5 love affairs that began on the tennis court

#1 Roger and Mirka Federer

Pictured at their 2009 wedding, Mirka and Roger Federer have been together since 2000

They’re regarded as the 'first couple' of tennis, but the Swiss legend isn’t the only tennis player in the Federer household. Wife Mirka Vavrinec played for the Swiss team at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, prior to which she was a regular fixture on the WTA circuit.

Slovakian-born Mirka, whose family emigrated to Switzerland when she was a toddler, specialised in singles, breaking the top 100 with a career-highest ranking of 76th.

Although they truly got to know each other at the Olympic Games, the pair had met before then – at the opening of a tennis museum in the Swiss town of Biel. But they were strictly acquaintances at that time.

They met again at the 2000 Olympics, when Federer pursued Mirka. The two moved in together in Switzerland a year later, and in 2002 Mirka retired from professional tennis following a recurrent foot injury. She remained on Federer’s professional team, managing his public image and persona - a role she maintains to this day.

The pair married nine years later, with Mirka giving birth to the pair’s first children, twin girls Myla and Charlene later that year. They have since had another pair of twins – boys Leo and Lennart (nicknamed Lenny).

After his 2017 Australian Open win, Federer thanked his wife for being one of the strongest influences in his life.