Roger Federer's career-defining moments: Beating Pete Sampras at Wimbledon, career Grand Slam at French Open

Roger Federer is set to retire from tennis. The 20-time Grand Slam champion made the shock announcement that he will not be playing again after next weekend’s Laver Cup, where he will team up with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray for the final time. Ad Federer hangs up his racquet as unquestionably one of the greatest players of all time.

But what are his career-defining moments? Laver Cup'A sad day' — Nadal hails Federer and wishes 'this day would never have come'2 HOURS AGO The start of the RF era Federer’s breakthrough moment came at Wimbledon in 2001. Before Wimbledon was RF’s domain it was where Pete Sampras ruled. Sampras had won three titles in a row at the All England Club from 1993-1995 and was bidding for a fifth straight title in 2001 when he ran into a 19-year-old Federer.

Federer was not entirely an unknown quantity. He had won the boys’ championships at Wimbledon in 1998 and was seeded 15th for the tournament. However, few were thinking that he would beat Sampras, arguably the greatest grass player of all-time, who had won 56 of his previous 57 matches at Wimbledon and held a then-record 13 Grand Slam titles.

Federer had, though, enjoyed a good season, winning his first ATP Tour title and beating three top-10 players. He had the Centre Court crowd enthralled and sniffing an upset as he got two sets to one up against Sampras. Federer set to retire after Laver Cup Tennis and sports stars pay tribute to Federer Even when Sampras rallied and took the fourth set on a tie-breaker, Federer didn’t wilt.

He fended off two break points the final set with winners and then broke to win the match 7-6(7) 5-7 6-4 6-7(2) 7-5 with a forehand down the line. It was a passing of the torch moment. The era of Sampras