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There is no finish line...

78K views 418 replies 58 participants last post by  Apophis 
#1 · (Edited)
Throughout his career Federer has attained numerous records – some of which are very well documented and publicised, others which perhaps are not. But often the question is asked: what more is there left to achieve? For sure there are many tennis records out there, a good number of them would be almost impossible for Federer to beat. But there are also numerous records that can still be equalled and/or broken.

So in this thread – which happens to be my first ;) – I have listed in no particular order, some of the records he has yet to achieve but may yet plausibly attain. They all refer to achievements in singles during the Open Era unless specified otherwise. Of course I have also included what he needs to do to achieve them and will try to update this on a regular basis (your help would be much appreciated with this too).

Note that there are numerous records which Federer has equalled but has not yet surpassed. Depending upon the response I get from this thread, I might include these in the post as well.

I’d just like to add that if Federer does not achieve many (or indeed any) of the records listed below, that does not in any way detract from his achievements thus far. For me at least, his place in tennis history is already sealed, although new chapters of this history are being added as time passes and that perhaps one day it is only reasonable to imagine that a number of Federer’s own records may be caught up to. But for now let us look forward to what there is still to aim for because as Roger states himself:



Update in progress... (stats to be correct correct to Monday 22nd June 2015, week prior to the start of Wimbledon)
Click for selected achievements since the previous update


PS: I am aware that there are more potential records which he can target, which I will add on in due course. In the meantime please let me know if there is anything I have missed out or if there are any important ones which you think should be included here.
Please also let be know if you spot any errors. Thanks :)
 
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#57 ·
Thread updated, so stats should now be correct until the first week of 2011. I've added a couple of extra record chases (for instance the total weeks in the top 2) and unfortunately had to take out the consecutive US Open finals table as despite having match points against Djokovic, he was unfortunately not able to convert.

On the bright side, I'm not sure if this has been raised before but by Roger has the record for the most consecutive top 2 finishes at year end. Perhaps even more impressively, all 8 years are consecutive (2003 onwards). He also becomes the first man to win a Grand Slam tournament (2000 points), the World Tour Finals (1500 points), a Masters 1000 tournament, an ATP 500 tournament and an ATP 250 tournament all in the same year.

Thanks everyone for following this thread and your continuing suggestions about what should be included. I hope you look forward to tracking and hopefully counting down to more records being achieved by Roger in the 2011 season.
 
#61 ·
Please. review this :

Most outdoor titles

Here Federer is 4th in the list, needing an extra 5 outdoor tournament victories to equal Vilas.
Code:
[U]Open era rank[/U]    [U]Player[/U]        [U]Outdoor titles[/U]
[B]1        Vilas        55[/B]
2        Connors        54
3        Lendl        52
[COLOR=red]4        Federer        50[/COLOR]
I think Vilas had 56 & Connors had 55. So, Federer needs an extra 6 to equal Vilas.
 
#68 ·
So Fed notches up the 750th win of his career and in so doing, ties Edberg for the record of having won the most matches at the Australian Open in the Open Era (56 match wins). For a moment I thought that Roger would have to wait until next year to add this record to his long list of achievements, but it's great to see him pull through in the end.

Needless to say, a win against Malisse in R3 would see him overtake his childhood idol. On that note though, does anyone know the record for most consecutive R3 or better performances at Grand Slam tournaments (without absences from slams during the streak)?
 
#69 ·
From the top of my head, Federer holds the record for most consecutive 2nd rounds (31), 3rd rounds (31 - Lendl 2nd with 28), QFs (26), SFs (23) and Fs (10). Lendl holds the record for consecutive 4th rounds (28), Ferreira for 1st rounds (56) and Laver for Wins (4).

Today he also achieved his 12th consecutive 3rd round performance at the Australian. He is still undefeated in 1st and 2nd round Hardcourt Slam matches (46-0).
 
#70 · (Edited)
Some suggestions:

Most FO match wins
http://www.tennis28.com/slams/matchwins_rolandgarros.html
Federer is 6th with 43 wins, 13 behind Vilas, should be possible unless Nadal gets there first (38 now).
(perhaps even Wimbledon, he is 29 wins behind Connors...)

Most consecutive years winning a Slam
=1. Federer, Borg, Sampras, 8.

Most career Grand Slams
1. Laver, Emerson, 2
=2 Federer, 1

Most 250 titles (since 1990, like 500 and masters)
1. Muster 26
=2. Federer 20

Most match wins at each Slam
1. Lendl 48
2. Agassi 46
3. Federer 43. (Fed could get this at the FO already)

Number of different tournaments won at least 5 times (open era)
=1. Federer, Nadal, 4. (wim,uso,halle,wtf vs mc,barcelona,rome,fo)

Most SF reached at each Slam
=1. Federer, Agassi, Lendl, 5. (Fed only needs a 6th FO SF to take the record. A 7th FO SF would even take it to 7.)

Most QF reached at each Slam
=1. Federer, Agassi, Lendl, 7. (Fed needs an 8th QF at AO,FO and USO)

Most consecutive F at each Slam
=1. Federer, Lendl, 2. (Fed only needs a final at AO2011 to make it 3)

Most QF reached at at least 3 different Slams
1. Connors, 8.
=2. Federer, Lendl, Agassi, 7. (Fed needs another QF at 2 slams out of AO,FO,USO)

Most F reached at at least 2 different Slams
1. Sampras, 7.
=2. Federer, Borg, Connors, 6. (Fed needs another USO final)

Hope you can use something. ;)
 
#71 · (Edited)
Thanks a lot! These record chases are very interesting and some are ones that I hadn't thought of before (though I didn't include the match wins at Wimbledon because he won't eclipse Connors even if he wins the next 4 championships in a row). I will incorporate the others in the next big update once the Australian Open is over. In the meantime, please keep the suggestions coming.

It would certainly be amazing if Federer reaches the 4th round of the FO this year and participates in every Grand Slam tournament until USO 2013. Then he would have the record for the most consecutive appearances in R1, R2 ,R3, R4, QF, SF and F - that is, in each and every round!
 
#72 ·
You're welcome! Fo some I was wondering whether they would be interesting enough to include, "consecutive QF at 3 slams" might be pushing it. Federer is also tied with several others at having won precisely 1 tournament 6+ times. He and Nadal (also one, Monte Carlo) could battle this out the coming years.

On a sidenote, Federer can get his 15th consecutive hardcourt SF in slams if he wins another 2 matches. Right now he has 20 consecutive hardcourt 4th rounds and 23 3rd rounds. Quite amazing given the timespan, and records, though AO only quite recently switched of course. Noone to catch or surpass in those regards so not of interest for this thread.

It would certainly be amazing if Federer could catch the 1st round record. That one is far easier to achieve for some average top 100 player. All it takes is good health and constantly being in the top 100 for 14 years. :p
 
#73 ·
Great thread! :worship:
 
#77 ·
If you mean at all slams played, yes, but Connors wasn't playing the Australian at all in that period and skipped the French too for some of it. If you count all slams, rather than just those the players played in, Federer is comfortably ahead, I believe.
 
#78 ·
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Roger_Federer#Ranking_and_points

Here it says

Federer has been ranked in the top two for 377 total weeks, as of Monday 28 February 2011,[37][41] surpassing the previous record of Sampras of 376 weeks in top two.
without a clear source. Can anyone confirm the 377 weeks? I think it must be about correct. Sampras' 376 is correct.

As for total weeks in top 3, Sampras still has a handsome lead on Federer. According to http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/weeks_No2_No10.html Sampras had 81 weeks at #3 and 457 weeks in the top 3, while Federer has only 26 weeks at #3 by now (http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/history/federer.html). Federer spent only 4 weeks at #4 by the way. :p

As for consecutive top 3, Federer has been top 3 since halfway 2003 without interruption (http://www.tennis28.com/charts/Federer_rank.GIF), some 7.5 years. Sampras has roughly the same if I read his graph correctly: http://www.tennis28.com/charts/Sampras_rank.GIF.
 
#79 ·
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_career_achievements_by_Roger_Federer#Ranking_and_points

Here it says



without a clear source. Can anyone confirm the 377 weeks? I think it must be about correct. Sampras' 376 is correct.

As for total weeks in top 3, Sampras still has a handsome lead on Federer. According to http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/weeks_No2_No10.html Sampras had 81 weeks at #3 and 457 weeks in the top 3, while Federer has only 26 weeks at #3 by now (http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/history/federer.html). Federer spent only 4 weeks at #4 by the way. :p

As for consecutive top 3, Federer has been top 3 since halfway 2003 without interruption (http://www.tennis28.com/charts/Federer_rank.GIF), some 7.5 years. Sampras has roughly the same if I read his graph correctly: http://www.tennis28.com/charts/Sampras_rank.GIF.
I don't think it's quite right, he's had 285 at #1 as we know and 88 at #2 I believe, with a total of 373 (the person who calculated it possibly missed out that time he dropped to #3 last summer?), but that's certainly one to keep an eye on! Not sure if I got that right, he might have already broken it :)
 
#80 · (Edited)
I don't think he has quite made it there either.

If ATP.com is correct (actually they are wrong...see edit below) then he has spent 75 weeks at #2, which would mean a combined total of 366 weeks on the top 2. If tennis28 is correct (see edit 2 below), then as of this Monday he has a total of 370 weeks ranked either as #1 or #2, which would mean that the earliest he can surpass Sampras is on 25th April.

Would be grateful if someone could double check as we all seem to be coming up with different numbers for something that shouldn't be ambiguous. In the meantime I'll check to see if the ATP have missed out any weeks on their website.

EDIT: Yes, it seems the ATP have missed out some weeks from their website. Does anyone know for instance what his rank was on 1st September 2003? ATP have him as #2 the week before and #3 the week after but have no data for the week starting 01.09.2003 :confused: Actually I think I just realised why...it was the week in the middle of the USO so he still would have been #2.

EDIT 2: I originally based my ranking numbers for the first post of this thread from the stats on tennis28.com but now I see that tennis 28 have changed their statistics as well. They have him at #2 for 90 weeks as of this Monday, which would mean 375 weeks in the top 2 and just 1 week away from Sampras! Now I'm even more :confused:
 
#82 · (Edited)
Does anyone know for instance what his rank was on 1st September 2003? ATP have him as #2 the week before and #3 the week after but have no data for the week starting 01.09.2003 :confused:
when it's in a middle of a grand slam or Indian Wells or Miami which last two weeks, the ATP makes no update of the rankings in the middle of the tournament, which means that his official "ranking" at this moment is the one from previous week.

Here it must have been the monday in the middle of the US Open then he was number 2.

Anyway if you want to calculate, the best is here :

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Roger-Federer.aspx?t=rh

I counted 376 weeks in the top-2 for certain (as he will stay number 2 until the end of Indian Wells), including 346 ones between the 17th of november 2003 and the 5th of july 2010 :
- 4 weeks between the 11th of august 2003 and the 8th of september
- 346 between the 17th of november 2003 and the 5th of july 2010
- 4 weeks between the 16th of august 2010 and the 13th of september 2010
- 22 weeks for certain between the 18th of october 2010 and the 21st of march 2011

EDIT : from what I read above, 376 weeks is exactly Sampras's total :lol:
I checked : 376 is actually also Sampras's total :lol:
 
#81 · (Edited)
Ok, I've gone through the ATP website's listings week by week. It's clear that they missed out weeks in the middle of tournaments that span a fortnight (so basically the Slams, IW and Miami) and they also missed the off-season in 2003/4.

That means that in addition to the 75 weeks they have him listed as #2, we would have to add on the following 14 weeks as well:
01.09.2003
22.12.2003
29.12.2003
05.01.2004
26.01.2004
01.09.2008
26.01.2009
16.03.2009
30.03.2009
01.06.2009
29.06.2009
28.06.2010
06.09.2010
24.01.2011

But that brings his total number of weeks at #2 to 89 and his total number of weeks ranked either #1 or #2 to 374, which is 2 weeks away from Sampras! Is that right? I would be grateful if anybody could spot where (if any) the error lies.
 
#85 ·
Actually I tried to calculate how many weeks in top-2 Ivan Lendl had spent, and I think he spent around 400 weeks which is a little bit more than Fed and Sampras (so far for Fed).

It's complicated as the ATP rankings were not updated regularly before the 25th of june 1984,

and also before I couldn't find the track of exactly when they did update the rankings : in each player's ranking history they just give a few rankings here and there, but the dates are not the same according to the players then it's hard to rebuild the whole story

... but well my estimation is that Lendl spent around 400 weeks in top-2 (my precise number being 403), among which 303 weeks which are certain, after the 25th of june 1984, and an estimation of 100 weeks before.

the estimation of these 100 weeks (which is a maximum, I believe, comparing to if the rankings were updated regularly) is :
- 35 weeks from the 11th of january 1982 to the 13th of september 1982
- 14 weeks from the 28th of february 1983 to the 6th of june 1983
- 51 weeks from the 4th of july 1983 to the 25th of june 1984.

As for the consecutive number of weeks, Lendl's maximum was 280 weeks between the 8th of april 1985 and the 20th of august 1990, which is less than Fed's 346 weeks.

I also thought of Connors for that, but it would be even more complicated and also I don't think he may have reached that number from a rough esttimation (he reached the top-2 in 1974 until 1979 but left it until september 1982, and 376 weeks is approximately 7 years and a half)
 
#86 ·
Thanks a lot for your research efforts, Approachshot and duong.

On closer inspection, tennis28 actually mentions their last update date for their rankings tables here: http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/index.html (Feb 14 as of now) So, assuming this site uses a script on the complete, perfect, database of the rankings (since July 1984 as they mention), we can simply use their data and add the last 4 weeks ourselves. Except for consecutive streaks in top 2 and 3, and the Lendl & Connors stats.
(I verified their update date: they have Nadal at 83 weeks at #1 as of feb 14, which is correct; he will have 87 weeks next Monday Mar 14.)

I added your results and a few things myself:

Total #1
1. Sampras 286
2. Federer 285
3. Lendl 270
4. Connors 268

Consectutive #1
1. Federer 237
2. Connors 160
3. Lendl 157
4. Sampras 102

Total top 2
Lendl ~403 (303 since Mon 25-6-1984)
Sampras 376
Federer 376 as of Mon 14-3-2011 (his last certain top 2 date)
Connors ?

Consecutive top 2
1. Federer 346 (Mon 17-11-2003 - Sun 4-7-2010)
Lendl 280 (Mon 8-4-1985 - Sun 19-8-1990)
Connors 5 yrs?

Total top 3
Lendl >=471 (~403 top 2 + >=68 at #3)
Sampras 457
Federer 402 as of Mon 14-3-2011 (26 at #3 so far)

Consecutive top 3
1. Federer 402 (Mon 7-7-2003 - Mon 14-3-2011 and ongoing)
2. Sampras 391 (Mon 18-5-1992 - Sun 14-11-1999)
Lendl?

BTW Sampras does not have more than 3.5 yrs consecutive top 2, he was #3 for 1 week or so early 1996 (according to tennis28 graph)
Federer's total and consecutive top 3 counts are equal. Once he entered the top 3 on July 7 2003, he has never left it.
Reaching Lendl in total top 2 will be a challenge for Federer, he needs to keep off Djokovic for a while. Total top 3 may be easier.
 
#87 ·
thanks a lot :yeah:

For Lendl, my calculation must be taken as a maximum as the rankings not being updated weekly in that time, he might have lost it several weeks in those periods if it had been so, especially as the rankings with Connors were often very close in that period.

As for Connors I don't think we can say that he spent 5 consecutive years in top-2 : in the end of the year in 1975 and 1977 some don't put him in top-2 although the ATP rankings did (which even the ATP didn't completely rely on their method in that time :lol: ), then imagine if there had been "correct" ATP rankings updated weekly ...
 
#89 ·
Going back through the years, much of the rankings records are incomplete. That is what makes it so hard to ascertain how long some players like Connors or Lendl have spent within a particular ranking range. I'll give it a try, though I expect as of now Roger is quite some way behind as far as consecutive weeks in the top 5 and top 10 go.

It might interest you to know that out of all currently active players, Federer is second for having the most consecutive weeks in the top 100 (Ljubicic entered one week before him and they have both remained there since).
 
#90 ·
So with today's win over Monaco at Miami, Federer has overtaken Sampras with a total of 763 singles wins to date. Next up is Edberg (currently 6th on the all-time list with 806), followed by McEnroe (867) and Agassi (870). The top 3 are rounded off with Vilas (920), Lendl (1070) and Connors (1222) and are realistically beyond his reach.
 
#94 ·
That's what I initially thought but now notice that Lendl's record for consecutive 4th rounds in Slams is actually 29. And if you extend that to consecutive slams participated then it is 34 (although there were 3 Slams within this period in which he did not enter).

I really hope he can break Connors' consecutive QF record in slams entered - even more impressive as Rog's feat would be consecutive.
 
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