In today’s weekend blog, I am writing about tennis, and the topic is the top ten men players who have won the most titles conducted by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in the open era. The titles include Grand Slam titles and other tournaments run by ATP.
9 Ilie Nastase (Romania) and Pete Sampras (USA)- 64 titles. Nastase competed on the amateur tour before turning professional in 1969, and in the same year, he won his first title. He went on to lift another 63 trophies including the 1972 US Open and the 1973 French Open. Pete Sampras’s first ever ATP title came at the US Pro Indoor in Feb 1990, and 12 years later he would retire after winning title No. 64 at US Open. He, of course, left the game with 14 Grand Slams, which was an open-era record at that time.
8 Bjorn Borg (Sweeden)- 66 titles. He started his career in 1973 and he initially retired in 1984, before returning in 1991 only to call it quits for good two years later. He won his first title in Jan 1974 in Auckland, New Zealand. In total, he won 11 Grand Slams ( 6 French Open and 5 Wimbledon).
7 Rod Laver (Australia)-72 titles. Actually, he won 198 singles titles over the course of his career, but 53 came during the amateur era, 73 in the professional era, and 72 during the Open Era. He won his title in Open Era in Apr 1968. He remains the only man to win all four Grand Slams in a calendar year in the Open Era, which happened in 1969.
6 John McEnroe (USA)- 77 titles. The seven-time Grand Slam winner is the only man to win more than 70 singles and doubles titles, as he won 77 singles and 78 double trophies over his career. His career started in 1978 and retired from singles in 1994, and called it a day in the doubles in 2006. His win/loss ratio in finals is 77/32 for a 70.6% record.
5 Rafael Nadal (Spain)-92 titles (till date). Last year he won 4 titles including 2 Grand Slams, in total, he has won 22 Grand Slams). His first title came in Poland in 2003 and his last in French Open in 2022. Surprisingly 63 of his titles were won on clay with 22 coming on hard courts. He has won only 2 indoor titles. His win/loss stands at 70.8% in the finals.
4 Ivan Lendl ( Czechoslovakia/USA)- 94 titles. The 8 time Grand Slam champion, turned professional in 1978 and called it a day in 1994. He won his title in Houston, USA in 1980, and the final trophy of his career at the Tokyo Indoor in 1994. He won 42 indoor titles-third behind McEnroe and Connors, and he is also third in terms of most final appearances (146).
3 Novak Djokovic (Serbia)- 94 titles (till date). He is a man on a mission, as he has made clear that he wants to break as many tennis records as he can before he retires. Despite playing only a few tournaments in 20222, he won five titles with 91 coming at the season-ending ATP finals (which he has won 6 times- a joint record with Roger Federer). Title no. 92 came in Adelaide International, title no. 93 when he won Australian Open in 2023, and title no. 94 when he won the French Open in 2023. His best season in terms of titles is 2015 when he won 11 titles, he also won 10 in 2011.
2 Roger Federer (Switzerland)- 103 titles. For a while, it looked like he would end up top of this list as he won his 103rd title at the Swiss Indoors in 2019. However, it turned out to be his last, as he played very little tennis during the final few seasons of his career, hanging up his racket after the 2022 Laver Cup. He won his first title at the Milan Indoor in Italy in Feb 2001 and played in 157 finals. His trophy includes 20 Grand Slam titles and 6 year-end ATP finals.
1 Jimmy Connors (USA)- 109 titles. In his 24 years long career, he has played in 1557 official ATP matches-31 more than Roger Federer. He has also won 8 Grand Slams. He won his maiden title in Jacksonville, USA in 1972, and he would win at least one title every year until 1989. His final trophy came on the hard courts of Tel Aviv, Israel in 1989. He also holds the record for most final appearances of 164, winning 109, and finishing runner-up in 55. His best title-winning season was in 1974 when he won 15 trophies.
From the above list, only two players, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, have still not retired. While Nadal has become injury prone, he may play a few matches next year, he may not add to his tally of 92 titles. Djokovic is still going strong and in 2023 he appeared in all three Grand Slam finals(US Open is still to be played) and has won two of them. He might add a few titles to his kitty. In my opinion, he may find it challenging to cross Federer’s tally of 103 titles, he may remain at no. 3 spot only.
I am waiting for your views on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
28th July 2023