Boris Becker tried to convince Roger Federer to represent Germany

Tennis icon Federer was born and raised in Basel, a city located in north-western Switzerland that borders Germany. The official language of Basel is German.

Federer's first language is Swiss-German, while he also speaks German, English and French fluently, as well as speaking some Italian, Spanish and Swedish.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion and former world No. 1 won a record 10 titles at his home tournament: the Swiss Indoors in Basel.

This is the most titles Federer secured at any event, and his 103rd and final career singles title came in Basel in 2019.

He helped his nation win their only Davis Cup title in 2014, when they defeated France in the final.

Federer's status as one of the greatest tennis players of all time has made him Switzerland's biggest sporting icon, and he is surely the most famous person from the Central European nation.

Given Federer's synonymity with Switzerland, it is hard to imagine him having competed for any other country during his remarkable career - but Becker has claimed it was a possibility.

During an appearance on Spanish TV show la Revuelta, Becker recalled his long history with Federer and opened up about trying to convince the Swiss to play for Germany.

"I know him very well, I've known him since he was a little boy," said Becker.

"He's from Basel, Switzerland, on the German border, so we wanted him to play for Germany, not for Switzerland.

"I talked to him about it a little, but he was already attached to Switzerland and Basel, but we were hoping, because it's only three kilometres from the German border. I tried, I tried."

Becker is by far Germany's greatest-ever male tennis player, having reached world No. 1 and won six Grand Slam titles during a glittering career that spanned from 1984 to 1999.

He claimed 49 ATP Tour singles titles in total and is most renowned for winning the first of his three Wimbledon titles as a 17-year-old in 1985.