Roger Federer, born 8 August 1981 is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 14 November 2011, he is ranked world no. 4 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hard courts). He is the only male player in tennis history to have reached the title match of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times and also the final at each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 Tournaments. Many sports analysts, tennis critics, and former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 23 career Grand Slam finals, of which 10 were consecutive appearances, and appeared in 18 of 19 finals over the four and a half years from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, the lone exception being the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semifinals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open.[10] At the 2011 US Open, he reached a record 30th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.
Federer has won a record five ATP World Tour Finals (shared with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras) and 18 ATP Masters Series tournaments (second all-time). He also won the Olympic gold medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. He spent eight years (2003–2010) continuously in the top 2 in the year-end rankings. His rivalry with Rafael Nadal is considered one of the greatest of all time in the sport. In 2011, he was voted the second most trusted and respected human in the world, second only to Nelson Mandela.
Federer was born in Binningen, near Basel, to Swiss national Robert Federer and South African-born Lynette. He holds both Swiss and South African citizenships. He grew up in suburban Münchenstein, near Basel, close to the French and German borders and speaks Swiss German, German, French and English fluently, Swiss German being his native language. He was raised as a Roman Catholic and met Pope Benedict XVI while playing the 2006 Internazionali BNL d'Italia tournament in Rome. Like all male Swiss citizens, Federer was subject to compulsory military service in the Swiss Armed Forces. However, in 2003 he was deemed unfit due to a long-standing back problem and was subsequently not required to fulfill his military obligation. Federer himself also credits the range of sports he played as a child—he also played badminton and basketball—for his hand-eye coordination. “I was always very much more interested if a ball was involved,” he says. Most tennis prodigies, by contrast, play tennis to the exclusion of all other sports.
Federer is married to former Women's Tennis Association player Mirka Vavrinec. Mirka and Roger met while both competing for Switzerland in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Vavrinec retired from the tour in 2002 because of a foot injury and has since been working as Federer's public relations manager. They were married in Basel on 11 April 2009, surrounded by a small group of close friends and family at Wenkenhof Villa (municipality of Riehen). On 23 July 2009, Mirka gave birth to twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva.
Federer supports a number of charities. He established the Roger Federer Foundation in 2003 to help disadvantaged people and to promote sports. In 2005, he auctioned his racquet from his US Open championship to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. He was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by UNICEF in 2006. At the 2005 Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, Federer arranged an exhibition involving several top players from the ATP tour and WTA tour called Rally for Relief. The proceeds from the event went to the victims of the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Since then, he has visited South Africa and Tamil Nadu, one of the areas in India most affected by the tsunami. He has also appeared in UNICEF public messages to raise public awareness of AIDS. In response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Federer arranged a collaboration with fellow top tennis players Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Lleyton Hewitt, and Sam Stosur to forgo their final day of preparation for the 2010 Australian Open to form a special charity event called Hit for Haiti, in which all proceeds went to Haiti earthquake victims. He was named a 2010 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in recognition of his leadership, accomplishments, and contributions to society.
n 2007, Federer reached all four Grand Slam singles finals, winning three of them. He won the Australian Open over Fernando González, 7–6, 6–4, 6–4, Wimbledon over Rafael Nadal for the second time, 7–6, 4–6, 7–6, 2–6, 6–2, and the US Open over Novak Djokovic, 7–6, 7–6, 6–4. Federer lost the French Open to Nadal, 3–6, 6–4, 3–6, 4–6.[50] Federer made five ATP Masters Series 1000 finals in 2007, winning the Hamburg and Madrid titles. Federer won one 500 series event in Dubai and won the year-end championships.
Federer at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he won a gold medal in doubles
In 2008, Federer won one Grand Slam singles title, which came at the US Open over Briton Andy Murray, 6–2, 7–5, 6–2. Federer was defeated by Nadal in two Grand Slam finals, at the French Open, 1–6, 3–6, 0–6, and at Wimbledon, 4–6, 4–6, 7–6, 7–6, 7–9, when he was going for six straight wins to break Björn Borg's record.[51] At the Australian Open, Federer lost in the semifinals to Djokovic, which ended his record of 10 consecutive finals. Federer lost twice in Master Series 1000 finals on clay to Nadal, at Monte Carlo and Hamburg. However, Federer captured two titles in 250-level events at Estoril and Halle and one title in a 500 level event in Basel. In doubles, Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka won the gold medal at the Olympic Games.
Federer on the Cover of Sports Illustrated After 2009 French Open Victory
In 2009, Federer won two Grand Slam singles titles, the French Open over Robin Söderling, 6–1, 7–6, 6–4, and Wimbledon over Andy Roddick, 5–7, 7–6, 7–6, 3–6, 16–14. Federer reached two other Grand Slam finals, losing to Nadal at the Australian Open, 5–7, 6–3, 6–7, 6–3, 2–6, and to Juan Martín del Potro at the US Open, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4, 6–7, 2–6. Federer won two more events, the first at the Madrid Masters over Nadal in the final on clay, 6–4, 6–4. The second was in Cincinnati over Djokovic, 6–1, 7–5, although Federer lost to Djokovic in Basel, 4–6, 6–4, 2–6, later in the year. Federer completed a career Grand Slam by winning his first French Open title and won a men's record fifteenth Grand Slam singles title, which is one more than Pete Sampras's mark of fourteen.
In 2010, Federer continued to reach milestones and achievements. He won the Australian Open. In the final, Federer defeated Andy Murray, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6, whom he had also beaten in the 2008 US Open final. At the French Open, Federer failed to reach a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since the 2004 French Open, losing to Söderling, 3–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4, in the quarterfinals, and losing his no. 1 ranking. Since Söderling eventually lost in the final to Nadal, this tournament also marked the first time since the 2004 French Open that Federer was defeated in a Grand Slam tournament by someone other than the eventual champion. However, at the French Open, Federer won his 700th tour match and 150th tour match on clay. Federer was just one week away from equalling Pete Sampras's record of 286 weeks as world no. 1. This is the first time since 2001 that Federer has entered Wimbledon having won only one title for the year. In a big surprise, Federer lost in the quarterfinal to Tomáš Berdych, 4–6, 6–3, 1–6, 4–6, and fell to world no. 3 in the rankings for the first time in nearly seven years, but he did win his 200th Grand Slam match in the first round. At the 2010 US Open, Federer reached the semifinals, avenging his French Open loss to Söderling in the quarterfinals. Federer lost a five-set match to third seed and 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic, 7–5, 1–6, 7–5, 2–6, 5–7. Federer made it to four Masters 1000 finals, losing three of them and winning one. At the Madrid Open, he lost to Nadal, 4–6, 6–7. At the Canadian Masters, Federer lost to Murray. At the Cincinnati Masters, Federer won his first title in eight months as he became the first player since Andre Agassi to retain the title, as he beat Mardy Fish in the final. He also equalled Agassi for the number of Masters wins at 17 and tied Bjorn Borg's mark for number of total titles won and moved to just one behind Sampras. His next appearance was in Shanghai, where he lost to Andy Murray for the second time that year in a Masters' Series final. Towards the middle of July, Federer hired Pete Sampras' old coach Paul Annacone to put his tennis game and career on the right path on a trial basis. Federer won two straight titles at the Stockholm Open, an ATP 250-level event, and in Basel, an ATP 500-level contest, which brought his tally to 65 career titles, surpassing Pete Sampras' total of 64 titles on the ATP Tour. Lastly, Federer won the year-end championships by beating rival Rafael Nadal, for his fifth title at the event. He showed much of his old form, beating all contenders except Nadal in straight sets. After hiring Paul Annacone as his coach, Federer entered nine tournaments, won five of them, was runner-up in two, and reached the semifinals of the other two. Since Wimbledon 2010, Federer had a win-loss record of 34–4 and had multiple match points in two of his losses: to Novak Djokovic in the semifinal of the US Open, and to Gaël Monfils in the semifinal of the Paris Masters. Federer did not play in the 2010 Davis Cup.
At the start of the 2011 season, Federer defeated Nikolay Davydenko, 6–3, 6–4, to win the 2011 Qatar Open without dropping a set, winning his third title at the event following wins in 2005 and 2006. Federer was defeated in straight sets during the semifinals of the 2011 Australian Open by Novak Djokovic, marking the first time since July 2003 that he did not win any four of the Grand Slams he appeared in consecutively. In his next tournament in Dubai, Federer lost the final, 3–6, 3–6, to Djokovic. Federer then entered the first Masters 1000 event of the year, the 2011 BNP Paribas Open, and flew through to the semifinals by defeating Igor Andreev, Juan Ignacio Chela, Ryan Harrison, and Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. He then fell to Djokovic in three sets, 6–3, 3–6, 6–2, and relinquished the no. 2 ranking to him. Federer also reached the doubles final alongside compatriot Wawrinka, beating rival Rafael Nadal along the way, but they lost to Alexandr Dolgopolov and Xavier Malisse, 4–6, 7–6, 7–10 in the doubles final. Federer then entered the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, defeating Radek Štěpánek, Juan Mónaco, and Olivier Rochus in straight sets.. He then defeated Gilles Simon, when he retired at 3–0 due to a neck injury, setting up a 23rd match-up with arch-rival Rafael Nadal. Nadal dominated the match and beat Federer, 3–6, 2–6, bringing their hard-court head-to-head even at 4–4. Federer then moved on to the 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and played an impressive match against Philipp Kohlschreiber, defeating him, 6–2, 6–1, in the second round. Federer then moved on to the third round of the tournament and defeated world no. 22 Marin Čilić in similar fashion, 6–4, 6–3. Federer was defeated by world no. 9 Jürgen Melzer in the quarterfinals in a surprising straight-sets loss, 4–6, 4–6, which gave Melzer his first victory against Federer in four meetings. Federer's next appearance was at the Madrid Masters. He struggled through his opening match and barely came out with a win against Feliciano López after three tiebreak games, finishing with a score of 7–6, 6–7, 7–6. He then flew through the next two rounds, defeating Xavier Malisse and Robin Söderling with tallies of 6–4, 6–3, and 7–6, 6–4, respectively. He met Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and fought to advance to the final, winning the first set, but Nadal took control of the rest of the game and defeated Federer, 5–7, 6–1, 6–3. Federer then moved on to compete in the Rome Masters, where he opened with a victory over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 6–4, 6–2. He faced Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the third round, but lost a very close match in the third-set tiebreak, 6–4, 6–7, 6–7. Federer then competed in the 2011 French Open, expressing relief that some pressure was off him and that more had come onto Novak Djokovic, who was still undefeated.[61] He won his first round rematch with Feliciano López in straight sets, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6. He faced French wildcard Maxime Teixeira in the second round and achieved a straight-set victory, 6–3, 6–0, 6–2. He defeated Janko Tipsarević of Serbia, 6–1, 6–4, 6–3, in the third round to reach the round of 16. He then defeated Wawrinka in their third meeting of the year in straight sets, 6–3, 6–2, 7–5, to reach his 28th consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal. He defeated Gaël Monfils, the last Frenchman in the draw, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6, to setup a semifinal with Novak Djokovic. In the semifinal, Federer ended Djokovic's undefeated streak of 43 consecutive wins and kept him from gaining the world no. 1 status with a phenomenal win, brushing past him with a score of 7–6, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6. This set up a final with Rafael Nadal, to whom he lost, 5–7, 6–7, 7–5, 1–6. At Wimbledon, Federer survived an early tiebreak against Mikhail Kukushkin and won, 7–6, 6–4, 6–2. He then went on to defeat Adrian Mannarino and David Nalbandian with straight-set wins of 6–2, 6–3, 6–2 and 6–4, 6–2, 6–4. He rolled past Mikhail Youzhny, after dropping a close tiebreak to him, winning the match 6–7, 6–3, 6–3, 6–3. He advanced to his 29th Grand Slam quarterfinal, but lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a shocking five-set loss, 6–3, 7–6, 4–6, 4–6, 4–6. It marked the first time in his career that he had lost a Grand Slam match after winning the first two sets. After Wimbledon, Federer played the Davis Cup match-up between Switzerland and Portugal. Federer won a singles rubber against Rui Machado and a doubles rubber with Stanislas Wawrinka, helping the Swiss team move on to the World Group Play-offs with a sweep of Portugal, 5–0. After receiving a bye in the first round of the 2011 Rogers Cup, Federer beat Canadian wildcard Vasek Pospisil, 7–5, 6–3, in the second round. In a second meeting with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, he suffered a disheartening 6–7, 6–4, 1–6 loss, his second straight defeat at the hands of the Frenchman. He began his run at the 2011 Western & Southern Open as the two-time defending champion with a 6–3, 7–5 win, by snapping a two-match losing streak to Juan Martín del Potro. He then flew by James Blake in straight sets, 6–4, 6–1, but failed to defeat Tomáš Berdych, who had defeated him in the 2010 Wimbledon quarterfinals, and lost in straight sets, 2–6, 6–7. At the 2011 US Open, Federer began with two straight-set wins over Santiago Giraldo and Dudi Sela, winning with 6–4, 6–3, 6–2 and 6–3, 6–2, 6–2 tallies, respectively. He then faced Marin Čilić in the third round, who had surged in the US Open, but defeated him soundly in four sets, 6–3, 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. He then flew past Juan Mónaco with a 6–1, 6–2, 6–0 score, avoiding the impending rain, and repeated his feat with a quick win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals, reversing a two match loss streak against him with a win in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–3. The win set up a much-anticipated match with Novak Djokovic, touted as a rematch of the previous year's semifinal match. Federer lost an arguably closer match to Djokovic in five sets, 7–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6, 5–7, ironically repeating his previous year's result against Djokovic and adding a second loss from two sets up to his record. The loss at Flushing Meadows meant that Federer did not win any of the four Majors in 2011, the first time this has happened since 2002. After the 2011 US Open, Federer competed in the Davis Cup in Australia. Citing nagging injuries, he pulled out of the 2011 Shanghai Masters, which Andy Murray successfully defended, hence Federer without defending his ranking points from the 2010 Shanghai Masters final dropped out of the top 3 for the first time since June 2003.[62] Federer made it to the finals of the 2011 Swiss Indoors Basel for the sixth time in a row, after defeating his friend Stanislas Wawrinka in an all-Swiss semifinal, 7-6(5), 6-2. In the final Federer defeated Kei Nishikori, 6-1, 6-3. This was his sixty-eighth career title, the fifth at this tournament.
Federer and Nadal have been playing each other since 2004, and their rivalry is a significant part of both men's careers.Roger Federer is better than Rafa
They held the top two rankings on the ATP Tour from July 2005 until 14 September 2009, when Nadal fell to World No. 3 (Andy Murray became the new No. 2). They are the only pair of men to have ever finished four consecutive calendar years at the top. Federer was ranked number 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks beginning in February 2004. Nadal, who is five years younger, ascended to No. 2 in July 2005 and held this spot for a record 160 consecutive weeks before surpassing Federer in August 2008.
Nadal leads their head-to-head 17–8. However, most of their matches have been on clay, which is Nadal's best surface. Federer has a winning record on grass (2–1) and indoor hard courts (3–0) while Nadal leads the outdoor hard courts by 4–1 and clay by 12–2. Because tournament seedings are based on rankings, 19 of their matches have been in tournament finals, including an all-time record 8 Grand Slam finals. From 2006 to 2008 they played in every French Open and Wimbledon final, and then they met in the 2009 Australian Open final and the 2011 French Open final. Nadal won six of the eight, losing the first two Wimbledons. Three of these matches were five set-matches (2007 and 2008 Wimbledon, 2009 Australian Open), and the 2008 Wimbledon final has been lauded as the greatest match ever by many long-time tennis analysts. They have also played in a record 9 Masters Series finals, including their lone five hour match at the 2006 Rome Masters which Nadal won in a fifth-set tie-break having saved two match points.
The two have met 24 times with Federer leading 14–10, and 5–4 in Grand Slam events. Djokovic is the only player besides Nadal to have defeated Federer more than once in a Grand Slam tournament since 2004, the only player besides Nadal to defeat Federer in consecutive grand slam tournaments (2010 US Open and 2011 Australian Open) and the only player besides Nadal who has "double figure" career wins over Federer. Djokovic is one of two (the other again being Nadal) players currently on tour to have defeated Federer in straight sets at a Grand Slam (2008 Australian Open and 2011 Australian Open).
Because of the continuously improving game and general rise of Djokovic in the last 3 years, many experts include Djokovic when talking about Nadal and Federer (all 3 have played each other at least 24 times) and Federer has cited his rivalry with Djokovic as his second favorite after his rivalry with Nadal. Experts such as John McEnroe have said that this is the beginning of a new change in tennis and have coined the current situation "The Trivalry" between Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer. Djokovic's recent back-to-back-to-back wins against Federer at the Australian Open, Dubai and Indian Wells tournament have made this rivalry even more intense. During that span, Djokovic had gone on a 43–0 winning streak dating back to the Davis Cup final the previous year. Federer ended Djokovic's perfect 41–0 season defeating him in the semifinals of the 2011 French Open 7–6, 6–3, 3–6, 7–6, but Djokovic was able to avenge his loss at the 2011 US Open, and Federer lost with a score of 7–6, 6–4, 3–6, 2–6, 5–7. Federer cited this as one of the greatest losses in his career, as he had 2 consecutive match points in set five, with his serve, and was 2 sets up before Djokovic came back in what has become one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history (according to John McEnroe). McEnroe claimed that Djokovic's crosscourt forehand return was "one of the great all-time shots in tennis history" and that the semi was one of the greatest matches in history. Djokovic ended Federer's streak of winning at least one Grand Slam title per year and Djokovic became the second male tennis player to have at least 10 wins against Federer (the other being Nadal).
This rivalry is part of the "Trivalry" that consists of Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer. This rivalry is one of the greatest in the Open Era and many experts have included Federer vs Djokovic as one of the best hard-court rivalries in the Open Era.
Federer and Lleyton Hewitt have played each other on 26 occasions. Early in their careers, Hewitt dominated Federer, winning seven of their first nine meetings, including a victory from two sets down in the 2003 Davis Cup semifinal which allowed Australia to defeat Switzerland. However, from 2004 onward, Federer has dominated the rivalry, winning 16 of the last 17 meetings to emerge with a 18–8 overall head-to-head record. This is Federer's longest rivalry as these two first played each other as juniors in 1996. They have met in one Grand Slam final, the 2004 US Open final, where Federer won 6–0, 7–6, 6–0 to win his first US Open title. Federer is 9–0 against Hewitt in Grand Slams, and has won six of the Grand Slams in which he has defeated Hewitt.
These two have met 14 times, all hard courts, with Murray leading 8–6. Federer has won each of their Grand Slam matches (both were in the final) in straight sets at the 2008 US Open and 2010 Australian Open but Murray leads 5–1 in ATP 1000 tournaments. They have met three times in the ATP World Tour Finals, with Murray winning in Shanghai in 2008[81] and Federer in London in 2009 and 2010. Apart from Nadal, Murray is the only other current top ten player to have a positive head to head record against Federer.
One of Federer's longest rivalries is with Andy Roddick. Having met on many occasions, including four Grand Slam finals (three at Wimbledon and one at the US Open), Federer leads 21–2. Federer's dominance on the tour emerged as Roddick rose to World No. 1 ranking in 2003.
In the 2009 Wimbledon final Roddick took Federer to five sets. It included a fifth-set made up of 30 games (a Grand Slam final record) with the match lasting over 4 hours with the final match score of 5–7, 7–6, 7–6, 3–6, 16–14. With that victory, Federer broke Pete Sampras' record of 14 major titles.
Federer currently plays with a customised Wilson Six.One Tour BLX tennis racquet, which is characterised by its smaller hitting area of 90 square inches, heavy strung weight of 12.5 ounces (350 g), and thin beam of 18 millimeters. His grip size is 4 3/8 inches (sometimes referred to as L3). Federer strings his racquets at 21.5kg mains/20kg crosses pre stretched 20%, utilizing Wilson Natural Gut 16 gauge for his main strings and Luxilon Big Banger ALU Power Rough 16L gauge (polyester) for his cross strings.When asked about string tensions, Federer stated "this depends on how warm the days are and with what kind of balls I play and against who I play. So you can see – it depends on several factors and not just the surface; the feeling I have is most important."
Federer is one of the highest-earning athletes in the world. He has a contract with Nike footwear and apparel. For the 2006 championships at Wimbledon, Nike designed a jacket emblazoned with a crest of three tennis racquets, symbolising the three Wimbledon Championships he had previously won, and which was updated the next year with four racquets after he won the Championship in 2006. In Wimbledon 2008 and again in 2009, Nike continued this trend by making him a personalised cardigan. He also has his own logo, an R and F joined together. Federer endorses Gillette, Jura, a Swiss-based coffee machine company, as well as Mercedes-Benz and NetJets. Federer also endorses Rolex watches, although he was previously an ambassador for Maurice Lacroix. Also in 2009 Federer became brand ambassador for Swiss chocolate makers Lindt. In 2010 his endorsement by Mercedes-Benz China was extended into a global Mercedes-Benz partnership deal.
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera, born 3 June 1986 is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. As of 29 August 2011, he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time; his success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time.
Nadal has won ten Grand Slam singles titles, including six French Open titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 19 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009. He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.
Nadal had a 32-match winning streak in 2008, starting at the 2008 Masters Series Hamburg to the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open, which included titles at Hamburg, the French Open (where he did not drop a set), Queen's Club, his first title at Wimbledon, and the Rogers Cup. In 2011, by winning the Monte Carlo Masters, he became the only player to have won seven editions of a tournament in a row at the ATP level. Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Roger Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title. He held it until 3 July 2011, when Novak Djokovic replaced him as world No. 1.
Rafael Nadal was born in Manacor, Majorca, Spain to Sebastián Nadal, a businessman managing his own restaurant, Sa Punta; a glass and window glass company, Vidres Mallorca; and owns an insurance company as well. His mother is Ana María Parera, a housewife. He has a younger sister named María Isabel. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a retired professional footballer, who played for RCD Mallorca, FC Barcelona, and the Spanish national team. Nadal supports football clubs Real Madrid and RCD Mallorca. Recognizing that Nadal had a natural talent for tennis, another uncle, Toni Nadal, a former professional tennis player, introduced him to tennis when he was three years old.
In April 2002, at 15 years and 10 months, the world No. 762 Nadal won his first ATP match, defeating Ramón Delgado, and became the ninth player in the open era to do so before the age of 16. The following year, Nadal won two Challenger titles and finished the year in the top 50. At his Wimbledon debut in 2003, Nadal became the youngest man to reach the third round since Boris Becker in 1984. During 2004, Nadal played his first match against world No. 1 Roger Federer at the 2004 Miami Masters, and won in straight sets. He is one of the six players that defeated Federer that year (along with Tim Henman, Albert Costa, Gustavo Kuerten, Dominik Hrbatý, and Tomáš Berdych). He missed most of the clay court season, including the French Open, because of a stress fracture in his left ankle. Nadal, at 18 years and six months, became the youngest player to register a singles victory in a Davis Cup final for a winning nation. By beating world No. 2 Andy Roddick, he helped Spain clinch the 2004 title over the United States in a 3–2 win. He finished the year ranked world No. 51.
2005
Nadal missed the Australian Open due to a foot injury. In February, he lost in the semifinals of the first tournament he played, the Open 13 tournament in Marseille, France. Two weeks later, he handed Roger Federer his first loss of the year in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Open (in 2006, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray were the only two men who defeated Federer). To complete the spring hard-court season, Nadal was upset in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells, California, by James Blake, and was upset in the second round of the 2006 Miami Masters.
On European clay, Nadal won all four tournaments he entered and 24 consecutive matches. He defeated Federer in the final of the Masters Series Monte Carlo in four sets. The following week, he defeated Tommy Robredo in the final of the Open Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. After a one-week break, Nadal won the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, defeating Federer in a fifth-set tiebreaker in the final, after saving two match points and equaling Björn Borg's tally of 16 ATP titles won as a teenager. Nadal broke Argentinian Guillermo Vilas's 29-year male record of 53 consecutive clay-court match victories by winning his first round match at the French Open. Vilas presented Nadal with a trophy, but commented later that Nadal's feat was less impressive than his own because Nadal's winning streak covered two years and was accomplished by adding easy tournaments to his schedule. Nadal went on to play Federer in the final of the French Open. The first two sets of the match were hardly competitive, as the rivals traded 6–1 sets. Nadal won the third set easily and served for the match in the fourth set before Federer broke him and forced a tiebreaker. Nadal won the tiebreaker and became the first player to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final.
Nadal started the year by playing in six hard-court tournaments. He lost in the semifinals and first round of his first two tournaments and then lost in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open to eventual runner-up Fernando González. After another quarterfinal loss at the Dubai Tennis Championships, he won the 2007 Indian Wells Masters, before Novak Djoković defeated him in the quarterfinals of the 2007 Miami Masters.
He had comparatively more success after returning to Europe to play five clay-court tournaments. He won the titles at the Masters Series Monte Carlo, the Open Sabadell Atlántico in Barcelona, and the Masters Series Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome, before losing to Roger Federer in the final of the Masters Series Hamburg. This defeat ended his 81-match winning streak on clay, which is the male open era record for consecutive wins on a single surface. He then rebounded to win the French Open for the third straight year, defeating Federer once again in the final.
Between the tournaments in Barcelona and Rome, Nadal defeated Federer in the "Battle of Surfaces" exhibition match in Majorca, Spain, with the tennis court being half grass and half clay.
Nadal began the year in India, where he was comprehensively beaten by Mikhail Youzhny in the final of the Chennai Open. Nadal then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated Nadal 6–2, 6–3, 6–2 in the semifinal of 2008 Australian Open. Tsonga's semifinal performance was characterized by his powerful and precise serve, finesse volleys, and aggressive baseline play; it was a performance that drew the Melbourne crowd to their feet. Tsonga did not face a break point until the third set, while breaking the Spaniard five times in the match. Nadal also reached the final of the Miami Masters for the second time.
During the spring clay-court season, Nadal won four singles titles and defeated Roger Federer in three finals. He beat Federer at the Masters Series Monte Carlo for the third straight year, capturing his open era record fourth consecutive title there. He won in straight sets, despite Federer's holding a 4–0 lead in the second set. Nadal then won his fourth consecutive title at the Open Sabadell Atlántico tournament in Barcelona. A few weeks later, Nadal won his first title at the Masters Series Hamburg, defeating Federer in the three-set final. He then won the French Open, becoming the fifth man in the open era to win a Grand Slam singles title without losing a set. He defeated Federer in the final for the third straight year, but this was the most lopsided of all their matches, as Nadal only lost four games and gave Federer his first bagel since 1999. This was Nadal's fourth consecutive French title, tying Björn Borg's all-time record. Nadal became the fourth male player during the open era to win the same Grand Slam singles tournament four consecutive years (the others being Borg, Pete Sampras, and Federer).
Nadal then played Federer in the final of Wimbledon for the third consecutive year, in the most anticipated match of their rivalry. Nadal entered the final on a 23-match winning streak, including his first career grass-court title at the Artois Championships staged at the Queen's Club in London prior to Wimbledon. Federer had won his record fifth grass-court title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, and then reached the Wimbledon final without losing a set. Unlike their previous two Wimbledon finals, though, Federer was not the prohibitive favorite, and many analysts picked Nadal to win.
Nadal's first official ATP tour event for the year was the 250 series Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. After his first-round match with Fabrice Santoro, Nadal was awarded the 2008 ATP World Tour Champion trophy. Nadal eventually lost in the quarterfinals to Gaël Monfils. Nadal also entered and won the tournament's doubles event with partner Marc López, defeating the world No. 1 doubles team of Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić in the final. As noted by statistician Greg Sharko, this was the first time since 1990, that the world No. 1 singles player had played the world No. 1 doubles player in a final.
At the 2009 Australian Open, Nadal won his first five matches without dropping a set, before defeating compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals in the longest match in Australian Open history at 5 hours and 14 minutes. This win set up a championship match with Roger Federer, their first meeting ever in a hard-court Grand Slam tournament and their nineteenth meeting overall. Nadal defeated Federer in five sets to earn his first hard-court Grand Slam singles title, making him the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open and the fourth male tennis player—after Jimmy Connors, Mats Wilander, and Andre Agassi—to win Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces. This win also made Nadal the first male tennis player to hold three Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces at the same time. Nadal then played the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. In the final, he lost to second-seeded Murray in three sets. During the final, Nadal called a trainer to attend to a tendon problem with his right knee, which notably affected his play in the final set. Although this knee problem was not associated with Nadal's right knee tendonitis, it was serious enough to cause him to withdraw from the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships a week later.
In March, Nadal helped Spain defeat Serbia in a Davis Cup World Group first-round tie on clay in Benidorm, Spain. Nadal defeated Janko Tipsarević and Novak Djokovic. The win over world No. 3 Djokovic was Nadal's twelfth consecutive Davis Cup singles match win and boosted his career win–loss record against Djokovic to 11–4, including 6–0 on clay.
At the 2009 Indian Wells Masters, Nadal won his thirteenth Masters 1000 series tournament. In the fourth round, Nadal saved five match points, before defeating David Nalbandian for the first time. On 4 August, Nadal's uncle, Toni Nadal, confirmed that Nadal would return to play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. There, in his first tournament since Roland Garros, Nadal lost in the quarterfinals to Juan Martín del Potro. With this loss, he relinquished the No. 2 spot to Andy Murray on 17 August 2009, ranking outside the top two for the first time since 25 July 2005.
Nadal began the year by participating in the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated compatriot David Ferrer 7–6, 6–3 to reach his second final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, Nadal defeated Robin Söderling 7–6, 7–5.
Nadal participated in an Australian Open warm-up tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, where he lost in the finals to Nikolay Davydenko 6–0, 6–7, 4–6.
In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal defeated Peter Luczak of Australia 7–6, 6–1, 6–4. In the second round, he beat Lukáš Lacko 6–2, 6–2, 6–2. In the third round, he was tested by Philipp Kohlschreiber, finally beating him 6–4, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5. In the fourth round, he beat Ivo Karlović of Croatia, 6–4, 4–6, 6–4, 6–4.In the quarterfinals, Nadal pulled out at 3–0 down in the third set against Andy Murray, having lost the first two sets 6–3, 7–6. After examining Nadal's knees, doctors told him that he should take two weeks of rest, and then two weeks of rehabilitation.
Nadal reached the semifinals in singles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, where he was the defending champion; however, eventual champion Ivan Ljubičić defeated him in three sets. He and countryman López won the doubles title, though, as wildcard entrants against number one seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić. This boosted his doubles ranking 175 places to world number 66, whereas he was 241st before Indian Wells. After Indian Wells, Nadal reached the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open, where he lost to eventual champion Andy Roddick in three sets.
Nadal reached the final of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in Monaco, after beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6–3, 6–2 in the semifinals. This was Nadal's first tour final since Doha earlier in the year. He won the final 6–0, 6–1 over his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. He lost 14 games throughout all five matches, the fewest he had ever lost en route to a championship, and the final was the shortest Masters 1000 final in terms of games. With this win, Nadal became the first player in the open era to win a tournament title for six straight years.
Unlike in previous years, Nadal next chose to skip the Barcelona tournament (despite being that event's five-time defending champion), and his next tournament was the 2010 Internazionali BNL d'Italia. He defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber, Victor Hănescu, and Stanlias Wawrinka, all in straight sets, to win his 57th straight match in April. In the semis, he faced a resilient Ernests Gulbis, who defeated Roger Federer earlier in the tournament and took Nadal to three sets for the first time this clay-court season. Nadal eventually prevailed with a 6–4, 3–6, 6–4 in 2 hours and 40minutes. He then defeated compatriot David Ferrer in the final 7–5, 6–2 for his fifth title at Rome to equal Andre Agassi's record of winning 17 ATP Masters titles. In June, Nadal entered the AEGON Championships, which he had won in 2008, at the prestigious Queen's Club. He played singles and doubles at this grass court tournament as a warmup for Wimbledon. Being one of the top eight seeds, he received a bye in the first round. In the second round, where he played his first match on grass since winning Wimbledon 2008, he defeated Marcos Daniel easily, 6–2, 6–2. In the third round, he played Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, whom he defeated 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by compatriot Feliciano López 6–7, 4–6.
At the Wimbledon, Nadal beat Kei Nishikori 6–2, 6–4, 6–4. Nadal was taken to the limit by Robin Haase winning 5–7, 6–2, 3–6, 6–0, 6–3. He defeated Philipp Petzschner in the third round. The match was a 5-set thriller, with Nadal triumphing 6–4, 4–6, 6–7, 6–2, 6–3. During his match with Petzschener, Nadal was warned twice for receiving coaching from his coach and uncle, Toni Nadal, resulting in a $2000 fine by Wimbledon officials. Allegedly, encouraging words for Nadal shouted during the match were some sort of coaching code signal. He met Paul-Henri Mathieu of France in the round of 16 and comfortably beat Mathieu 6–4, 6–2, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, he got past Robin Söderling of Sweden in four sets 3–6, 6–3, 7–6, 6–1. He defeated Andy Murray in straight sets 6–4, 7–6, 6–4 to reach his fourth Wimbledon final. At the 2010 US Open, Nadal was the top seed for the second time in three years. He defeated Teymuraz Gabashvili, Denis Istomin, Gilles Simon, number 23 seed Feliciano López, number 8 seed Fernando Verdasco, and number 12 seed Mikhail Youzhny all without dropping a set, to reach his first US Open final, becoming only the eighth man in the Open Era to reach the final of all four majors, and at age 24 the second youngest ever to do so, behind only Jim Courier. In the final, he defeated Novak Djokovic 6–4, 5–7, 6–4, 6–2 which completed the Career Grand Slam for Nadal and he became the second male after Andre Agassi to complete a Career Golden Slam. Nadal also became the first man to win grand slams on clay, grass, and hard court in the same year, and the first to win the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open in the same year since Rod Laver in 1969. Nadal and Mats Wilander are the only male players to win at least two Grand Slams each on clay, grass, and hardcourts in their careers. Nadal also became the first left-handed man to win the US Open since John McEnroe in 1984. Nadal's victory also clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking for 2010, making Nadal only the third player (after Ivan Lendl in 1989 and Roger Federer in 2009) to regain the year-end number one ranking after having lost it.
Nadal began his Asian tour at the 2010 PTT Thailand Open in Bangkok where he reached the semifinals, losing to compatriot Guillermo García López. Nadal was able to regroup, and at the 2010 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo (debut), he defeated Santiago Giraldo, Milos Raonic, and Dmitry Tursunov. In the semifinals against Viktor Troicki, Nadal saved two match points in the deciding set tiebreaker to win it 9–7 in the end. In the final, Nadal comfortably defeated Gaël Monfils 6–1, 7–5 for his seventh title of the season.
Rafael Nadal in 2011
Nadal started 2011, by participating in the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He defeated Tomáš Berdych 6–4, 6–4 to reach his third final in the exhibition tournament. In the final, he won over his main rival Roger Federer 7–6, 7–6.
At his first tour event of the year in an Australian Open warm-up tournament, the Qatar ExxonMobil Open ATP 250 event in Doha, Qatar, Nadal barely struggled past his first three opponents, Karol Beck 6–3, 6–0, Lukáš Lacko 7–6, 0–6, 6–3, and Ernests Gulbis 7–6, 6–3 citing fever as the primary reason for his poor performance. He fell in straight sets to a resurgent Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals, 6–3, 6–2. He and countryman López won the doubles title by defeating the Italian duo Daniele Bracciali and Andreas Seppi 6–3, 7–6.
In the first round of the Australian Open, Nadal defeated Marcos Daniel of Brazil 6–0, 5–0 ret. In the second round, he beat upcoming qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6–2, 6–1, 6–1. In the third round, he was tested by emerging player Bernard Tomic of Australia, who previously ousted Nadal's countryman Feliciano López, but Nadal was victorious with a score of 6–2, 7–5, 6–3. He went on to defeat Marin Čilić of Croatia 6–2, 6–4, 6–3 in the fourth round. He suffered an apparent hamstring injury against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer early in the pair's quarterfinal match and ultimately lost in straight sets 4–6, 2–6, 3–6, thus ending his effort to win four major tournaments in a row.
On 7 February 2011, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nadal won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the first time, ahead of footballer Lionel Messi, Sebastian Vettel, Spain's Andres Iniesta, Lakers star Kobe Bryant and Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.
In March, Nadal helped Spain defeat Belgium in a 2011 Davis Cup World Group first-round tie on hard indoor in Spiroudome, Charleroi, Belgium. Nadal defeated Ruben Bemelmans 6–2, 6–4, 6–2. After Spain's victory in three matches, Nadal played a second unnecessary match against Olivier Rochus and won 6–4, 6–2.
At the 2011 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Nadal defeated upcoming qualifier Rik de Voest of South Africa 6–0, 6–2 in the first match. In the Third round, he beat upcoming qualifier Ryan Sweeting of the United States 6–3, 6–1. He then defeated upcoming Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman 7–5, 6–4 in the Fourth round. In the quarterfinals Nadal had a hard time against Croatian Ivo Karlovic but won 5–7, 6–1, 7–6, and in the semi-finals he met Argentine player Juan Martin del Potro, back from a long injury. The last three confrontations between the players was in favor of Del Potro, and despite some difficulties Nadal won 6–4, 6–4. He reached his third final at Indian Wells, and in the final lost against Novak Djokovic. The Serbian player won 6–4, 3–6, 2–6.[106] The next day Nadal and Djokovic played a friendly match in Bogota, Colombia which Nadal won.
Nadal started the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open win over Japanese player Kei Nishikori 6–4, 6–4, then met his compatriot Feliciano Lopez in the third round, whom he defeated 6–3, 6–3, and in the fourth round defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6–1, 6–2. In the quarterfinals Nadal had the first real test of the tournament where he met the world No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych. After a good first set, Nadal's level of play fell significantly due to an injured right shoulder, and he lost the second set. He eventually triumphed 6–2, 3–6, 6–3. in the semi-finals Nadal met main rival Roger Federer, their first meeting in a semi-final since the 2007 Masters Cup. Nadal was swiftly victorious at 6–3, 6–2; this match was one of the fastest matches played on hard courts. For the second time in two weeks, Nadal faced Novak Djokovic in the final. As in the Indian Wells tournament, Nadal won the first set, and Djokovic the second. The third set ended in a tiebreak with Djokovic winning the match 4–6, 6–3, 7–6. This is the first time Nadal reached the finals of Indian Wells and Miami in the same year. At Wimbledon, Nadal beat Michael Russell in the first round 6–4, 6–2, 6–2, Ryan Sweeting 6–3, 6–2, 6–4 in the second round, Gilles Muller 7–6, 7–6,6–0 in the third round. He then faced former US Open Champion Juan Martin del Potro in the fourth round prevailing 7–6, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4. He then faced tenth seeded Mardy Fish in the Quarter Final prevailing in four sets 6–3, 6–3, 5–7, 6–4. His Semifinal opponent was World no 4 Andy Murray, Murray took the first set but Nadal upped his game and won in four sets 5–7, 6–2, 6–2, 6–4. This set up a final against the World No. 2 Novak Djokovic, who had beaten Nadal in all four of their matches in 2011 (all in Masters finals). Djokovic broke in the 10th game of the first set to take it 6–4; he then won the second comfortably 6–1, but Nadal fought back breaking earlier in the third to win it 6–1. In a tense fourth set Djokovic broke in the ninth game and clinched the title, with Nadal losing 4–6, 1–6, 6–1, 3–6. This was the first Grand Slam final that Nadal had lost to someone other than Roger Federer and his first loss at Wimbledon since his 5-set loss to Federer in the 2007 final. The loss ended Nadal's winning streak in Grand Slam finals at seven, preventing him from tying the all-time record of eight victories in a row set by Pete Sampras. Djokovic's success at the tournament also meant the Serb ascended to World No. 1 for the first time, breaking the dominance of Federer and Nadal on the position, which one of them had held for every week since 2 February 2004. Nadal fell to World No. 2 in the rankings for the first time since June 2010.
After resting from a foot injury sustained during Wimbledon for a month, he contested the 2011 Rogers Cup, where he was shocked by Croatian Ivan Dodig in a third set tiebreak. He next played in the 2011 Cincinnati Masters, where he lost to Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals.
At the 2011 US Open, Nadal defeated Andrey Golubev in straight sets and advanced to the third round after Frenchman Nicholas Mahut retired. After defeating David Nalbandian on September 4, Nadal collapsed in his post-match press commitments due to severe cramps.
Wikipedia’s much publicized 24-hour blackout in protest of online antipiracy laws is not, it turns out, quite so dark.
The user-created encyclopedia is one of a number of Web sites that temporarily closed at midnight on Tuesday to publicize the belief that provisions in two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, referred to as SOPA, as well as the Protect IP Act, or PIPA — which may require search engines to block access to sites that employ copyrighted material via links or hosting — is tantamount to censorship, among other concerns.
But while a visit to Wikipedia’s English site shows a gloomy black screen with the stark words “Imagine a world without free knowledge,” intrepid users have to imagine no such thing: it is still possible to access Wikipedia’s content in a number of ways.
For example, typing Wikipedia.org in a Web browser (or any of the site’s pages for that matter), and as the page loads, pressing the escape key, circumvents or stops the blackout placeholder page from appearing. Timing the maneuver exactly right may take a few tries.
Could it be the case that, after a decade of driving innovation on the Web, Wikipedia is no longer relevant?
Perhaps the first place to look for an answer is Wikipedia itself, which has, in several ways, failed to keep pace with the rapid evolution of the Internet. With all due respect to the site’s ability to capture intelligence and knowledge from the Web on nearly every topic under the sun, the site no longer has the rock-star appeal it had ten years ago. While other sites have been integrating social elements — even simple things such as the Facebook Like button — and updating themselves for the visual Web, Wikipedia still looks like something out of the text-heavy 1990s. The social interaction on Wikipedia, such as it is, actually takes place behind the scenes, out of reach of the social Web.
Wikipedia, unlike Google or Twitter or Facebook, is the product of a nonprofit organization, Wikimedia Foundation, and is largely subject to the whims of volunteer contributors with their own views of what Wikipedia should represent to the world. In other words, if Wikipedia goes dark, it does not have accountability to shareholders or markets. Twitter and Facebook have future IPOs to worry about, Wikipedia does not. The Wikipedia Blackout is a statement, and a noble one at that, but not something that has immediate relevance to many people beyond the tech digerati.
Over the past few years, dissension over the mission of Wikipedia has become public, as some of the project’s most passionate supporters have left for other initiatives, jaded by the realization that most of the important work of Wikipedia has already been done. Most notably, there has been a failure to bring in fresh talent to replenish the ranks of aging Wikipedians. Jimmy Wales acknowledged as much after the most recent Wikipedia Conference. Wikipedia, like any nonprofit initiative, must compete for funding with other important causes and projects, forcing the site to rely essentially on tips and goodwill contributions for survival.
Today, Wikipedia – that vast, crowd-sourced online encyclopedia – has gone dark, in a protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, two bills currently under consideration in the US House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. In a press release, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales railed against the legislation, which he said threatened the "free and open internet."
"Today Wikipedians from around the world have spoken about their opposition to this destructive legislation," Wales wrote. "This is an extraordinary action for our community to take – and while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world."
SOPA, which was first introduced in October, and PIPA, first introduced last May, are both aimed at stopping Internet piracy and copyright infringement. But both bills have drawn the ire of a range of tech companies, including Yahoo, Twitter, and Google, who have argued – like Wales – that the legislation would be unnecessarily restrictive.
Since Wikimedia depends on a small army of volunteers who create and update articles, it's particularly concerned about a lack of exemptions in the bills for sites where users might contribute copyrighted content. Today, it has no obligation under U.S. law except removing that content if a copyright holder complains. But under the House version of the bill, it could be shut down unless it polices its own pages.
The plans for the protest were moving forward even though the bill's prospects appeared to be dimming. On Saturday, Rep. Darrell Issa, a California Republican, said the bill would not move to the House floor for a vote unless consensus is reached. However, Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, said work on the bill would resume next month.
The White House raised concerns over the weekend, pledging to work with Congress to battle piracy and counterfeiting while defending free expression, privacy and innovation in the Internet. The administration signaled it might use its veto power, if necessary.
That the bill seems unlikely to pass is another reason Lawton opposes the blackout.
"I think there are far more important things for the organization to focus aside from legislation that isn't likely to pass anyway," he said. He's been contributing to Wikipedia for eight years.
Danny Chia, another contributor to the site, said he had mixed feelings about the blackout. The neutrality applies to the content, but a lot of people interpret it as being about the site as a whole, said the Los Altos, Calif., software engineer.
In an online discussion, others raised the same point about the blackout: Appearances matter, and if the audience sees Wikipedia taking a stand, it might not believe the articles are objective, either.
Wikipedia has seen a small decline in participation, from a peak of 100,000 active editors a year ago to about 90,000 now. Wikimedia Foundation blames this mainly on outdated editing tools, and believes it can get the number growing again with software upgrades.
