About  The-Rod

Don’t expect Roger Federer to contemplate retirement if he wins his historic 15th Grand Slam in the Wimbledon final. Federer says he intends to play the 2012 Olympics, when the tennis will be staged at Wimbledon, and will probably go on beyond that since his wife Mirka wants their child, which she is expecting shortly, to see Roger play.

Not having a full-time coach does not seem to have affected Federer’s success rate. Since he parted company with Tony Roche just over two years ago, he has won four more Grand Slams. At Grand Slam events he brings along the Swiss Davis Cup captain, Severin Luthi, for advice.

Federer says his best moments in tennis were winning Wimbledon for the first time in 2003, becoming number one in the world in February 2004, and then winning his fifth Wimbledon title by defeating Rafael Nadal in five sets in 2007. "They are just some," he says. "I have many more, thank God."

He’s done it all...

By finally winning the French Open last month at the 11th attempt, Federer became the sixth player in tennis history to win all four Grand Slams. The others to achieve this were Fred Perry (1935), Don Budge (1938), Rod Laver (1962), Roy Emerson (1964) and Andre Agassi (1999). He is also one of four players to win both the junior and men’s title at Wimbledon. The others are Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash and Bjorn Borg.

....and not just on a tennis court

There are many off-court activities of which Federer is proud. In 2006 he was named a Unicef Goodwill Ambassador, in 2003 he initiated the Roger Federer Foundation which supports disadvantaged children in South Africa, and he has twice carried the Swiss flag at the opening ceremonies of the 2004 and 2008 Olympics.

About  A-Rod

America’s People magazine publishes an annual end-of-year list of the male celebrities they consider the sexiest. They also break the rollcall down into sub-sections, and in 2003 Roddick topped the Sexiest Athlete list. As that was the year he won his one Grand Slam title to date, on home soil at the US Open, presumably it isn’t just what you look like that makes you sexy, it’s what you win too. In which case Roger Federer must be the sexiest athlete of all time. Roddick also got a mention in the Sexiest Man Alive list of 2006 (when he made the final of the US Open), and was one of People’s Hottest Bachelors of 2004 – so that’s one list he won’t be making again, now that he is married to swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker.

This is confusing to some Americans, for whom that particular title is primarily associated with 33-year-old baseball star Alex Rodriguez, who plays third base for the New York Yankees. Rodriguez’s 10-year contract with the Yankees, agreed in 2007, is worth $275 million.

He has hosted Saturday Night Live

In the USA, the iconic late-night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live has been a weekly fixture in the nation’s living rooms for the past 34 years. It has launched the careers of countless stars who went on to big screen careers including Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Will Ferrell and Bill Murray. Each week features a guest host, and being invited to take that role makes you very cool indeed in America. Roddick hosted the show on 8 November 2003, in the year of his Grand Slam title win at the US Open. He was only the second tennis player (after Chris Evert) to be accorded the honour.

Journalists like him

Roddick is what is known as "a good talk". He is one of those people who cannot help but talk engagingly and colourfully almost every time he opens his mouth. He likes to joke and be ironic – and he can be fairly scathing if he is asked a question he does not like. But he is never dull, and that is why journalists like him.

He would set a new record if he wins Wimbledon 2009