Roger Federer said he will retire from competitive tennis following next week’s Laver Cup in London. Following is a timeline charting the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s rise to the top of the game:
2001: Burst onto the scene, ending American Pete Sampras‘ 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon in the fourth round before losing in the quarter-finals to Tim Henman.

2002: Became the first Swiss man to finish in the top 10 and appear in the season-ending ATP Finals since Jakob Hlasek was number eight in 1988.
2003: Made his Grand Slam breakthrough the following year at Wimbledon, beating Mark Philippoussis in the final for the first of his eight titles at the grasscourt major.
2004: The Swiss flexed his muscles by winning three majors — the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, making him the first man to do so in a season since Mats Wilander in 1988.
He also became the first player in the Open Era to win his first four Grand Slam finals.

2005: Defended Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles after failing to reach the finals in the first two majors of the year.
2006: Reached all four Grand Slam finals, winning in Australia, Wimbledon and the U.S. among a haul of 12 titles and a 92-5 win-loss record. Finished top of the ATP rankings for a third straight year.
2007: Became the first player in history to reach all four Grand Slam finals in back-to-back years, winning at Melbourne Park, Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

2008: Extended his run of winning at least one Grand Slam title to six straight years by capturing the U.S. Open crown in a season hampered by illness and injury.
Won an Olympic men’s doubles gold medal with Stan Wawrinka at the Beijing Games.
2009: Captured his only French Open crown after great rival Rafa Nadal’s 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros ended in the fourth round. Won his 15th major at Wimbledon, surpassing Sampras’ record tally.

2010: Started the year by winning the Australian Open for a fourth time before a lean spell on the big stage.
2012: Won a record-extending 17th major at Wimbledon and also claimed the silver medal in men’s singles at the 2012 London Games, losing to Andy Murray.
2013: Struggled with a back injury and failed to add to his Grand Slam tally until 2017.

2017: Came back from a six-month injury layoff to win the Australian Open and at 35, became the oldest player to claim a Grand Slam title since Australia’s Ken Rosewall won at Melbourne Park in 1972 at the age of 37.
Became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times with victory over Marin Cilic in the final.

2018: Won his sixth Australian Open to become only the fourth player after Margaret Court, Serena Williams and Steffi Graf to win 20 or more major singles titles.
Victory helped him equal Rod Laver’s record of claiming four majors after turning 30.
2022: After multiple knee surgeries in recent years, Federer announced that he will retire from competitive tennis.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Rory McIlroy says it will be better for the health of the sport if The Open winner is not from the breakaway LIV Golf Series, and he backs the R&A’s decision not to invite Greg Norman to the tournament’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

McIlroy spoke Tuesday at St. Andrews as he looks to add a second Open title to the one he won back in 2014 at Royal Liverpool. This edition of The Open comes as the game is dominated by talk of the breakaway LIV Golf series, a new circuit being financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

“Selfishly, for me, yes,” McIlroy said when asked whether The Open winner this year should not be part of LIV Golf. “But at the end of the day, everyone that’s here has the same opportunity to go out there and try to win a Claret Jug, regardless of what Tour they play on or whatever that is.

“Whoever wins here at the end of the week should be commended for one of the greatest achievements this game has to offer.”

McIlroy has been a prominent critic of the LIV Series, which is run by Norman. The CEO of LIV Golf, who won the 1986 Open at Turnberry and again at St. George’s in 1993, has poached several players from the PGA Tour and DP World Tour for the new series.

But R&A did not invite Norman to the celebrations this week, meaning he missed out on the Champions Dinner and the R&A Celebration of Champions competition.

McIlroy, who played alongside Tiger Woods, Georgia Hall and Lee Trevino in the Champions competition on Monday, said, “I think the focus would have been taken away a little bit if [Norman had] been here.

“I supported that decision, and I think right now, because of everything that’s happening in the golf world, I think it was the right decision to be made. But if things change in the future, or whatever happens, who knows, but I could see a day where he’s certainly welcome back.”

The R&A explained the decision in a statement Saturday: “The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the Championship and its heritage. Unfortunately, we do not believe that would be the case if Greg were to attend. We hope that when circumstances allow Greg will be able to attend again in future.”

Norman responded by saying the decision was “petty.”

“I’m disappointed. I would have thought the R&A would have stayed above it all given their position in world golf,” Norman told Australian Golf Digest. “[It’s] petty, as all I have done is promote and grow the game of golf globally, on and off the golf course, for more than four decades.”