Federer, who started playing tennis at age eight, became Switzerland's junior champion when he was 14. In 1998 he captured the Wimbledon (Wimbledon Championships) junior singles championship and secured the Orange Bowl junior tournament crown in Miami. The following year Federer made his debut on the Swiss Davis Cup team and became the youngest tennis player (at 18 years 4 months) to end the year among the world's top 100, finishing that season at number 64.

Federer competed at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, advancing to the bronze medal match. The following year at Wimbledon he defeated Pete Sampras (Sampras, Pete) to reach the quarterfinals, and by the end of 2002 he was ranked number six in the world. In 2003 Federer won his first grand slam tournament title, at Wimbledon. The following year he captured his first Australian Open and his first U.S. Open (United States Open Tennis Championships) and defended his Wimbledon title. A gifted shot maker, he was victorious in 11 of the 17 tournaments he played in 2004 and finished the year ranked number one in the world. In 2005 Federer's numbers were similarly remarkable, as he won 11 of 15 tournaments, including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. From July 2003 to November 2005 he also won a modern-record 24 straight finals.

In 2006 Federer continued to be the game's best player. In addition to winning Wimbledon, he was victorious at the Australian Open and the U.S. Open, becoming the first player to win the latter two tournaments three years in a row. He also reached the finals at Roland Garros (the French Open) but was defeated by Rafael Nadal (Nadal, Rafael) of Spain. In all, Federer competed in 17 tournaments in 2006, capturing 12 titles and reaching the finals in all but one tournament. At the Australian Open in 2007, he won his 10th grand slam title. Later that year, however, his bid for his first French Open was again derailed by Nadal, who defeated him in the finals. Federer's rivalry with Nadal continued at Wimbledon in 2007. There he bested Nadal in a thrilling five-set final to become only the second male player (after Björn Borg (Borg, Björn)) in more than 100 years to capture five consecutive Wimbledon titles. Federer continued to make history in 2007 when he won his fourth consecutive U.S. Open, a men's record in the open era. In 2008 Federer's record 65-match grass-court winning streak came to an end when he lost to Nadal in the Wimbledon final. Federer later teamed with Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka to win the men's doubles gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Federer lost his number one world ranking to Nadal in August 2008, ending his record run of 237 consecutive weeks atop the rankings. The following month Federer won the U.S. Open.