Roger & Mirka

"She is the most important person in my life, of course, with my parents. And I am very glad about everything she does for me. She will remain my girlfriend or my wife, and she does everything that she does only because she has fun helping me, and if ever she no longer feels like doing it she must stop."

Miroslava Vavrinec, more commonly known as Mirka, has been Roger's partner for 7 years now. The pair met at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney where they both represented Switzerland. In addition to being Roger's girlfriend, she is also his manager and, as the quote states above, is a very important people behind Roger's tennis career. She has even had a big influence on Roger's wardrobe!

To the public eye, it may seem that Mirka sacrifices more of her time for Roger than he does to her. Although it is true that Mirka does give up a lot of her time to help Roger, in reality it goes both ways. To illustrate this fact and the couple's overall loyalty to each other, see this recent comment by Roger; "Actually, when we are on holiday I do everything she wants. If she wants to go shopping for 10 hours I go with her, because she has to wait for me for 10 hours in every tournament. I have no problem with that."

What about marriage? The topic has been brought up many times by the media and was spurred on even further when Roger gave Mirka a heart shaped diamond ring. When asked about it, though, Roger has said that it isn't an engagement ring but an "I love you very much ring". Regardless of this, the pair are practically inseperable and Mirka is already considered part of the Federer family.

Who Is Mirka?

So, who is Miroslava 'Mirka' Vavrinec? Mirka was born in Bojnice, in the Slovak Republic, on April 1, 1978. She emigrated to Switzerland at 2 years of age with her parents. Mirka became involved in tennis at the age of nine when her father took her to watch Martina Navratilova play in Filderstadt, Germany. By luck, Mirka's father managed to meet Navratilova who, noticing Mirka by her father's side, asked if the girl had ever played tennis. She went on to suggest that Mirka give it a try as she looked athletic. After this event, when Navratilova discovered that the Vavrinec family lived in Zurich, she arranged for Mirka to have a tennis lesson through friends of hers. She also sent one of her racquets to Mirka for her to use.

This encouragement was rewarded when it did turn out that Mirka had a talent for the sport and after a successful juniors career, she turned pro at the age of 20. Unfortunately, a year after she met Roger at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, she had to retire due ot a foot injury. Mirka now spends her time helping Roger manage his tennis career, which she evidently is doing very successfully.