Even those who don’t particularly enjoy tennis will delight in the name Roger Federer.
The Swiss player is regarded as being one of the best tennis players in recent history. Some would go as far as to say he’s the greatest of all time.
The name Miroslava (Mirka) Federer, however, might not be quite so familiar.
The pair married in 2009 and she’s been a constant at all of his matches and tournaments since well before then, now often seen in the player’s box with the couple’s four children, identical twin girls, Myla Rose and Charlene Riva, eight, and twin boys Leo and Lenny, three.

But their relationship and partnership, both professional and private, dates back far further than that. And Australia has always played a special role in it.
In January 2002, Roger Federer and Slovak-born Swiss tennis player Miroslava "Mirka" Vavrinec paired up to play the Hopman Cup in Perth. It was their first (and last) time playing publicly together, but it wasn't the start of their relationship as many presume.
"It didn't quite start it here, it actually started at the (2000) Sydney Olympics, also in Australia, but that was almost one and a half years earlier, so we were already a rock-solid couple and we had a great time," Federer told Tennis World USA.
"We spent two weeks together, that's how we got to know each other and on the last day before we left, we kissed for the first time," he's said of the first time they met.
As for the match: "It was slightly awkward playing with your girlfriend at the time, but we got through it and had a good time after all... [It was] awkward for me, she was cool about it because she's older than me so she had experience."

Top Comments
How fascinating.