Swiss Watching trivia, No 8: Roger Federer

August 8, 2010, 1 Comment

Binningen in the canton of Basel-Land isn’t exactly the best-known place in Switzerland. It’s a small community dating back to 1004 and now has 14,712 inhabitants (79% of them Swiss). It would be one of many such unnoticed places in Switzerland. Except for one small fact: it was the birthplace of one Roger Federer, 29 years ago today.

He might have grown up in nearby Münchenstein, and now live in Wollerau in Canton Schwyz (which just happens to have very low taxes) but Binningen was where his story began. The local boy went on to be a global superstar, perhaps the only one in modern Switzerland, winning 16 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic gold medal, plus being ranked number one in the world for 285 weeks in total. And all the while staying normal enough to publish photos of his twin girls on Facebook. He maybe a star but he’s still Swiss. Happy birthday Roger!