When Andy Roddick’s forehand sailed wide on Federer’s first championship point at 15-14 in the 5th set, Federer had finally conq
uered the record he has been seeking for years – most grand slam titles of all time.
On Sunday afternoon, Roddick (pictured left) matched Federer serve for serve, forehand to forehand, volley for volley…
but it still wasn’t enough to finally conquer his nemesis in a major and preserve the record his fellow American Sampras (who was in attendance to witness the historic event) had broken here just nine years earlier. Roddick’s valiant effort against Federer is certainly enough to inspire US tennis fans that Roddick is more than capable of adding to his only slam title, won at the 2003 US Open. But that day, 
as it has so often, belonged to Federer, who wrote the latest chapter in a remarkable career.
Having finally won Roland Garros a month earlier (and thus completing the elusive career slam) and then nailing down his 15th Grand Slam title on the All England Club tennis lawns, Federer has left little doubt where his legacy stands. He is the greatest player in Open Era history. Here’s why…
Grand Slam Success
The biggest measure of a player in tennis (or golf) is grand slam titles. These are the four tournaments (Australian Open, Roland Garros,
| Player | Grand Slams | Finals | Semifinals | Appearances | % |
| Roger Federer | 15 | 20 | 23 | 41 | 36.5 % |
| Pete Sampras | 14 | 18 | 23 | 52 | 26.9 % |
| Roy Emerson | 12 | 15 | 0 | 12 | N/A |
| Rod Laver | 11 | 17 | 6 | 15 | 33.3 % |
| Bjorn Borg | 11 | 16 | 17 | 27 | 40.7 % |
| Bill Tilden | 10 | 15 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Ivan Lendl | 8 | 19 | 28 | 57 | 14.0 % |
| Ken Rosewall | 8 | 16 | 13 | 23 | 17.3 % |
| Andre Agassi | 8 | 15 | 26 | 61 | 13.1 % |
Besides Bjorn Borg, who retired at the young age of 26, no one has won a higher percentage of slams in the Open Era than Federer. His 23 slams semifinals already places him tied for third in the Open Era, only trailing Agassi, Lendle and Connors… Connors holds the record with 31 slam semifinals. Federer should have plenty of time left to surpass them. When you facto
r in the titles and slam consistency (a record 21 straight slam semifinals), Federer clearly stands in a league of his own.
Records and Dominance
When it comes to absolute dominance, no one was dominated his sport like Federer has since Gretzky dominated the NHL in the 1980’s. No, not even Michael Jordan dominated basketball in such the fashion that Federer dominated tennis. Here are some of his more prominent records:
- Most Grand Slam Singles titles of All time (15)
- Most Consecutive Weeks at number 1 at 237 cons. weeks, breaking the previous record (held by Connors) of 160 cons. weeks.
- All time record 20 slam finals appearances
- All time record 10 consecutive slam finals (05 Wimbledon – 07
- All time record 21 consecutive slam semifinals (previous record was 10 by Lendl)
- All time record 16 out of 17 slam finals reached (05
- Only man to win 3 slams in a c alendar year, in three different years
- 11 Grand Slam titles in 4 years is an all time record (men and women)
- In 2004, became only player in tennis history to win 10 tournaments without losing a final.
- Only player in the Open Era to win 10 titles in 3 consecutive years
The list goes on and on. These are just some of them. Federer has also had some near misses on other records. In the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup finals, Federer was going for a tie of the best record in the Open Era… John McEnroe’s 82-3 record in 1984. Federer just fell short in the final match of the year, falling to Nalbandian in a 5th set tiebreaker,
after holding a 2 set lead. He also lost a match (in the Australian Open semis) that year where he held a match point against Safin… he tried a tweener passing shot on match point that he probably still regrets. He was only a few points away from an 83-2 record in 2005.
Number One Excellence
When Federer became #1 on February 2, 2004 (after winning his second grand slam in Australia), it was the beginning of the most dominant run at number one in tennis history, both men and women. Federer would hold the #1 ranking for an unprecedented 237 consecutive weeks, easily eclipsing the previous record of 160 weeks (held by Jimmy Connors). Even more impressive is that Federer also surpassed Graf’s all time record of 186 consecutive weeks at number one.
Federer would regain the #1 ranking on July 6th after reclaiming the
.
Federer by the Numbers (during # 1 run)
Win loss Record: 356-36 (90.8%)
Grand Slam Win-Loss: 109-8 (93.1%)
10 Grand Slam titles
43 titles
15 Tennis Masters Series titles
4 Tennis Masters Cup titles
Who can challenge Federer for the top spot?
As it stands now, there are only a handful of players who can challenge Federer for the distinction of being the greatest player of all time. I’ll st
ate each one’s case, starting with the man who had previously held the Grand Slam record.
Pete Sampras: The man they called “Pistol”, Sampras won 14 grand slam singles titles, 64 career titles, and 5 Tennis Masters Cu
p titles. He spent a record 286 weeks as the year end number 1 (1993-1998). His 7 Wimbledon championships are an all time record.Sampras’ 5 US Open titles is tied for the most in the Open Era.
The case against Sampras is rather simple – his lack of a Roland Garros Championship. Not only did he not win on the dirt, he rarely even competed well in
Rod Laver: Laver won 11 Grand Slams, and he also holds the distinction of being one of only two men to win the calendar year slam… 
and he did it twice!! The first slam came in 1962 as an amateur and the second in 1969 as a pro. It’s been estimated that Laver won 199 career tournaments, which is simply mind
-boggling. Laver was the top ranked player in the world for 7 consecutive years(1964-1970). Despite missing 5 full years, after turning pro, Laver still won 11 slams and went to 17 slam finals. We can only speculate on how many he would have won, but when you consider that he we won a calendar year slam in 1962 and then completed the feat in only the second year of the Open Era (1969) it’s hard to not figure that he may have exceeded 20 total slams.
Bjorn Borg: Bjorn Borg is the only other man in the Open Era that can rival Federer
for absolute dominance, in only a short period of years.Bjorn Borg, the long blonde haired man known as the Ice Man...
(for his cool call demeanor on the court) won 11 slams in just 27 appearances. Borg’s 89.8 winning % in grand slam matches is an Open Era record. Borg won Roland Garros and
In total, Borg won 6 Roland Garros championships and 5 Wimbledons. The 5 consecutive
e he was a four time runner up, twice losing to Connors and twice losing to McEnroe. Borg never won the Australian Open, although he only played in the tournament once (losing in the 3rd round in 1974). Back in those days, the Australian Open tournament was played in December and was not even thought of as a grand slam by most players… Jimmy Connors only played there twice; John McEnroe only made 5 appearances there.
Borg retired at the age of 26. By tennis years, he was still in the prime of his playing career. So it’s not unfathomable to think that he could have added to his legacy. However, many tennis historians would point out that Borg was fatigued so much so mentally (rather than physically) by his defeats to McEnroe in the Wimbledon final and again in the US Open Final in 1981, that it would have been unlikely that Borg would have continued his remarkable success. Borg attempted a brief comeback in 1991, but he called it quits for good in 1993, following a series of first round losses.
But in the eyes of many, Borg is a top three player to ever play the game… and it’s hard to argue that.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, I find it hard to argue against Laver being the tennis GOAT (greatest of all time). He completed the calendar year slam twice, was documented to have won well over 150 tournaments and he held the number one ranking for a record 7 consecutive years. And when you factor in all of the slam opportunities he missed for the 5 years after he turned pro (1963-1967), you have to figure that he would have won at least 15 slams and probably closer to 20 than 15.
For that reason, Laver is the greatest to ever play the game. With 15 slams (and the career slam completed), Federer is a close second. For Federer to surpass Laver, I think it is necessary for him to win about 3 more majors (givin him 18). If he gets to 20, then he is without a doubt the greatest to ever pick up a tennis racquet. But for now, he is just behind Laver, with Sampras a distant third followed by Borg. Bill Tilden rounds out the list.
Top 5 Tennis Players of All Time
1. Rod Laver
2. Roger Federer
3. Pete Sampras
4. Bjorn Borg
5. Bill Tilden
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