Roger Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. As a boy he was a ball kid at his home tournament, the Swiss Indoors, in 1992 and 1993, and he later said he watched the players there with a sense of wonder. He used a one-handed backhand from an early age, and from the age of ten he was coached at his club by the Australian Peter Carter, whom he credited for his entire technique and his calm. Carter was killed in a car crash in South Africa shortly before Federer turned 21.
He won the Wimbledon junior title in 1998, and in 2003, aged 21, he won his first major, Wimbledon, beating Mark Philippoussis in the final. In 2004 he became world No. 1 and held the ranking for a record 237 consecutive weeks, until August 2008. Between 2003 and 2009 he played in 21 of 28 major finals. He won three of the four majors and the season-ending championships in 2004, 2006 and 2007, and he won five titles in a row at both Wimbledon and the US Open. Rafael Nadal, who beat him in three French Open finals, was his main rival; in 2009 Federer finally won in Paris and completed the career Grand Slam.
After his 16th major, at the 2010 Australian Open, he had to wait until Wimbledon 2012 for the next. At the 2018 Australian Open, aged 36, he became the first man to win 20 major singles titles, and shortly afterwards the oldest world No. 1 in ATP history. He finished with a record eight Wimbledon titles, six Australian Opens, five US Opens and one French Open, 103 singles titles, the second most of all time, six season-ending titles, 310 weeks at No. 1 and the 2014 Davis Cup with Switzerland.
Three knee operations in 18 months kept him off the tour after Wimbledon 2021. He announced his retirement in September 2022 and played his last match at the Laver Cup in London, a team competition he had helped create, in doubles alongside Nadal. Off court he set up the Roger Federer Foundation.