Who did Federer beat in the 1998 Wimbledon boys' singles final?

Roger Federer beat Irakli Labadze in the 1998 Wimbledon boys’ singles final.

Federer won the junior final in straight sets, 6–4, 6–4, on Wimbledon’s grass courts. It was his first and only Wimbledon boys’ singles championship, but it became an important early marker of the talent that would soon develop into a record-setting senior career.

The 1998 junior season was especially significant because Federer also won the Wimbledon boys’ doubles title with Olivier Rochus. Later that year, he reached the US Open junior final, where David Nalbandian defeated him, before ending his junior campaign with a victory over Guillermo Coria in the Orange Bowl final.

Labadze is easy to confuse with several other names from Federer’s junior record. Nalbandian was Federer’s US Open junior final opponent, while Coria lost to him in the Orange Bowl final. Rochus was Federer’s Wimbledon doubles partner, not the singles finalist. By the end of 1998, Federer was ranked No. 1 in the junior world rankings and was named ITF Junior World Champion.