After a half-year hiatus in 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal and a record eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships.

[17] He was the youngest player in the group and also felt singled out as the "Swiss German" by many of the students and staff at the academy, experienced mild bullying, and was often on the verge of packing his bags and returning home.

[33] Federer made his Olympic debut at Sydney, where he surprised many by reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Tommy Haas and then to Arnaud Di Pasquale in the bronze medal match.

[49] His international breakthrough came at the Wimbledon Championships, when the 19-year-old Federer faced the four-time defending champion and all-time Grand Slam leader Pete Sampras in the fourth round.

[70] Federer also won his first tournament on home soil by capturing the Swiss Open in Gstaad and he wrapped up the year by winning the year-end championships for the second time after beating Hewitt in the final.

Federer then entered Indian Wells as the three-time defending champion, but his streak ended in controversy when he was defeated by Guillermo Cañas, who had failed a drug test for illegal doping.

[99][100][101] Federer was defeated by Nadal in two Grand Slam finals, the French Open and Wimbledon, which was regarded as the best match of tennis history by many, when he was going for six straight wins to break Björn Borg's record.

[98] At the Olympic Games, Federer and Stan Wawrinka won the gold medal in doubles by beating the Bryan brothers American team in the semifinals and the Swedish duo of Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson in the final.

[104] At the end of the year, Federer suffered a back injury, which caused him to withdraw from the Paris Masters and resulted in a poor showing at the year-end championship, where he was eliminated in the round-robin stage.

[125][126] Towards the middle of July, Federer hired Pete Sampras's old coach, Paul Annacone, on a trial basis to put his tennis game and career back on track.

[159] After Wimbledon, Federer continued to be upset early in tournaments in Hamburg and Gstaad because of a serious back injury through October, when he announced that he was parting ways with Paul Annacone, his coach for the last three years.

[160] Federer made the final in Basel, succumbing to Juan Martín del Potro in three sets, and indicated it was a mistake to have played certain tournaments while suffering from a back injury.

Their commitment paid off as wins over Serbia, Kazakhstan (in which Federer won the first deciding rubber of his Davis Cup career), and Italy allowed the Swiss team to advance to the final for the first time since 1992.

[174] At Shanghai Masters, Federer saved five match points against Leonardo Mayer in the second round before defeating Djokovic in the semifinals to end his 28-match unbeaten run on Chinese soil.

This, combined with a grand slam drought spanning over four years, led to many analysts believing that his outstanding career was finally coming to an end and that he would never win any major titles again.

[223] The tournament was also notable for Federer playing doubles with long-time rival Rafael Nadal for the first time, defeating the Team World duo of Querrey and Jack Sock.

[241] Federer then played at the Laver Cup where he successfully helped Team Europe defend their title, winning both his singles matches against Nick Kyrgios and John Isner.

[248][249] At the Dubai Championships, Federer defeated Tsitsipas in straight sets in the final to win his 100th career singles title, thus becoming only the second man after Jimmy Connors to reach the three figure mark in the Open Era.

[251][252] Federer played his first clay court tournament in three years at the Madrid Open, where after securing his 1200th career win in the third round against Gaël Monfils, he lost in the quarterfinals to Dominic Thiem, despite having two match points in the second set.

[254] Federer began his grass court season at the Halle Open where he won his tenth title at the event, defeating David Goffin in the final in straight sets.

[374][375] In the lead-up to the 2015 US Open, Federer successfully added a new unique shot to his arsenal called SABR (Sneak Attack by Roger), in which he charged forward to receive a second serve and hit a return on the service line.

[376] With the switch to a bigger 97-inch racket from a 90-inch racquet, Federer gained easier serving and better defense on both wings with fewer shanks; however, he experienced diminished control and power on his forehand, slice backhand and dropshot.

Building on the work done earlier by Kacovsky, Carter helped perfect Federer's technique, along with teaching him the strategy and psychology required to play the game to a high level.

[24] Throughout the 2007 US Open, the American press nicknamed him Darth Federer for his all-black attire (which included tuxedo-striped shorts) and the tournament played "The Imperial March" from Star Wars when he was announced onto the court for each of his matches.

[410] On winning the 2009 French Open and completing the career Grand Slam, Federer became the first male tennis player to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated since Andre Agassi in 1999.

[416] Throughout his career, Federer was featured in several memorable TV ads, such as one for Switzerland's largest telecommunications company Sunrise in 2015,[417] for the Italian pasta-maker Barilla in 2019, and for German car giant Mercedes-Benz in 2016 which featured Federer playing the role of various tennis legends, namely Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Borg, thus appearing with fake chest hair, golden hair extensions, smashing his racquet and having meltdowns on the court.

[419] At the 2017 Indian Wells Masters, the trio of Federer, Grigor Dimitrov, and Tommy Haas made headlines for performing the classic 80s song "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" by American pop group Chicago.

It is a compilation of more than 40 exclusive interviews with players, coaches, rivals, fans, friends, and people from outside tennis, including the world of music, film, and even politics about how Federer changed their lives.

[461] In the 2018 "Match for Africa" in San Jose, California, Federer paired up with Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates in a doubles clash against Jack Sock and NBC Today show host Savannah Guthrie.

[417] Federer joined hands with Sunrise, Switzerland's largest telecommunications company, in 2014, and since then, they have regularly collaborated to create a slew of interesting campaigns harping on Swiss values of excellence and precision.