The 16-year-old Roger Federer made his first appearance on the ATP ranking list on September 22, 1997! The young Swiss scored 12 points at Switzerland 1 Masters Satellites in Bossonnens to find himself ranked 803rd. In 1996, still at 15, Roger had tried to qualify for two Satellites at home, with no success. He lost in the qualifying round of the ATP event in Gstaad in July 1997 before entering those Bossonnens events as his first professional tournaments in the main draw. In four events played on clay, Roger made two semi-finals and lost` against the 2nd seed Daniele Balducci and the 1st seed Agustin Garizzio. The youngster lost in the quarter-final versus Yves Allegro, with whom he later played in many ATP doubles events.
Roger Federer made an ATP ranking debut on September 22, 1997.
They defended the Swiss colors at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won the Vienna title together in 2003. Overall, Roger scored eight wins during that month in Bossonnens. He finished the 1997 season ranked 704th (the second-youngest player in the top-1000 after Feliciano Lopez) after one qualifying round triumph at the home event in Basel and three more at Switzerland 2 Masters. Making substantial progress through the ATP ranking list, Roger entered the top-100 two years later and the top-20 in February 2001. The Swiss cracked the top-10 in May 2002 following the first Masters 1000 title in Hamburg. He became one of the world’s leading players and missed a chance of taking the ATP throne in the summer of 2003.
That was inevitable, though, as Roger became world no. 1 after winning the second Major crown at the Australian Open 2004. The Swiss kicked off an incredible streak of 237 consecutive weeks as world no. 1. The rest is history, with Federer breaking one ranking record after another and accumulating 310 weeks as world no. 1. Roger is the oldest world no. 1 in ATP history, standing there in 2018 at 36.Ā Roger is the owner of most weeks in the top-5 and top-10, staying competitive for two decades before starting to lose pace on the list in 2020. Federer experienced a knee injury and underwent three surgeries by the summer of 2021. The Swiss has played only six tournaments since the start of 2020, losing his place in the ATP ranking this July after almost 25 years! Roger will retire on Friday at the Laver Cup, ending his incredible career and sailing towards a well-deserved retirement.