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:
Updated after the Paris Masters (stats correct to Monday 14th November, 2011)
Title records by tournament type
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 56[/B]
2 Connors 55
3 Lendl 52
4 Federer 51
Most Tennis Masters Cups / World Tour Finals won
Winning in 2011 would see Federer as the only man with 6 year end championship trophies.
Code:
[u]Rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]TMC / WTF titles[/u]
[B]=1 Federer 5 [/B]
[B]=1 Sampras 5[/B]
[B]=1 Lendl 5[/B]
Most Masters 1000 titles
In 2011 Federer has surpassed Agassi but is one behind Nadal, even though he has the record for the most finals of Masters 1000 tournaments reached (in fact at Paris Bercy he became the first to reach the finals of all 9 Masters 1000 tournaments)
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Masters 1000 titles[/u]
[B]1 Nadal 19[/B]
2 Federer 18
Most individual Masters 1000 tournaments won
By winning Paris, Federer overtakes Nadal and equals Agassi. He has yet to win Monte Carlo (3 time finalist), Rome (2 time finalist). Note that Federer’s best result in Shanghai is a loss in the final, but this event replaced Hamburg, which he won on 4 occasions.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Different Masters 1000s won[/u]
=1 Federer 7
[B]=1 Agassi 7[/B]
Most ATP 500 titles
Federer needs 2 more to tie with the leader, Sampras
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]ATP 500 titles[/u]
[B]1 Sampras 12[/B]
2 Nadal 11
3 Federer 10
Most ATP 250 titles
By winning Doha, Federer surpassed Sampras and Hewitt
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]ATP 500 titles[/u]
[B]1 Muster 26[/B]
2 Federer 21
Match winning records
Matches won in all Grand Slams
Federer stands 2nd in the Open Era list
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Grand Slam match wins [/u]
[B]1 Connors 233[/B]
2 Federer 228
Matches won on hard courts at Grand Slams
Federer is now second in this particular statistic, 7 wins away from Agassi
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Grand Slam hard court wins [/u]
[B]1 Agassi 127[/B]
3 Federer 120
Most Grand Slam semi final appearances
Connors leads the pack, but Federer is currently 2 away from him.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Grand Slam semi final appearances[/u]
[B]1 Connors 31[/B]
2 Federer 29
Most Grand Slam quarter final appearances
Connors again holds the record and is 7 ahead of Federer, who is joint 3rd in the list
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Grand Slam quarter final appearances[/u]
[B]1 Connors 41[/B]
2 Agassi 36
=3 Federer 34
3 Lendl 34
Matches won at the Masters Cup / World Tour Finals
Federer is 5 behind Lendl at the moment.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Year-end Championship matches won[/u]
[B]1 Lendl 39[/B]
2 Becker 36
3 Sampras 35
4 Federer 34
Most Tennis Masters Cup finals / World Tour Finals appearances in finals
Federer and Sampras (both with 6) are 3 behind Lendl.
Code:
[U]Rank[/U] [U]Player[/U] [U]TMC / WTF finals[/U]
[B]1 Lendl 9[/B]
2 Becker 8
[COLOR=red]=3 Federer 6[/COLOR]
=3 Sampras 6
‘Consecutive’ records
Most consecutive Grand Slam appearances
Federer will have to participate in every major tournament up to and including US Open 2013 to match Wayne Ferreira’s Open Era record.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Consecutive Grand Slams entered[/u]
[B]1 Ferreira 56[/B]
2 Edberg 54
3 Federer 48
Most consecutive seasons having reached a Grand Slam final
Federer will have to reach at least one Grand Slam final in each year up to 2013 to match Sampras and Lendl.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Years [/u]
[B]=1 Sampras 11[/B]
[B]=1 Lendl 11[/B]
2 Federer 9
Australian Open records
Note that due to the existence of the Challenge Round in early years of the slams and its subsequent discontinuation, pre Open Era comparisons are only made for wins and finals
Most championships won
Federer has equalled Andre Agassi’s Open Era record of 4 Australian Open wins. This feat has been matched by 2 players, including Ken Rosewall who had victories either side of the introduction of the Open era. The all-time record belongs to Roy Emerson
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Australian Opens won[/u]
[B]1 Emerson 6[/B]
=2 Federer 4
=2 Agassi 4
=2 Rosewall 4
=2 Crawford 4
Most final appearances
Federer is tied with Stefan Edberg’s record 5 Australian Open finals in the open era. Ken Rosewall achieved the same feat but 3 of his titles came before the Open era. In those earlier days, 3 separate players made final appearances a record 7 times.
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Australian Opens finals[/u]
[B]=1 Emerson 7[/B]
[B]=1 Bromwich 7[/B]
[B]=1 Crawford 7[/B]
=4 Federer 5
=4 Edberg 5
Most semi final appearances
Federer is tied with Edberg’s record of 8 in the Open Era
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Australian Opens semi finals[/u]
=1 Federer 8
[B]=1 Edberg 8[/B]
Most quarter final appearances
Federer is joint 2nd in the standings, 2 behind Edberg as things now stand
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Australian Opens quarter finals[/u]
[B]1 Edberg 10[/B]
=2 Federer 8
=2 Lendl 8
=2 Newcombe 8
French Open records
Most final appearances
Federer is 1 behind Borg’s all-time record of 6 although there is good reason to think that Nadal will comfortably surpass this by the time his career draws to an end.
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]French Open finals[/u]
[B]1 Borg 6[/B]
=2 Federer 5
=2 Wilander 5
=2 Lendl 5
=2 Drobny 5
=2 Cochet 5
=2 Lacoste 5
=2 Nadal 5
Most semi final appearances
Federer is at the time of writing, equal with Borg, Wilander’s and Nadal’s record of 6 in the Open Era
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]French Open semi finals[/u]
=1 Federer 5
[B]=1 Borg 6[/B]
[B]=1 Wilander 6[/B]
[B]=1 Nadal 5[/B]
Most quarter final appearances
After FO 2011, Federer is 1 behind record holders Agassi and Vilas
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]French Open quarter finals[/u]
[B]=1 Agassi 9[/B]
[B]=1 Vilas 9[/B]
=3 Federer 8
3 Connors 8
Wimbledon records
Most championships won
Federer is just 1 behind Pete Sampras’ Open Era record. William Renshaw also ties Sampras for the most number of victories at Wimbledon for all time (including pre Open era)
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Wimbledons won[/u]
[B]=1 Sampras 7[/B]
[b]=1 Renshaw 7[/b]
2 Federer 6
Most final appearances
Federer shares the Open Era record with Sampras and Becker but trails two of the tournament’s early participants by 1.
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Wimbledon finals[/u]
[B]=1 Gore 8[/B]
[B]=1 Bromwich 8[/B]
=3 Federer 7
=3 Sampras 7
=3 Becker 7
Most semi final appearances
Connor’s record of 11 semi finals is going to be very difficult for Federer to match. He is currently 4 behind.
Code:
[u]Open era rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Wimbledon semi finals[/u]
[B]1 Connors 11[/B]
2 Becker 9
=3 Sampras 8
=3 McEnroe 8
=5 Federer 7
=5 Lendl 7
US Open records
Most championships won
Federer needs 2 more US Open victories to tie 3 players from before the Open Era. He currently shares the Open Era record with Connors and Sampras
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]US Opens won[/u]
[B]=1 Tilden 7[/B]
[b]=1 Larned 7[/b]
[b]=1 Sears 7[/b]
=4 Federer 5
=4 Sampras 5
=4 Connors 5
Most final appearances
Tilden’s all-time record of 10 is also going to be extremely difficult to match as he needs 4 more. The Open Era record shared by Lendl and Sampras are 2 more than Federer at the moment.
Code:
[u]All-time rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]US Open finals[/u]
[B]1 Tilden 10[/B]
2 Larned 9
=3 Sampras 8
=3 Lendl 8
=5 Connors 7
=5 Sears 7
=7 Federer 6
=7 Agassi 6
Rankings records
Note that rankings statistics compare players since 1973, when the ATP first used the computerised ranking method.
Most weeks at number 1
Please refer to the excellent thread on this topic (
http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=157340) for more details. Federer has totalled 285 weeks at the top of the ATP rankings, 1 behind Pete Sampras’ record
Code:
[u]Rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Total weeks at number 1[/u]
[B]1 Sampras 286[/B]
2 Federer 285
Most weeks ranked in top 2
Federer is now just 1 week behind Sampras
Code:
[u]Rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Total weeks at number 1 or 2[/u]
[B]1 Sampras 376[/B]
2 Federer 375
Most years ended at number 1
Alongside Connors, Federer is also 1 shy of Sampras
Code:
[u]Rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Year end number 1s[/u]
[B]1 Sampras 6[/B]
=2 Federer 5
=2 Connors 5
Most years ended in top 2
Although Federer has the consecutive record with 8 years, he currently shares the non-consecutive record with Connors
Code:
[u]Rank[/u] [u]Player[/u] [u]Year end number 1 or 2[/u]
[B]=1 Federer 8[/B]
[B]=1 Connors 8[/B]
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