Tennis feature: The five greatest moments of Roger Federer's tennis career

With his final professional tennis match now over, here’s a look at the five best moments of his career. 

The first Wimbledon title – Federer was always earmarked for greatness, but living up to potential is a whole different thing to having it. And Federer finally lived up to his billing as a future great in 2003 in a Grand Slam that would define him – Wimbledon. 

The young Swiss future star was taking on Mark Philippoussis in the final. The Greek tennis player had more experience but was outclassed by Federer on the day. It was the start of a historic run of Grand Slam titles. 

The only French Open title – Federer was seen in many ways as the successor of Pete Sampras, and for a while, it seemed like he would emulate one of Sampras’ more unwanted records of never winning the French Open. 

He made it to the final several times but lost out to arch-rival Rafael Nadal every single time – more on him later in this article. But 2009 saw Nadal lose out in the fourth round to Robin Soderling, who contested the final against Federer. He knew this was his best chance at a French Open title win and grabbed it with both hands. 

That career-best 2006 season – By 2005, it was evident that we were living in the age of Federer. He won 11 titles that calendar year, the same number of titles he won in 2004 after his 2003 breakthrough at Wimbledon. But 2006 saw him take things up another level. 

That was the year Federer was at his winning best, as he won 12 titles and finished the year with a win-loss record of 92-5. He won 48 of the 49 matches he played after the French Open final loss to Nadal and ended the year with a 29-match winning streak. Oh, and of course, he was the world' number one at the end of the year. 

The historic 20th Grand Slam – It is weird to think about now, but Federer’s last Grand Slam victory came back in 2018. And it came not at Wimbledon but in the Australian Open – his second favourite Grand Slam where he won six titles. 

It was in many ways a throwback to Federer’s dominance of old – he made it to the final without dropping a set and then beat Marin Cilic in the final, albeit in five sets rather than four. The win made him the first male player to get to the magic total of 20 Grand Slams. 

The Laver Cup farewell – Yes, Federer lost the match. But it was never about the result, was it? This was always going to be about bidding goodbye to Federer – and in that sense, it was a unique spectacle, unlike any other goodbye. 

He partnered with eternal rival and off-court good friend Nadal, and the two made hearts melt around the world when crying together and even held hands due to the emotions of the moment. It was a moment unlike any fans, have ever witnessed.