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Updated October 3rd, 2021 at 15:10 IST

Video of 17-year-old Roger Federer talking about qualifying to main draw goes viral: Watch

A video uploaded by Tennis TV shows Roger Federer talking about his desire to play in the main draw of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Toulouse back in 1998.

Reported by: Prithvi Virmani
Roger Federer
Image: AP | Image:self
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Back in September of 1998, a 17-year-old Swiss tennis player expressed his desire to qualify for the main draw of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Toulouse. On September 30, 1998, he went on to beat Guillaume Raoux in the main draw and record his first-ever ATP Tour victory. 23 years later, that very 17-year-old, now 40, holds 20 Grand Slam titles, 1251 ATP Tour-level wins, 103 ATP singles titles. The list is endless for the accolades that Roger Federer holds. Take a look at a video uploaded by Tennis TV where the Swiss Maestro talks about his desire to play in the main draw of the Grand Prix de Tennis de Toulouse where he says, "I hope to qualify for the main draw but I don't expect too much. I just hope that I'm going to play well tomorrow."

Federer then went on to defeat Raux 6-2, 6-2 and moved into the second round where defeated Richard Fromberg 6-1, 7-6(5). It did sadly come to an end when he went up against the then World No. 20 Jan Siemerink in the last eight and lost 7-6(5), 6-2.

Federer then did not win an ATP Tour-level match until February 1999 when he took everyone by surprise and defeated the then World No. 5 Carlos Moya in the first round of the Open 13 in Marseille, beating the Spaniard 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3.

Federer the GOAT in Tennis

Roger Federer has since gone on to win an all-time joint record 20 Grand Slam singles titles (tied with Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic) and has reached a joint-record of 31 Grand Slam finals (10 consecutive, and another 8 consecutive – the two longest streaks in history), 46 semifinal appearances, and 58 quarterfinal appearances. He is one of eight men to have won a career Grand Slam and one of four players to have won a career Grand Slam on three different surfaces, hard, grass, and clay courts. Federer has won 8 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record. From 2005 to 2010 Federer reached the finals in 18 out of 19 consecutive grand slams, winning 12 titles. He is one of two male players (along with Djokovic) to win two different Grand Slam tournaments at least 6 times (Australian Open, Wimbledon) and the only player to win 3 different tournaments at least 5 times (Wimbledon, Australian Open, US Open). He is the only player to win two Grand Slams five consecutive times at Wimbledon from 2003 to 2007 and the US Open from 2004 to 2008. Federer has spent 310 weeks as the No. 1 ranked player in the world, second only to Djokovic, and a record of 237 consecutive weeks.

(Image: AP)

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Published October 3rd, 2021 at 15:10 IST

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