Roger Federer

Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player. As of January 25, 2010, he is ranked world number 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), having previously held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has won 16 Grand Slam singles titles, more than any other male player. He is one of six male players to have captured the career Grand Slam, one of only three (with Laver and Agassi) since the beginning of the Open Era and one of only two male players (the other being Agassi) in history to have won all four Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 22 career Grand Slam finals, and as of January 2010, has reached the semi-finals or better of the last 23 Grand Slam tournaments, a record streak that spans over six years.Federer also holds the record of reaching 10 consecutive Grand Slam finals and has appeared in 18 of the last 19. Federer has won 4 ATP World Tour Finals and 16 ATP Masters Series tournaments, one fewer than all time winner Andre Agassi. He also won the Olympic Gold Medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. As a result of his successes in tennis, Federer was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for four consecutive years (2005–2008).

Childhood and personal life

Federer was born in Binningen, near Basel, to Swiss national Robert Federer and South Africa-born Lynette Du Rand.He holds both Swiss and South African citizenship.He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, near Basel, close to the French-German borders and Federer speaks Swiss German, German, French and English fluently.He was raised as a Catholic and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the 2006 Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in Rome.Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was deemed unfit due to a long-standing back problem and was subsequently not required to fulfill his obligations.

Marriage and family

Federer is married to former Women's Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec. They met while competing for Switzerland in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Vavrinec retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury and has since been working as Federer's public relations manager.They were married in Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family at Wenkenhof Villa (municipality of Riehen).On 24 July, Federer announced on his Facebook page that Mirka had given birth to twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, on the previous day.

Buy Wimbledon tickets throughout the UK and Europe from premierevents.co.uk.Tickets for all Wimbledon matches are available at Premierevents,every Wimbledon transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera (born 3 June 1986) is a former World No. 1 Spanish professional tennis player currently ranked No. 4 in the world. Nadal has won six Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, 15 ATP Masters Series tournaments and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004 and 2009.

Nadal was ranked World No. 1 from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. Nadal was ranked World No. 2, behind Roger Federer for a record 160 weeks before earning the top spot.In 2009, he became the first player to simultaneously hold Grand Slam titles on clay, grass and hardcourt. His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay".

In 2008, Nadal was given the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, in recognition of his achievements in tennis.

Family and early life

Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca to Sebastián Nadal and Ana María Parera (now divorced). He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired professional football (soccer) player, having played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca.Recognizing that Rafael had a natural talent for tennis, his other uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old. Toni Nadal has been coaching him ever since.

At age eight, Nadal won an under-12 year regional tennis championship at a time where he was also a promising football player.This made Toni Nadal intensify training, and at that time he encouraged Nadal to play left-handed—for a natural advantage on the tennis court, as he noticed Nadal played forehand shots with two hands. When Nadal was 12, he won the Spanish and European tennis titles in his age group and was playing tennis and football all the time. Nadal's father made him choose between football and tennis so that his school work would not deteriorate entirely. Nadal said: "I chose tennis. Football had to stop straight away."

When he was 14, the Spanish tennis federation requested that he leave Mallorca and move to Barcelona to continue his tennis progression and training. Nadal's family turned down this request, partly because they feared it would hurt his education,but also because Toni Nadal said that "I don't want to believe that you have to go to America, or other places to be a good athlete. You can do it from your home." The decision to stay home meant that Nadal received less financial support from the federation; instead Nadal's father covered the costs. In May 2001, he defeated former Grand Slam champion Pat Cash in a clay-court exhibition match.

Nadal participated in two events on the ITF junior circuit. In 2002, at the age of 16, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Boy's Singles tournament at Wimbledon, in his first ITF junior event. Later that year, Nadal won all of his matches en-route to a winning campaign with Spain, over the USA, in the junior Davis Cup in his second, and final, appearance on the ITF junior circuit.

By the age of 17, Nadal was ranked in the world's top 50 players.In 2003, Rafael had won the ATP Newcomer of the Year Award.

Champions From 2000 ----till now

Wimbledon came into being in the year 1877, with the men's single being its debut tournament. In fact, for the next seven years, it continued to be the only championship being organized as a part of Wimbledon. It was only in 1884 that Men's Doubles category and Women's Singles Category were added. Wimbledon Men's Singles Championship had Spencer Gore as its first winner, who beat William Marshall with sets of 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. More recently, Rafael Nadal won the championship in 2008, beating Roger Federer. Since 1877, Wimbledon Men's Singles have been played every year, with the exception of the time when World War I and II were being fought. In the following lines, we have provided the complete list of Wimbledon Men's Singles Winners from 2000----till date.

Year Champion

2000 Pete Sampras

2001 Goran Ivanišević

2002 Lleyton Hewitt

2003 Roger Federer

2004 Roger Federer

2005 Roger Federer

2006 Roger Federer

2007 Roger Federer

2008 Rafael Nadal

2009 Roger Federer

Rankings: Men's Singles

Men's singles rankings as of January 2010:

1. Roger Federer (Swi)

2. Rafael Nadal (Spa)

3. Novak Djokovic (Ser)

4. Andy Murray (GB)

5. Juan Martin Del Potro (Arg)

6. Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)

7. Andy Roddick (US)

8. Robin Soderling (Swe)

9. Fernando Verdasco (Spa)

10. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra)

11. Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)

12. Gael Monfils (Fra)

13. Radek Stepanek (Cze)

14. Marin Cilic (Cro)

15. Gilles Simon (Fra)

16. Tommy Robredo (Spa)

17. Tommy Haas (Ger)

18. David Ferrer (Spa)

19. Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi)

20. Mikhail Youzhny (Rus)

Brief History of Men's Singles

The Championships, Wimbledon is an annual tennis tournament created in 1877 and played on outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) in the Wimbledon suburb of London, United Kingdom. The Gentlemen's Singles was the first event contested in 1877. Wimbledon is played in the last week of June and the first week of July, and has been chronologically the third of the four Grand Slam tournaments of the tennis season since 1987. The event was not held from 1915 to 1918 because of World War I and again from 1940 to 1945 because of World War II.

The Gentlemen's Singles' rules have undergone several changes since the first edition. From 1878 until 1921, the event started with a knockout phase, the All Comers' Singles, whose winner then faced the defending champion in a challenge round. The All Comers' winner was automatically awarded the title six times (1879, 1887, 1891, 1895, 1907, 1908) in the absence of the previous year's champion. The challenge round system was abolished with the 1922 edition.Since the first championships, all matches have been played at the best-of-five sets. Between 1877 and 1883, the winner of the next game at five games – all took the set in every match except the All Comers' final, and the challenge round, which were won with six games and a two games advantage. All sets were decided in this advantage format from 1884 to 1970. The lingering death best-of-12 points tie-break was introduced in 1971 for the first four sets, played at eight games – all until 1978 and at six games – all since 1979.

Since 1949, the Gentlemen's Singles champion has received a miniature replica of the event's trophy, a silver-gilt cup created in 1887 with the engraved inscription: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World".New singles champions are traditionally elected honorary members of the AELTC by the club's committee.In 2009, the Gentlemen's Singles winner received prize money of £850,000.These records include the Amateur Era only, William Renshaw (1881–1886, 1889) holds the record for most titles in the Gentlemen's Singles, with seven victories each. Renshaw's wins, however, came within the challenge round format, and he won the event only twice after going through a complete draw. Renshaw also holds the record for most consecutive titles with six from (1881 to 1886). The record for most consecutive and most wins post challenge round during the Amateur Era is Fred Perry (1934–1936).These records include the Open Era only, Pete Sampras (1993–1995, 1997–2000) holds the record in the Open-Era with seven victories. Björn Borg (1976–1980) and Roger Federer (2003–2007) co-hold the record in the Open-Era with five consecutive victories.