For several years, tennis aficionados wondered whether they could really call Roger Federer the greatest ever tennis player. In 2009, Federer ended that debate by completing his collection of career Grand Slams and overtaking Pete Sampras' all-time record of 14 major titles. With his Olympic gold medal from 2008, a silver medal from the London 2012 Olympic Games and another Wimbledon title under his belt, Federer has now achieved legendary status in the wider sporting world. This authoritative and affectionate biography traces the rise of Federer, from his first tentative strokes with a tennis racket to how he dealt with being sent away to a training academy where he struggled to communicate in a French-speaking part of Switzerland; and how he handled the sudden death of his first real coach and mentor. It looks at his development as a sportsman and how he has matured into a family man with his marriage to Mirka Vavrinec and the birth of their twin girls.
It also examines how Roger bounced back from arguable one of the most challenging periods of his career as, following a serious illness and a dip in form, his run of successive Wimbledon championship wins was ended and he was toppled from the number one spot by his long-time rival Rafael Nadal. In characteristic style, Federer has since silenced his critics by winning the French Open title for the first time, reclaiming his Wimbledon crown, winning Olympic gold and ending 2012 by renewing his rivalry with Novak Djokovic in both the ATP Tour finals and the world rankings.