Mirka Federer

Biography

Mirka Federer is a Slovak-born retired Swiss Tennis player who competed in professional Tennis from 1998-2002. Mirka Retired in 2002 because of a serious foot injury, she was a top-100 singles tennis player at that time.

Childhood- Family

Miroslava Vavrincová was born on 1 April 1978 in Bojnice, Slovakia. Her parents moved to Switzerland when she was two years old.

Her parents were both into sports themselves, thus her entry into tennis was only natural. Her father was a tennis coach, and her mother a former competitive swimmer.

Mirka's parents live in Schaffhausen, they own a jewellery store there.

Marriage

Roger Federer

The First Kiss: Mirka and Swiss Tennis star Roger Federer first met during the Sydney Olympics of 2000. They were both representing Switzerland at the Olympics, They stayed together for two weeks in the same dorm with all other Swiss athletes. There was realization of the chemistry between them. The wrestlers that had become close to these two encouraged him to go for a kiss.

He was just 18 at the time and he hadn't kissed a girl before, she was two years older to him. Roger lied about his age to her a bit, to appear older than he actually was. On the last day of the Olympics, he mustered courage to finally go for the kiss.

Their relationship was under the wraps until 2001. In 2002, she teamed up with Roger Federer in the Hopman Cup, as a mixed doubles pair.

After suffering a serious foot injury in 2002, she quit her career as a professional player and moved on to became Roger Federer's public relations manager, she accompanied him on tours in the early years.

The wedding

After dating for 8-9 years, months before the birth of their first set of twins, Mirka & Roger got married on 11 April 2009, in a small event with close friends and family, the event was held at Wenkenhof Villa, Riehen, Basel.

Image: Mirka & Roger Federer with the trophy

Children

Mirka & Roger have two sets of identical twins, daughters Myla & Charlene born on July 23, 2009 and sons Lenny & Leo born on 6 May 2014 in Zurich, a different kind of record to the list of the couple's sporting records.

[Mirka with twin daughters: Charlene & Myla]

[Mirka Federer Family- Children and parents supporting Roger Federer]

When he won the Australian Open in 2017, Roger credited Mirka for the win in his speech:

She’s been there when I had no titles and she’s still here 89 titles later, so she had a big part to play

In his retirement speech, Roger thanked Mirka for her Love, companionship, hardships and sacrifices:

She has warmed me up before finals, watched countless matches even while over 8-months pregnant and has endured my goofy side on the road with my team for over 20 years

The family adopted a pet dog named Willow in 2022.

Career

In 1987, Mirka's father took her to watch a Tennis tournament at Filderstadt in Germany, it is here that Mirka met the tennis super star Martina Navratilova (also of Czechoslovakian origin), it was Martina Navratilova who inspired Mirka to take up Tennis, which she eventually did. Martina Navratilova, impressed by the kid (Mirka) sent her a racquet & made arrangements for Mirka's Tennis lessons.

Mirka became a professional singles tennis player in 1993. She had made her doubles debut in 1992.

[Mirka Federer- At the Australian Open in 2001]

Singles and Doubles

She entered her first tournament in June 1992 in Maribor, Slovenia . She played doubles with Bosnian player Nermina Drecová. In the opening round, they were eliminated by the Austrian-German pair Andrea Tunková and Maja Wittkeová in a three-set match.

In June 1993, she made her singles debut in Murská Sobota, Eastern Slovenia . After winning her first round 6–1, 4–6, 6–1 over the 609th ranked Germany tennis player Christina Fischler, she lost the second round to Czech player Denisa Sobotková.

She won her first and only doubles title in October 1993, she and compatriot Nathalia Tschanová won the tournament held in Lagenthal. In the finals, they beat the French-Austrian pair of Anne De Gioanni and Heidi Sprung.

At the Latvian tournament held in Jūrmala, she again entered the doubles finals with her partner Aleksandra Olszová of Poland, they were however defeated by the Ukrainian players Natalia Bondarenko and Elena Tatarkova.

She played her first singles final in September 1994 at Cluj, Romania, she was defeated by the fifth-seeded Czech player Adriana Gerša in straight  2–6, 1–6.

She reached finals of the tournament held in Båstad, Sweden, in January 1995, she lost the finals against Katalin Miskolcziová of Hungary.

1997

In March 1997, at the tournament in Tel Aviv, Israel, she over Milena Nekvapilová, and advanced to the finals, where she defeated the Israeli player Natalia Cahan 6–3, 7–6 to claim her first singles title.

In June of 1997, at the Bytom, Poland tournament, she won against three Czech players including the semi-finals against Gabriela Navrátilová, in the finals, she lost to second-seeded Czech Jana Pospíšilová

In the latter half of June, she won her second singles title at Klosters , Switzerland, by defeating Austria's Evelyn Fauth 4–6, 7–5, 6–2 on the clay courts.

Later, at Lohja, Finland, she made it to the finals against the Swedish tennis player Maria Persson, where she lost to her with 6–3, 4–6 and 3–6

1998

She started 1998 season with a January title battle in Delray Beach, Florida. However, she lost in straight sets to the British player Louise Latimer 2–6 0–6.

In the next year of the games, held at Boca Raton, she won the semi-final game over Alina Židkova , but lost to American player Stephanie Chia

The following week, she claimed the final third singles trophy of her career. At the Florida tournament in  Clearwater , she defeated Židkova for the second time in a row, this time in the final match by a score of 6–0, 7–6.

1999

In February of 1999, she reached the finals in  Rockford, Illinois, she knocked out Justine Henin, the future world number one in the third round. She ended her tournament with a loss to Samantha Smith of Brittain.

In March, her plans to win the fourth singles title were thwarted in a decisive battle by the Japanese player Shinobu Asagoe at the Noda, Japan tournament.

In the mid-September event at the Mexican metropolis of Ciudad de México, she was defeated by the  Canadian player Vanessa Webb, in the finals.

At the Istanbul , Turkey tour, She defeated the Austrian Patricia Wartusch in the semi-finals, but lost to Ukrainian Tatiana Perebijnis 4–6, 3–6 in the finals.

At the International Tennis Federation event held in Dinah. She was eliminated in the first round by German Adriana Barnová.

French Open- 1999: She qualified for the main draw after winning three rounds at the qualifications. She lost her first round in the main draw to South Africa's Mariaan de Swardt in straight sets 0-6, 4-6

At Uzbekistan's Tashkent Open in June 1999, She won her first match against Germany's Anca Barnova,  in the second round she lost to another German tennis player, Angelika Bachmann.

At the Palermo Ladies Open in July of 1999 , she advanced to the round of 16, where she lost to the 82nd  ranked Hungarian Rita Kuti-Kisová.

She played the second round at the Toyota Princess Cup in  Tokyo in September. After winning over the American player Tara Snyder, she ran into two-time defending champion and world number five Monika Selešová, she lost the match, but was about to win one game.

2000

She reached the first quarterfinals of her career at the opening tournament of the 2000 season in Auckland , New Zealand . From the position of the 104th tennis player in the ranking , she battled with two Spaniards Maria Sanchez Lorenzo and Nuria Llagostera Vives at the ASB Classic 2000. Among the last eight, however, she was beaten in two sets by the Dutch Amanda Hopmansová

She won her first Grand Slam match at the Australian Open 2000, where she defeated Australian tennis player Lisa McShea. She was subsequently eliminated by sixth-seeded Austrian Barbara Schettová.

At the Portugal Open in April, she lost to Silvia Farinová Eliová of Italy in the quarterfinals.

The following week, at the Budapest Gran Prix, she again broke through to the last eight players. After winning over Adriana Gerša, she lost to fourth-seeded Spaniard Angeles Montoliová.

Since advancing to the second round at elgian Open held in May , she did not win a single match on the WTA circuit until October's Toyota Princess Cup, where she lost to Monica Selešová in the round of 16 for the second time in a row.

At thr Japan Open Tennis Championships in Kyoto she played at the quarter-finals and suffered a three-set defeat to French top seed Julie Halard-Decugis.

2001

At the Australian Open in Melbourne , she overcame the world number 32, French  player Anne-Gaëlle Sidot in the opening round, she then faced fourth seeded Monika Selešová in the second round and lost. She did not make it past the second round at any tournament until the US Open in September.

In September, she achieved a career-best Grand Slam result on the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center when she made it to the third round. As the 96th ranked tennis player, she first eliminated the 31st seeded Spaniard Cristina Torrensová Valerová. She then knocked out Belarus's Taťana Pučeková , but in the third stage she was not enough for world number six Justine Henin from Belgium, who avenged her earlier defeat on the ITF circuit. The $35,000 earnings represented the highest pay of her career. The gain of 44 points marked a ranking maximum, she achieved the highest ranking of 76 after the Grand Slam.

At the Eurotel Slovak Indoors in Bratislava, Slovakia. She lost in the first round to the fifth seed Denisa Chládková. This was Vavrinecová's last ever participation at the main competition of a WTA event.

2002

She didn't advance to the main draw of any WTA tour in 2002. She later got her foot injured, which became a serious threat and ended her career as a pro athlete.

Team format

Fed Cup

She played two doubles matches as a part of the the Swiss Fed Cup team and was a member of the team three times. She played for the first time in 1994 World Group. At the international match against Canada  held on a clay court in Frankfurt. The swiis team comprising of Manuela Schwerzmann, Jill Hetherington and Rene Collins lost to the Canadians 0:3.

At the World Group 2000 competition held in Bratislava, she played the doubles against the Slovakian team and won. She was part of the team comprising of Patty Schnyderová, Daniela Hantuchová and  Karina Habšudová.

Hopman Cup

In 2002, she represented Switzerland at the Hopman Cup . She partnered wth her future husband Roger Federer at the official mixed team championship in Perth's Burswood Dome . Federer and  Martina Hingis had won the 2001 Hopman Cup, thus the Swiss were the defending champions.

The Swiss lost the game against Australia and Spain in the group stage and won against Argentina. The defending champions couldn't stop the group stage exit.

Summer Olympics

As a member of the Swiss delegation, Mirka participated in the women's singles and women's doubles competitions at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney , Australia.

She enteredthe  singles after receiving a wild card, in the form of an invitation from the International Tennis Federation . However, she was outclassed in the first round by Russian tenth seed and later silver medalist Jelena Dementěvová 6–1, 6–1.

With her compatriot Emmanuelle Gagliardiová, she played the doubles match against the Venezuelan pair María Ventová-Kabchiová and Milagros Sequerová. They left the tournament after losing 2–6 and 5–7.

• Mirka has a career Win-Loss Ratio of : 202:159 (55% win ratio)
• Mirka was a right handed, she played one handed backhand.

Roger Federer Foundation

She is a member of the Roger Federer Foundation, a charity foundation: The foundation focuses on providing education and sports opportunities to underprivileged children in Switzerland and Africa.

The foundation donated $1 million to Swiss families that were impacted by Covid-19.

Trivia & Interesting Facts

• Highest Singles World Rank: 76 (Year of Achievement 2001)
• Highest Doubles World Rank: 218 (Year of Achievement 2001)
• Highest Grandslam achievement: Reaching 3rd round of US Open Singles in 2001. She made it into Quarterfinals of Wimboldon dobules in 1999.
• Mirka was born on the April Fool's Day.
• Mirka's family migrated to Switzerland when she was 2 years old.
• Mirka & Roger met at the 2000 Olympics for the first time.
• Mirka likes hard courts.
• Mirka won an ITF tournament at Clearwater, USA with a prize money of $25,000.
• Mirka is elder to Federer by 3 years.
• Mirka has won over champions like Henin, Plischke, Grzybowska among others.
• Rogere Federer feels he has been lucky to have Mirka has his wife, she being a Tennis player herself understands him and his work routine, takes care of his appointments, his family life.

Sources

1. Mirka's Tennis activity on ITF Website
2. Mirka's Czech wiki page
3.