In honor of 2009’s extraordinary historic milestone — none other than Roger Federer’s claim to a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam singles title — we present the top 15 greatest tennis records of all time.
In selecting the “greatest” achievements, we looked first toward the overall most impressive accomplishments, on either the men’s or women’s tour — some of them being so spectacular as to transcend gender. Others, we felt obliged to note the individual men’s and women’s record together, since it can be difficult to distinguish between tours as to which is more impressive. Finally, while an individual competitor may have several noteworthy achievements, we favored those which would be hardest to match or surpass.
Of course, as with any discussion of all-time tennis lists, we have to make a distinction between achievements before and after 1968, which marked the beginning of what’s known as the “Open Era”. Before 1968, the Grand Slam events were reserved only for amateurs, which means that players who turned professional (that is, got paid for playing/appearing at tournaments) were unable to compete in the majors. So a competitive field already narrow by today’s standards was substantially more so; winners of these tournaments often did not have to beat the best players in the world to become the champion.
Also, note that until the 1970s, all of the Grand Slam tournaments (except the French Open) were contested on grass. Modern players must compete on at least 4 surfaces: Plexicushion (Australian Open), red clay (Rolan Garros), grass (Wimbledon), and DecoTurf (US Open). Even though both the US and Australian Opens are hardcourt tournaments, the nature and temperament of their surfaces are quite different, which favors some players over others. The Aussie Open’s hard court is slow as molasses; in fact, Lleyton Hewitt called it slower than Roland Garros. It probably doesn’t help either that January is midsummer in Melboure — balls travel much more slowly in hot, humid air vs. cool, dry air.
15. Career Fines
$90,000 (John McEnroe)
At #15, this may or may not be considered an “achievement”, but we expect certainly nearly $100,000 will be a tough figure for any player to match. Johnny Mac is famous for many things: his 7 career Grand Slam singles titles, his storied rivalry with Bjorn Borg, his present gig as TV commentator.
But nothing he’s ever done will compare with his fame as the hot-headed, bad boy of tennis that used to curse at umpires like a drunken sailor in the 1980s. His on-court outbursts are legendary, helping him create a persona that transcends the sport: he’s appeared as himself in a number of movies (Mr Deeds & You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, with Adam Sandler, as well as 2004’s Wimbledon with Kirsten Dunst). His short-lived talk show, McEnroe, however, retains the ignominious distinction of being one of the few shows ever to earn a 0.0 Nielsen rating.
14. Youngest Grand Slam Champion
17 years, 3 months (Michael Chang)
16 years, 9 months (Tracy Austin)
Tennis remains one of the few sports in which adolescents can compete with fully-grown adult professionals. In most cases, you don’t expect that a 18 year-old football player, for example, would be able to stand a chance against a 28 year-old NFL pro at the top of his game, not only on account of the years of experience but simply due to physical development. It’s not unusual for men, for instance, to reach their adult height around 19 or 20 years of age (the present writer reached his full height as a junior in college).
So it’s all the more noteworthy that Michael Chang captured the singles title at Roland Garros in 1989, by defeating world #1 and defending-champion Ivan Lendl in a thrilling, history-making 5-set epic semifinal that went 4 hours, 37 minutes. Chang battled back from being down two sets and one service break to capture the 3rd set, only to encounter debilitating leg cramps starting in the 4th set.
Barely able to stand and screaming in pain after points, he resorted to some unusual tactics, such as lobbing “moonballs”, standing at the service line when receiving, going for every winner possible to shorten the points and, most famously, catching Lendl off guard with an underhanded serve up 4-3 in the 5th set. Beyond triumphing at such a young age, this match in particular highlighted Chang’s unyielding drive, resourcefulness, and tenacity. (He went on to upset Stefan Edberg in the final, again in 5 sets.) Boris Becker was the previous record-holder of youngest-ever winner and remains the youngest Wimbledon champion at 17 years, 7 months.
On the women’s side, the story is a bit different: female players reach their adult size sooner and the game in general has traditionally been dominated more by shot-making prowess as opposed to sheer power. Today, it’s not that unusual for a girl, 3 weeks shy of her 14th birthday, to go pro and defeat 4 seeded players on her way to a tournament final (Jennifer Capriati, Boca Raton, 1990) or a 15-year old to defeat a world #1 (Serena Williams d. Monica Seles, Chicago 1997).
The occasional upset against a top player on a bad day does not make a Grand Slam champion and Tracy Austin proves this on our list here, as just shy of her 17th birthday, she remains the youngest female player to win a Grand Slam singles title. In 1979, she defeated Chris Evert in the US Open final 6-4 6-3, halting the older champion’s bid to collect a 5th consecutive title. She was no fluke either as earlier in the year, the precocious teen defeated Evert in three sets at the Italian Open (ending the latter’s streak; see #13). Austin’s career was cut short due to injuries, but in her brief career reached the quarterfinals or better of every Grand Slam event she played in — a clear testament to her ambition and ability.
13. Single Surface Winning Streak
125 (Chris Evert)
81 (Rafael Nadal)
Tennis is unusual in that, unlike other sports, players compete on very different surfaces: in addition to clay, grass, and hard courts, there are a number of indoor tournaments at the end of the season contested on carpet. (Yes, really.) And because of the differences between these surfaces, some players excel on one type over another, becoming a “slow court specialist” or a “fast court specialist”. Two of the greatest specialists of all time both found their greatest success on clay: Chris Evert and Rafael Nadal.
From August 1973, Chris Evert won an astonishing 125 consecutive matches on red clay, a feat unequaled by any man or woman. Not surprisingly, she also holds the record for most French Open titles. What’s more surprising, though, is that this record is held by an American player: the best clay court players in the world tend to come from Europe or, increasingly from South America, where they are as common as hard courts in the US.
We don’t know how she did it, but for a while Evert was considered utterly invincible on her favorite surface. Not until another legend, Tracy Austin, came along in 1979, did she finally relinquish her stranglehold. Among her other notable accomplishments: Evert holds the record (men or women) for most consecutive seasons winning at least one Grand Slam singles title, at 13. Now that’s consistency.
On the men’s side, our record-holder is still an active player with many years of competitive play ahead of him, and at only 23 tender years of age, Nadal is already widely considered the best clay court player of all time. His 81 match streak began in 2005 and continued, juggernaut-like, until losing to Roger Federer at the 2007 Hamburg Masters. And just what accounts for this mastery? It’s not just his superb fitness, unrivaled defensive ability, or mental toughness. No, turns out Nadal is more of an anomaly than we thought:
According to John Yandell, a Yale-educated tennis teacher and analyst, Nadal’s ability to generate topspin is, frankly, almost superhuman. Just 10 years ago, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras routinely recorded 1,800 revolutions per minute with their searing forehands. By contrast, Yandell notes today that part of understanding Federer’s magic is in his forearm rotation and open stance, which results in his generating upward of 2,500 rpm on his swing.
As for the #1 Spaniard, his extreme western forehand grip generates topspin clocking in at an unbelievable average 3,300 rpm, and has recorded a maximum reading of 5,000 rpm. What this means for his poor opponents is that when the ball strikes the ground, it leaps up over their heads in less than the time it takes to blink — making the simple act of getting the ball back in play a minor miracle. Clay’s tendency is to produce higher-bouncing balls, compounded with a left-handed player who naturally drives shots to his right-handed opponents’ backhands, results in an almost nonreturnable shot. (Incidentally, this also helps to explain his relative difficulty against taller players: for a 6′4″ Robin Soderling or 6′6″ Juan Martin del Potro and Marin Cilic, a ball like this ends up right in their comfortable strike zone.)
As a further evidence of his utter clay mastery, Nadal holds the record for most consecutive matches won at Roland Garros: 31, achieved by reaching the 4th round in 2009, when he lost at the French Open for the first time to Robin Soderling. If anybody offers you the chance to wager against his breaking Borg’s record of 6 total Roland Garros titles before he’s done, don’t take the bet.
Honorable Mention: Roger Federer, 65 (grass).
This is all the more impressive considering how few grass court tournaments are played each year on tour: of the six total, four are scheduled simultaneously. This means that a player can, at best, play in only 4 per year (including Wimbledon).
12. Consecutive Seasons Ending #1
6 (Pete Sampras)
Legendary Californian by-way-of-Greece Pete Sampras makes his single appearance at #12. Considered by TENNIS Magazine the greatest tennis player from 1965-2005, Sampras’s Open Era Grand Slam singles record is supremely impressive: seven Wimbledon championships (record all-time), five US Open championships (tied all-time with Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer), and 2 Opens from Down Under. Not only does he count his eight consecutive wins in Grand Slam finals as an all-time record, but he’s only one of two players to win in his teens, 20’s, and 30’s.
Despite also holding the record for most total weeks at #1 (286), it’s his consecutive seasons finishing at the top spot that we consider his most impressive accomplishment. Tennis is such a physical game, requiring not only sprint-like quickness but also marathon-like endurance, that a top player peaks during the relatively narrow window of his mid-20’s. One minor injury, one bad case of the flu that causes even a one month respite from the tour when a player has a lot of ranking points to defend, and he can drop to the #2 spot.
Not even Roger Federer could match it: after first moving to #1 in 2004, last year (2008) would have been his 5th consecutive year, but he lost the ranking in August to Nadal. In our judgment, this will be Sampras’s greatest and most enduring legacy: to hold onto his premiere position for so long, playing so consistently well in so many tournaments.
11. Most Dominant Season
1984 (John McEnroe)
What were you doing in 1984? In that year, Johnny Mac was turning in one of the most dominant displays of tennis ever recorded, with a year-end record of 82-3, including 13 ATP events, Davis Cup, and World Team Cup matches. He won Wimbledon and US Open Championships that year and reached the final of Roland Garros. He lost only 20 out of 224 sets played that year, winning an astonishing 91% of all sets played. He also thrashed his two closest rivals: McEnroe went 7-1 against Lendl and 6-0 against Connors, not to mention 4-0 against Mats Wilander. Amazingly, this phenomenal year came in the twilight of his career: the following year, McEnroe would reach his last Grand Slam singles final at the US Open.
Honorable Mention: Martina Navratilova (86-1)
There’s just something about the early ’80s and outrageous runs of tennis dominance: Navratilova lost a single match in 1983, in the fourth round of the French Open. One match out of 87, surpassing even McEnroe’s feat. Actually, from 1982-1984, she only lost a total of six matches. That’s just sick.
10. Career Singles Titles
167 (Martina Navratilova)
Ms Navratilova’s career is among the all-time greats: eighteen singles Grand Slam titles, including nine Wimbledons. Her storied rivalry with Chris Evert remains one of the most compelling, male or female, in any sport. But supreme among her accomplishments is her longevity: in 2003, at 53, the former-Yugoslav won her final Grand Slam title (US Open mixed doubles). Long past a typical player’s peak years, she continued to find the drive and fortitude to compete against players 10 or more years her junior. And while she may not have been able to match their physical strength or speed, her years of experience and mental toughness carried her through the important points. (Navratilova also holds the record for career doubles titles at 177.)
Honorable Mention: Jimmy Connors
On the men’s side, we’d be remiss not to mention that same fighting spirit from showman, competitor, and longtime crowd-favorite Jimmy Connors. At 109, Connors holds the overwhelming record for career singles titles on the men’s side. Several commentators note that, until Nadal, nobody put his heart into the game and played every point like it was his last the way Connors did: whether up two sets or down, match point deuce, Connors used to play every point like it were match point. His professional career extended 26 years from 1970 to 1996, a record for which his otherworldly run to the 1991 US Open semifinals at 39 years old stands testament.
9. Consecutive Weeks at #1
237 (Roger Federer)
Yes, it’s true that there are virtually no significant flaws in Federer’s game. Not in his unreadable serve, not his dazzling defense and flashy footspeed, not his all-surface excellence, not his blistering backhand, not his exceptional endurance, and most certainly not his fiery forehand — a shot so beautiful and so deadly that, according to American Devin Britton following their 1st round US Open match, he placed shots to Fed’s forehand just to watch him hit it. David Foster Wallace called that same shot a “great liquid whip” and it is a pleasure to behold.
But what so often happens to dominant, elite athletes, is that on account of their commitment and effort, they can burn out, give in, or allow the trappings of success to do them in. Or, because of the effort required to play at that level, it opens the door to injury, illness, accident, etc. Not so for Roger Federer. His 4 1/2 year span (2004-08) at the number one position bears witness to his steadiness, consistency, hunger and dedication. No other player in the history of the sport has even come close — the record he beat was Jimmy Connors’s who, at 181 weeks (2+ years), was itself a wildly insurmountable accomplishment.
It’s also worth noting how close this streak is to the total: Sampras achieved his record for most weeks at #1, 286, over 12 years. Fed’s streak almost matches the record and with at least 3 years of top competitive play ahead of him, is there any doubt he’ll break that one, too?
8. Grand Slam “Boxed Set”
Margaret Smith Court
There are actually 12 Grand Slam tournaments per year. While all eyes are on the singles competition, players are vying for the doubles and mixed doubles (men and women combined) at the same time. Often, it’s the same players: Navratilova and McEnroe routinely won Grand Slam titles in doubles; the Williams sisters share 10 championship titles together. (McEnroe’s long-time partner, Peter Fleming, once modestly remarked that “the best doubles partnership in the world is John McEnroe and anybody else”.)
Why is this significant? Because it’s one thing for a champion like Roger Federer to compete only in singles, as is his wont, and another for his opponent to have played twice as many matches by the time they meet. Doubles matches don’t last as long, typically, but every extra minute of court time counts. In modern times, this has led to “doubles specialists”, in much the same way there are single-surface specialists. So to win all three — singles, doubles, and mixed doubles — at each of the four majors is to collect a Grand Slam “Boxed Set”. It’s a rare accomplishment, though not as much for Margaret Smith: she’s done it twice.
Court’s total count? 62 majors, more than any other player in history, ever: 24 singles, 19 doubles and 19 mixed doubles. The International Tennis Hall of Fame states, “For sheer strength of performance and accomplishment there has never been a tennis player to match Margaret Smith Court.” Her closest rivals are not even close, statistically: Martina Navratilova, with 56 total majors, and Roy Emerson on the men’s side with 28. Court makes the short list of players to achieve the calendar Grand Slam, in 1970, of which her final in Wimbledon of that year ranks among the great all-time contests. Playing in considerable pain with a sprained ankle, she held off Billie Jean King in straight sets. Final score? 14-12, 11-9 (the tie-break was introduced in 1973). Court also had the best two-season run in history: had she won Wimbledon in 1969 — she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Ann Haydon Jones — she’d be the only player to have achieved two back-to-back calendar Slams.
Now, to be fair, 11 of Court’s GS titles came from the Australian Open, during an era when few top players ventured so far south to compete. Also, the years she won many of her titles — including her first boxed set — predated the start of the Open Era, which means from 1960-1967 she was competing only against other “amateurs”, since pros were forbidden to play the Grand Slam tournaments prior to 1968. In later years she appears to have become a raving Bible fundamentalist, making all kinds of embarrassing public comments, but her achievements nevertheless speak for themselves.
7. Total Weeks Ranked #1
377 (Steffi Graf)
Graf holds the record for total weeks as the world’s top player and finished the season ranked #1 on eight occasions (another record). What more is there to say? (More on her below.)
6. Calendar Year Grand Slams
2 (Rod Laver)
Prior to Roger Federer, any conversation about the “greatest of all time” (or GOAT, as s/he may be affectionately referred to in the ESPN fora) usually boiled down to two players: Pete Sampras and Rod Laver. The fiery redhead dominated the sport throughout the 1960s and was considered near-unbeatable, essentially introducing the modern topspin game with his famously-oversized left arm. Few players today can match his shot-making artistry, devastating attacking style, or near-supernatural court coverage.
The “Rocket” holds the singular distinction of not only having completed a career Grand Slam — winning each of the 4 — but to do so in a single calendar year twice. Yes, twice: his first, in 1962, and then again in 1969. What makes this accomplishment so notable? Imagine winning the Super Bowl not once in a year, but 4 times, outlasting seven straight opponents over two weeks, in matches that routinely last three , four, or sometimes five hours straight, a half-dozen time zones removed from your last tournament. It doesn’t help that the tennis season extends from basically January 1 to December 1 for the top players — they get a single month of off season rest. ESPN analyst Joel Drucker put it best:
“What becomes hard is the cumulative weight of the tennis year, the weight of the pressure, of factors ranging from schedule to weather to injuries to a sizzling-hot opponent. All those things play into it.”
Fans of the Aussie southpaw like to point out, rightly, that had he been able to compete in the Slams from 1963 (the year he went pro) until they were “opened” to professional players in 1968 — years that spanned Laver’s competitive peak — he might well have collected another calendar Slam. At the very least, it stands to reason he’d have won a handful of other singles titles, pushing his total from 11 to 15, 16, maybe 20!
We’ll never know for sure and speculation can only get us so far. As it is, we’ll have to take things at face value. Before the Open Era, records are difficult to assess: amateurs played amateurs and pros played pros, all before there was any official tour. This skews the record a bit. Still, there’s no denying his role in the pantheon of great players or this unparalleled achievement.
5. Grand Slam Singles Titles (Women)
22 (Steffi Graf)
In addition to her Open Era-record for number of Grand Slam singles titles, she is also the only player in history to win all four Grand Slam titles four times. In 1985 and early ‘86, the teen-aged Graf emerged as the first to challenge the decade-long dominance of Evert/Navratilova. (In fact, Graf went 8-0 against Evert in their eight career meetings.) She utterly dominated the tour in the late ’80s, winning at least one Grand Slam singles title every year from 1987 to 1996, sometimes winning two or even three. Graf holds another, related record: reaching the finals of every tournament played in a season, twice, in 1987 and 1989.
The early ’90s witnessed a string of injuries and personal problems that diminished her impact on the tour, but Graf began a second period of dominance beginning in 1993 assisted by the disappearance of her principal rival at the time, Monica Seles. In what can no doubt be considered the most tragic sporting injury of all time, Seles was stabbed between the shoulder blades while sitting down during a changeover by a mentally ill fan of Graf. After some years of injury-caused decline in the mid-90s, Graf lost the top spot to rising newcomer Martina Hingis.
But in 1999, the tenacious champion fought through to her first Grand Slam final in more than 3 years, defeating top-ranked Martina Hingis in a memorable three set match that would become her final GS title. In doing so, Graf became the only player in the Open Era to defeat the first, second and third-ranked players in the same tournament. We don’t expect this record to be broken any time soon and we’re inclined to agree with Billie Jean King: Graf is the greatest woman player of all time.
Note: It’s true that Margaret Smith Court can claim 24 GS singles titles, but 13 of them were pre-Open Era and most of them (11) from Australia. In those years, the event didn’t have the prestige it does today and many players opted not to make the trip Down Under. (Bjorn Borg, for example, played only once, in 1974, reaching the 3rd round.)
4. Grand Slam Singles Titles (Men)
15 (Roger Federer)
This is a no-brainer. In 2009, Federer broke “Pistol” Pete Sampras’s Grand Slam singles title record after only 7 years, surprising even the most seasoned of tennis fans — many thought it would last for all time (or at least, more time than that). And at 27 years old, the Fed did it in only 7 years as a pro out of 42 appearances: Sampras needed 52 tries and 12 years. As good as Sampras was — his explosive serve and aggressive net game — he only ever made it to the semifinals of Roland Garros and on only one occasion (1996, l. Kafelnikov).
I’m at a loss to imagine how difficult such a prolonged, consistent level of transcendent competition would be required to accomplish this. And since Sampras won his last US Open in 2002 (at 31, he is both the oldest and youngest (19) player ever to win), that means we can likely expect at least 3 more years of competitive play from the Swiss maestro. Who knows how many he’ll collect by his career’s end? I’m willing to go on record now that he breaks 20.
Note: Although Graf’s 22 is quite a bit more than Federer’s current 15, we weight the men’s accomplishment higher since they play best of five sets, which requires a somewhat greater degree of mental and physical toughness.
3. French Open / Wimbledon Double
3 (Bjorn Borg)
Grass: the province of fast, serve-and-volley tennis. Clay: the domain of long, grinding power baseliners. The two surfaces occupy opposite ends of the performance spectrum. With its natural, uneven turf, grass redirects virtually all a ball’s momentum without deflection, which causes it to bounce very low and very fast. Clay, by contrast, absorbs much of a ball’s momentum, so that it slows down dramatically and bounces high. The result? We end up with “specialist” players who excel on one surface or another, depending on their game and playing style. Rare indeed is the player who can not only compete but thrive on both surfaces. See this terrific New York Times info-graphic for an interactive look:
Rafael Nadal Takes Aim at the Fast Courts
Which brings us to the iceman, Bjorn Borg. From the years 1978 to 1981, the Swede dominated men’s tennis much the way Roger Federer does now: when he entered a tournament, it was his to lose. And though he never claimed either the Australian Open or US Open championships (reaching the finals four times), he did win both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, on clay and on grass, in the same year, 1978.
Then he did it again in 1979. And again in 1980! This is so difficult an accomplishment, so unusual a constellation of skills and nerves, that the act of accomplishing the Roland Garros/Wimbledon double in the same year remained unequaled for 18 years, until Rafael Nadal matched it in 2008 (and now, Roger Federer in 2009). We’ll probably have to wait another 18 before another player that can play as well on both surfaces emerges as a competitive threat.
2. Golden Slam
Steffi Graf
In tennis parlance, achieving a “Grand Slam” means collecting all four major titles in the same calendar year, a feat so rare you can count the number of players to do it — male or female — on one hand. But should a player accomplish so august a feat in a quadrennial summer Olympics year, while simultaneously taking home the gold medal in singles, it’s called a “Golden Slam”. To date, only one person — the modest, laser-focused and indefatigable German champion Steffi Graf — has accomplished it.
Winning the gold medal in singles is itself impressive enough: because of the event’s prestige, it attracts a competitive draw nearly identical to that of a Grand Slam. And a player only has one chance every four years to win it, so competing in the Olympics during the peak of one’s tennis career is largely a matter of luck and good timing. Thus, adding what basically amounts to a 5th Grand Slam to the tour makes winning the other four plus the Olympic gold an exceedingly rare, impressive accomplishment.
But should we be surprised that it was Graf that did it? Next to Margaret Court, who technically possesses more Grand Slam singles titles (24 to Graf’s 22), Graf possesses the greatest championship resume of any female player. And frankly, because all of her accomplishments were in the Open Era, against a larger and more internationally competitive field, her record is all the more impressive than Court’s.
In a surprising twist of fate, the only male player ever to have won all four Grand Slam titles (though not in a calendar year) as well as a singles gold medal is her husband, Andre Agassi. My guess is they’ve got an entire wing devoted to storing trophies in their Las Vegas home.
1. Consecutive Grand Slam Semifinals
22 (Roger Federer)
No doubt many readers were expecting the young Swiss’s superb outlasting of American #1 Andy Roddick in this year’s Wimbledon Championships, in which the Swiss superstar broke Sampras’s all-time Grand Slam record by collecting his record fifteenth title, to be the number one greatest achievement. But even it pales in comparison to this one.
Consider: for years, Ivan Lendl, the Czech juggernaut and father of modern power baseline players, held the record for most number of consecutive Grand Slam semifinals reached, at 10. Ten consecutive semifinal appearances from 1985 to 1988 is a breathtaking display of extraordinary tennis consistency. It requires no small amount of focus, persistence, hard work, dedication and, frankly, luck, since even one injury or illness is enough to rob a player of the millimeters he needs to play competitively against the best players in the world.
Not family matters, not burnout, not an unfair line judge can get in the way: the stars must virtually align for a player to be that good, that long, on 3 different surfaces (clay, grass and hard). Lendl himself broke his own previous record of 6; before him, German Boris Becker held the record at 5. More so than Sampras’s record of total Grand Slam titles (14), many considered this to be the record least likely ever to be broken (Sampras himself only managed three consecutive semifinals in 1992-3 during his 12 year career.)
Then came Roger Federer. At the 2006 US Open, he matched Lendl’s record. Then, after only 2 1/2 more years, he doubled it. As of the US Open 2009, Federer has reached 22 consecutive semifinals at Grand Slam events. Twenty-two! And he’s still going! I can conceive of no greater single athletic accomplishment, in any sport, that can compare to this marvelous, inspiring, unparalleled model of physical and emotional versatility. In what other sport is the all-time leader’s record more than double his nearest rival? Had he no other claim to fame, surely this record — this awesome and stupefying demonstration of poise, consistency and transcendence — would suffice to validate his claim to Greatest of All Time. And though each of the above achievements are impressive in their own way and unlikely to be surpassed without great difficulty, it’s safe to say this record, above all others, will remain unbroken in my lifetime.