Federer Collects On- and Off-Season Honors

ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer enters the season's first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, as defending champion and will look to improve upon a dominant 2006 season that saw the Swiss star earn numerous year-end accolades.

Federer, who plays German Bjorn Phau Monday in his 2007 opener, is coming off an outstanding 92-5 season in which he won a career-high 12 titles and reached the final in 16 of the 17 tournaments he played. He became the first tennis player in history to eclipse the $7 million prize money mark -- earning a record $8.34 million last year -- and also became the first player since Rod Laver to reach all four Grand Slam finals in a season. Going back to Wimbledon in 2005, Federer has advanced to the final in the last six Grand Slam tournaments, a feat last accomplished by Laver in 1961-62.

His accomplishments led Federer to receive the following year-end honors in 2006:

Named Outstanding Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Sports Academy for second consecutive year after a month-long online vote hosted by USATODAY.com and MSNBC.com.
Voted the world's best athlete by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), the European-based professional body representing the sporting media worldwide.
Voted Champion of Champions by journalists of the French sports daily newspaper L'Equipe for the second consecutive year.
Voted Male Player of the Year by International Tennis Writers Association (ITWA) for third straight year.
Voted Sportsman of the Year by the La Gazzetta dello Sport, an Italian sports paper.
Named ITF World Champion by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for third consecutive year.
Elected Swiss Athlete of the Year 2006 at the Sports Awards ceremony in Bern after already having won the award in 2003 and 2004.
Voted BBC Overseas Sport Personality of the Year by British fans for the second time in three years.
Featured in People Magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive" issue in a section devoted to "Sexy Surroundings."

In addition to collecting awards, Federer used the off-season to make his first official field visit as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. The Swiss met with tsunami-affected children in Tamil Nadu in southern India, three days before the second anniversary of the tsunami that took the lives of over 200,000 people. Federer visited UNICEF's recovery and rehabilitation programs in Cuddalore, one of the worst affected districts of Tamil Nadu.