(Photo of Roger and Mirka Federer with their first pair of twins, Myla and Charlene, who were born in 2009.)

The speculation swirled when Roger Federer announced early this week on Facebook that he was withdrawing from the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid. Tennis fans knew that Federer’s wife, Mirka, was expecting their next child this spring, so an announcement of the Swiss family’s expansion was anticipated shortly. But there was a surprise in store.

On Tuesday evening, the 17-time major champion and world No. 4 announced that Mirka had given birth to twin boys, named Leo and Lenny. An ecstatic Federer lost no time in sharing the news with his 1.6 million followers on Twitter. “Mirka and I are so incredibly happy to share that Leo and Lenny were born this evening! #TwinsAgain #Miracle” said the Swiss star. A similar announcement on Facebook soon followed.

As the tweet hinted, Federer enjoys the exceptionally rare distinction of having two pairs of twins in his family. Mirka had given birth five years ago to twin girls, Myla and Charlene, shortly after her husband had broken the all-time record for Grand Slam titles with his seventh Wimbledon crown. Federer’s sister and only sibling, Diana, also is the mother of twins, which leaves parents Robert and Lynette as grandparents of three pairs of twins.  

Dedicated to his family, Federer never had wavered in his determination to share this time with his wife. Some had wondered whether he might miss Roland Garros for the occasion, but he left no doubt that there was no tournament too important for him to miss the birth of a third child. Nor is there much doubt that, regardless of what he achieves this season, he will look back on May 6 as the most memorable day of 2014.

Federer left open the topic of when he would return to ATP action. It would not be surprising to see him withdraw from the Masters 1000 tournament in Rome next week as he helps the rest of his family adjust to the new twins. But Federer’s agent, Tony Godsick, did say on Wednesday that the Swiss star plans to participate in Roland Garros, which starts two weeks from Sunday. He will have at least two more fans in his corner there than he did when the year began.