Roger Federer rewrites history as the oldest man in Wimbledon main draw ahead of turning 40 this year
Roger Federer is one of the greatest champions in the history of the sport. He is dubbed as the ‘King of Grass’ after winning a record-breaking 8 Wimbledon Championships in his 20-year career.
He still goes on strong at 39, advancing to the second round of the tournament this year.
Federer is a Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and won his first Grand Slam singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21. He made his first appearance in the main draw in 1999, where he could not get pas the first round.
In 2005 Federer won 11 of 15 tournaments, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. From July 2003 to November 2005 he also reached 24 straight finals.
The Swiss did not make it past the first round of Wimbledon since his debut in 1999 for five years. He finally managed to in the 2003 Wimbledon Championships shocking the world with a famous win. Federer ended the 31-match streak of idol and 16-time Grand Slam Champion Pete Sampras in the fourth round.
He went on to reach the final comfortably beating Australian Mark Philippoussis 7–6(5), 6–2, 7–6(3) in the final. The first Wimbledon began the reign of Federer as one of the best players in the world.
-Federer on first Grand Slam win“It was my most important match in my life. I knew I had the game. ”
Federer went on to win seven more titles including his eighth in 2017. He beat the Croatian Marin Cilic in the final without dropping a set in the tournament. The win was also his 19th Grand Slam of his career and the second Grand Slam in 2017.
Federer has won a record-breaking 20 Grand Slam titles in his career (8 Wimbledon titles, 1 French Open title, 5 US Open titles and 5 Australian Open titles). He has 11 runner-up finishes in Grand Slam tournament finals, a record tied with legend Ivan Lendl. He is the only player to win three different Grand Slam tournaments at least five times and win two different Grand Slam events five consecutive times.
Federer has spent 310 weeks as the ATP World No.1 (including a record 237 consecutive weeks), the second-highest behind Novak Djokovic. Federer is the only player to register at least ten titles on three different surfaces: he has 71 hard-court titles, 19 grass-court titles, and 11 clay-court titles.
The man from Basel has earned $130,230,769 in prize money in his career. He has made a record 31 Grand Slam finals, 46 semi-final appearances and 57 quarter-final appearances. Federer has also featured in Forbes’ Highest Earning Sportsperson in the World at the top position after getting endorsements with many top brands in his career.
| Wimbledon | Total matches | Wins | Losses | Win % |
| Overall | 115 | 102 | 13 | 88.6 |
| Finals | 12 | 8 | 4 | 66 |
| Year | Opponent | Final score |
| 2003 | Mark Philippoussis | 7–6, 6–2, 7–6 |
| 2004 | Andy Roddick | 4–6, 7–5, 7–6, 6–4 |
| 2005 | Andy Roddick | 6–2, 7–6, 6–4 |
| 2006 | Rafael Nadal | 6–0, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3 |
| 2007 | Rafael Nadal | 7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 2–6, 6–2 |
| 2008 | Rafael Nadal (L) | 6–4, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7, 9–7 |
| 2009 | Andy Roddick | 5–7, 7–6, 7–6, 3–6, 16–14 |
| 2012 | Andy Murray | 4–6, 7–5, 6–3, 6–4 |
| 2014 | Novak Djokovic (L) | 6–7, 6–4, 7–6, 5–7, 6–4 |
| 2015 | Novak Djokovic (L) | 7–6, 6–7, 6–4, 6–3 |
| 2017 | Marin Cilic | 6–3, 6–1, 6–4 |
| 2019 | Novak Djokovic (L) | 7-6, 1-6, 7-6, 4-6, 13-12 |
Federer became the oldest number-one player in the ATP rankings in 2018 after winning the Australian Open earlier that year at 36. In the ATP Tour Finals, Federer has won six titles in 10 finals. The tournament hosts the top eight players of the season where he has reached a record 17 times, including a record 14 consecutive years from 2002 through 2015.
Federer has won 103 ATP singles titles including 28 ATP Masters 1000 titles. The legend is looking to end his career on a high after setting very high standards in the game and establishing himself as an all-time great. He will always be remembered as one of the revolutions in the modern era of tennis.
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