Roger Federer, a Swiss professional tennis player, is considered by many journalists and players current and former to be the greatest player of all time. At present he is ranked World No. 2. He was ranked the No. 1 ranked player for a record 237 consecutive weeks, from February 2, 2004, to August 17, 2008.
Federer has since won 13 Grand Slam singles titles (3 Australian Open, 5 Wimbledon, 5 US Open). He is just one slam shy of all-time leader Pete Sampras. Among his Tennis Masters Cup titles, 14 are from the ATP Masters Series titles, as well as other 26 minor titles. Federer holds many more records in the sport, including having attended 10 consecutive Grand Slam men's singles finals. He has been present tournaments from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2007 US Open.
He also has participated in 19 consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals, from the 2004 Wimbledon to present. In addition to all these, Federer holds the open era record for most consecutive wins, for both grass courts (65) and hard courts (56). He has a well-documented rivalry with Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has since succeeded Federer as the World No. 1 player in 2008.
Rafael Nadal
Twenty-two-year-old Rafael Nadal took home his fourth Roland Garros French Open tennis title in a row recently after defeating Roger Federer in the final.Nadal is also the seventh to win a Grand Slam without dropping a set. The last person to achieve this feat was his competitor, Roger Federer. Federer won last year's Australian Open, but the magic of his flawless winning streak has fled in lieu of Nadal.
Nadal is a native of Manacor, Majorca, a municipality on the largest of the Balearic Islands. Also known as Rafa, he began playing tennis at a very young age under the instruction of his uncle Toni. Toni taught Rafa to play tennis left handed in order to work on his two-handed backhand. Rafa is naturally right-handed but plays tennis left-handed. When he was 12 years old, Rafa decided to pursue a career in tennis.
By the time he was 15, Rafa had won his first Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) match. When he was 16, he was ranked among the world's top 100 singles players. At 17 he became the youngest male tennis player to reach the third round since 1984 when Boris Becker reached that goal at 16 years old. Rafa missed most of the 2004 tennis season due to a fractured left ankle but came back with a vengeance in 2005.
In 2005, a 19-year-old Rafa created quite a name for himself. He reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and reached the final at the Miami Masters Tournament. That same year, he won two ATP Masters Series events and held the longest winning streak of any teen in the open era with 24 consecutive wins.
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