It’s Roger Federer’s birthday today and the Swiss tennis ace is unarguably been one player in the circuit. Born in Basel, Switzerland Federer was quite keen on sports since childhood. He grew up in nearby Birsfelden, Riehen, and then Münchenstein, close to the French and German borders. Federer made headlines in 1998 when he won the Wimbledon boys single defeating Irakli Labadze. He also teamed up with Olivier Rochus, defeating the team of Michaël Llodra and Andy Ram. In the same year, he also went on to win ITF junior singles tournaments in his career, including the prestigious Orange Bowl. By the end of that year, he was World no 1. On his 37th birthday, LatestlY.com brings you 10 facts about the Swiss ace.

  • Federer unlike now, was quite fiery and was famous for mashing racquets as it was tough for him to control his emotions. However, it was his mentor and coach Paul Carter who taught him to control his emotions.

  • As a child, Federer played various sports including swimming and football. In fact, he even played as a striker for Concordia Basel in their age-group teams. But at the age of 12, he stopped playing other sports as tennis consumed all his time.

  • Federer also served the army but was discharged from the military service due to back issues.

  • The tennis ace also has a street named after him in Halle, Germany. The street is called Roger Federer Allee.

  • Federer was a vegetarian until 14. He only started consuming meat after joining full-time tennis.

  • He is said to be very good friends with Tiger Woods but also refrained from commenting about the golfer’s colourful life.

  • Federer had taken up taking piano lessons as a youngster and continues playing the instrument to date.

  • The Swiss ace might be playing the piano but love rock and roll music.

  • Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras are his idols.

  • Despite battling several injuries, Federer has never got retired from the match.

Looking forward to watching Roger Federer in action during the US Open 2018. From the entire team of LatestLY.com, we wish the tennis ace a very happy birthday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 08, 2018 12:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).