FROM BALL BOY TO CHAMPION

Like many young kids, Federer was a fan of many sports, but tennis stole his heart.

“When my love of tennis started, I was a ball kid in my hometown of Basel. I used to watch the players with a sense of wonder,” he said.

He trained at the Swiss National Tennis Centre as a teen and when he was 19 he played and won his first Wimbledon match against seven-time Wimbledon champion PETE SAMPRAS in 2001.

“There are a lot of good players coming up and Roger is one of them,” Sampras said at the time. “But I think he’s a little more extra special than the other guys.”