He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. He spent eight years (2003–2010) continuously in the top 2 in the year-end rankings and nine (2003–2011) in the Top 3, also a record among male players. His rivalry with Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest of all time in the sport. Federer is greatly respected by fans and by fellow players alike as shown by the fact that he has won the ATPWorldTour.com Fans' Favorite Award a record nine consecutive times (2003–2011) and the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award (which is voted for by the players themselves) a record seven times overall and six times consecutively (2004–2009, 2011). Federer also won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year Award in 2006. In 2011, he was voted the second most trusted and respected person in the world, second only to Nelson Mandela.

As a result of Federer's successes in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008) and in 2012 he topped a list of the "100 greatest tennis players of all time" (male or female) by Tennis Channel. He is often referred to as the Federer Express or abbreviated to Fed Express, or FedEx, the Swiss Maestro, or simply Maestro.

Outreach and charitable efforts

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

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

Federer is currently number 25 on Forbes top 100 celebrities.

2008 to present

In 2008, Federer won one Grand Slam singles title, which came at the US Open over Briton Andy Murray. Federer was defeated by Nadal in two Grand Slam finals, at the French Open, and at Wimbledon, when he was going for six straight wins to break Björn Borg's record. At the Australian Open, Federer lost in the semifinals to Djokovic, which ended his record of 10 consecutive finals. Federer lost twice in Master Series 1000 finals on clay to Nadal, at Monte Carlo and Hamburg. However, Federer captured two titles in 250-level events at Estoril and Halle and one title in a 500 level event in Basel. In doubles, Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka won the gold medal at the Olympic Games.

In 2009, Federer won two Grand Slam singles titles, the French Open over Robin Söderling, and Wimbledon over Andy Roddick. Federer reached two other Grand Slam finals, losing to Nadal at the Australian Open, and to Juan Martín del Potro at the US Open. Federer won two more events, the first at the Madrid Masters over Nadal in the final on clay. The second was in Cincinnati over Djokovic, although Federer lost to Djokovic in Basel, later in the year. Federer completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first French Open title and won a men's record fifteenth Grand Slam singles title, surpassing Pete Sampras's mark of fourteen.

In 2010, Federer slowed down in his milestones and achievements. The year started with a win at the Australian Open, where he defeated Andy Murray in the final and improved his Grand Slam singles record to sixteen titles. But at the French Open, Federer failed to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since the 2004 French Open, losing to Söderling, in the quarterfinals, and losing his no. 1 ranking. At the French Open, Federer won his 700th tour match and 150th tour match on clay. Federer was just one week away from equaling Pete Sampras's record of 286 weeks as world no. 1. In a big surprise at Wimbledon, Federer lost in the quarterfinal to Tomáš Berdych, and fell to world no. 3 in the rankings. At the 2010 US Open, Federer reached the semifinals, avenging his French Open loss to Söderling in the quarterfinals, but then lost a five-set match to third seed Novak Djokovic. Federer made it to four Masters 1000 finals, losing three of them (the Madrid Open, the Canadian Masters, and the Shanghai Masters) while winning the Cincinnati Masters against Mardy Fish. In 2010 Federer equaled Agassi for the number of Masters wins at 17 and tied Bjorn Borg's mark for number of total titles won, moving to just one behind Sampras. Towards the middle of July, Federer hired Pete Sampras' old coach Paul Annacone to put his tennis game and career on the right path on a trial basis. Federer won two lesser titles at the Stockholm Open and the Davidoff Swiss Indoors which brought his tally to 65 career titles. Lastly, Federer won the year-end championships by beating rival Rafael Nadal, for his fifth title at the event. He showed much of his old form, beating all contenders except Nadal in straight sets. Since Wimbledon 2010, Federer had a win-loss record of 34–4 and had multiple match points in two of his losses: to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal of the US Open, and to Gaël Monfils in the semifinal of the Paris Masters. Federer did not play in the 2010 Davis Cup.

The year 2011, although great by most players' standards, was a lean year for Federer. He was defeated in straight sets in the semifinals of the 2011 Australian Open by eventual champion Novak Djokovic, marking the first time since July 2003 that he did not hold any of the four Major titles. In the French Open semifinal, Federer ended Djokovic's undefeated streak of 43 consecutive wins with a stunning four-set victory. However, Federer then lost in the final to Rafael Nadal. At Wimbledon, Federer advanced to his 29th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, but lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It marked the first time in his career that he had lost a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets. At the US Open, Federer lost a much-anticipated semifinal match with Novak Djokovic, after squandering two match points in the fifth set which repeated his previous year's result against Djokovic and added a second loss from two sets up in Grand Slam play to his record. The loss at Flushing Meadows meant that Federer did not win any of the four Majors in 2011, the first time this has happened since 2002.

During this 2011 season, Federer won the Qatar Open, defeating Nikolay Davydenko in the final. However, he lost the final in Dubai to Djokovic and lost in the Miami Masters and Madrid Open semifinals to Rafael Nadal. In pulling out of the 2011 Shanghai Masters, Federer dropped out of the top 3 for the first time since June 2003. Later in the season, things picked up for Federer. He ended a 10-month title drought and won the Swiss Indoors for the fifth time, defeating youngster Kei Nishikori, who had defeated an ailing Djokovic in the semifinals. Federer followed this up with his first win at the Paris Masters, where he reached his first final at the event and defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. At the 2011 ATP World Tour Finals, Federer crushed Rafael Nadal in exactly one hour en route to the semifinals, where he defeated David Ferrer to reach the final at the year-end championships for the seventh time, his 100th tour-level final overall. As a result of this win, Federer also regained the world no. 3 ranking from Andy Murray. In the final, he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the third consecutive Sunday and, in doing so, claimed his record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title.

Federer began his 2012 season with the Qatar Open, where he withdrew in the semifinals. He then played in the 2012 Australian Open, where he defeated players such as Ivo Karlović, Bernard Tomic, and Juan Martín del Potro en route to setting up a 27th career meeting with Nadal in the semifinals, which he lost in four tight sets. He then participated in the Davis Cup representing Switzerland in the 2012 Davis Cup World Group, but Switzerland was eliminated in a home tie against the United States played on indoor clay in Fribourg. The loss included a four-set defeat for Federer at the hands of John Isner as well as a tight four-set loss with Stanislas Wawrinka in the doubles rubber against Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan. He then played the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament for the first time since winning the title in 2005. He beat del Potro in the final to clinch his second title in Rotterdam. Federer then played in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships where he defeated Andy Murray in the final, improved his record against him to 7–8, and won the championship title for the fifth time in his career. Federer, then moved on to the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semi-final 6-3, 6-4, and stood up against John Isner in the final, who had defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the other semi-final. He defeated Isner 7-6(7), 6-3, winning the title for a record fourth time, and in doing so, equaling Rafael Nadal's record of 19 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Shortly afterwards, Federer was named the best tennis player ahead of Rod Laver on Tennis Channel's 100 Greatest of All Time. Federer then lost in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open to an inspired Andy Roddick in three sets. Federer will next compete in the Madrid Masters.

Playing style

Federer's versatility was summarised by Jimmy Connors: "In an era of specialists, you're either a clay court specialist, a grass court specialist, or a hard court specialist...or you're Roger Federer.