Asad Mohammed

The Greatest of All time.

Have you ever heard of Roger Federer? If you haven't, pay attention.

As some of you may already know, I am a huge Tennis fan, and my favourite player is, yes you guessed it Roger Federer. Roger Federer redefines tennis, many critics, tennis analysts, former tennis player cite Federer to be the greatest player of all time. What makes Federer so great is the number of records that he has smashed, he is also the leader in total Grand slam wins (A grand slam is equivalent to a world cup in football), he is leading the way with 16.

Many people I know don't really like Tennis, but whenever this genius is on show, you can't resist but to watch, he makes tennis look so easy, he always makes sure to put on a mesmerising show of flamboyance. He is dominant at the top, his main rivals include the Spanish player Rafael Nadal, the Serbian player Novak Djokovic and disappointing British player Andy Murray (mainly because he just can't find his best tennis at Grand slam level). Anyway, let's find out more of Federer's personal life outside of the tennis court.

He was born in a city called Binningen in Switzerland, his mother is South African and his father is Swiss. Federer turned pro in 1998; the next four years were all stepping stones to his successes. In 2001 there came the performance of his early career. After his great performance at the 2001 Wimbledon Tournament, after beating Peter Sampras, (another player considered to be one of the greatest, was No.1 at the time), Federer started to move head, people could see talent in this young boy from Switzerland. And soon enough, the people were rewarded for their persistence in him.

From 2003 onwards Federer dominated tennis with an Iron fist. His smoothness of the grip on the racket, his reputation on the court, his blowback performances, his exceptional fluidity and shot making on the court all gained significant praise from spectators. From 2003- 2010 Federer had won a total of 16 Grand slam tournaments, more than anyone in history.

Many people declare Wimbledon (a tennis grand slam tournament, in total there are 4 in a year) to be Federer's second home, he has won Wimbledon 6 times in total, 5 times in a row from (03-07).

2010 was the year Federer slowed down in his milestones and achievements and was a pretty disappointing year from Federer's fan's point of view ( people have became accustomed to him winning everything, including me), it was mainly a very competitive year, with the likes of Djokovic and Nadal rising to the occasion. Federer dropped the top spot for the first time in 285 weeks (around 5 years and 4 months) to Spanish rival Rafael Nadal.

2011 was the first time since 2002 that Federer didn't manage to lift to a Grand Slam tournament. He didn't play well at the start of the season, but things started to pick up for him during the end of the season, he demolished Nadal at the world tour finals, and Federer, was back to his peak best. The tennis year has currently ended, but is going to start in January, and boy of boy is going to be more competitive than ever.

But tennis is not the only reason why fans adore Roger Federer, it's mainly because of all the charitable work he does off the court. He plays charity matches; he has his own charity foundation. He is a very calm and collected player, he has a very good relationship off the court with Rafael Nadal, his close rival, the two engaged in arguably the greatest tennis match in history, the Wimbledon 2008 final, a gruelling 4 hours and 48 minutes final, which ended with Federer losing his throne and Nadal picking it up.

So what makes Federer so Great? The racket in his hands.