{"id":361538,"date":"2025-11-07T06:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361538\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T06:00:19","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T06:00:19","slug":"the-legendary-tennis-record-roger-federer-once-admitted-he-had-no-chance-of-beating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/361538\/","title":{"rendered":"The legendary tennis record Roger Federer once admitted he had &#8216;no chance&#8217; of beating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/profile.google.com\/cp\/Cg0vZy8xMXlnMTNoeXE4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Follow us on Google Discover <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Roger Federer broke plenty of records during his tennis career, including \u2018number of consecutive weeks ranked number one in the world\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In February 2007, Federer surpassed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/jimmy-connors\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jimmy Connors\u2019<\/a> record of 160 consecutive weeks spent at world number one.<\/p>\n<p>The American\u2019s record had stood for 30 years, having held the top spot in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/atp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ATP<\/a> rankings between July 1974 and August 1977.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"700\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-3089932-1024x700.jpg\" alt=\"Jimmy Connors celebrates with the Wimbledon title in 1974\" class=\"wp-image-141731\" \/>Photo by Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>During a press conference celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/roger-federer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Federer\u2019s<\/a> achievement, he was asked about several other records he had a chance of breaking.<\/p>\n<p>While Federer admitted he hadn\u2019t given it much thought, he insisted there was one record he had no chance of taking.<\/p>\n<p>Roger Federer said he had \u2018no chance\u2019 of breaking Martina Navratilova\u2019s record of 354 titles<\/p>\n<p>The Swiss legend was confident that one tennis record would remain untouched by him and the rest of the tour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be great to be the best ever tennis player, men\u2019s and women\u2019s,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I think we\u2019ll have no chance of ever beating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/martina-navratilova\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Martina Navratilova\u2019s<\/a> over 300 titles, you know, singles, doubles, mixed. It\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"677\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-1417020450-1024x677.jpg\" alt=\"Martina Navratilova Celebrates Her Wimbledon Victory in 1987\" class=\"wp-image-83334\" \/>Photo by Derek Hudson\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlso, Margaret Court\u2019s records. I\u2019ve heard about them. Of course, there\u2019s interest, too, in the women\u2019s game. Still, obviously, I\u2019m more focused on the men\u2019s. I didn\u2019t know the streak of the women\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>WTA legend Martina Navratilova won a record 354 titles during her career, a number that will take some beating.<\/p>\n<p>Martina Navratilova\u2019s title record<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li>Singles titles \u2013 167 (Open Era record)<\/li>\n<li>Doubles titles \u2013 177 (Open Era record)<\/li>\n<li>Mixed doubles titles \u2013 10<\/li>\n<li>Total titles \u2013 354 (Open Era record)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With very few players competing in both singles and doubles in the modern game, the chances of someone taking that record from Navratilova are slim.<\/p>\n<p>Federer finished his career with 111 titles in comparison, falling short of Navratilova\u2019s record by some distance.<\/p>\n<p>Roger Federer\u2019s career titles<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li>Singles titles \u2013 103<\/li>\n<li>Doubles titles \u2013 8<\/li>\n<li>Total titles \u2013 111<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Swiss star knew that record was unattainable even back in 2007, but had his eye on a few more ATP Tour landmarks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look definitely at most titles, most Grand Slams won, most weeks at No. 1, these are the really big records, plus the one I\u2019ve won just now,\u201d said Federer.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-73538133-1024x675.jpg\" alt=\"Roger Federer speaks to the media during Indian Wells in 2007\" class=\"wp-image-141726\" \/>Photo by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am dreaming about maybe ever breaking those, but we\u2019ll only know at the end of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Federer managed to get his hands on two of those records, but has since been surpassed by Serbia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/novak-djokovic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Novak Djokovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Most men\u2019s Grand Slam titles<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>Rank<\/td>\n<td>Name<\/td>\n<td>Country<\/td>\n<td>Grand Slams<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Novak Djokovic<\/td>\n<td>Serbia<\/td>\n<td>24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>Rafael Nadal<\/td>\n<td>Spain<\/td>\n<td>22<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Roger Federer<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Switzerland<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>20<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>Pete Sampras<\/td>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td>14<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5<\/td>\n<td>Bjorn Borg<\/td>\n<td>Sweden<\/td>\n<td>11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Most men\u2019s singles Grand Slam titles (Open Era)Most weeks at number one<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>Rank<\/td>\n<td>Name<\/td>\n<td>Country<\/td>\n<td>Weeks at number one<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Novak Djokovic<\/td>\n<td>Serbia<\/td>\n<td>428<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Roger Federer<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Switzerland<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>310<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Pete Sampras<\/td>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td>286<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>Ivan Lendl<\/td>\n<td>Czechia<\/td>\n<td>270<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5<\/td>\n<td>Jimmy Connors<\/td>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td>268<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Most weeks spent as ATP number oneMost ATP titles<\/p>\n<tr>\n<td>Rank<\/td>\n<td>Name<\/td>\n<td>Country<\/td>\n<td>ATP titles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Jimmy Connors<\/td>\n<td>USA<\/td>\n<td>109<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Roger Federer<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Switzerland<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>103<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Novak Djokovic<\/td>\n<td>Serbia<\/td>\n<td>100<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>Ivan Lendl<\/td>\n<td>Czechia<\/td>\n<td>94<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>5<\/td>\n<td>Rafael Nadal<\/td>\n<td>Spain<\/td>\n<td>92<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<p>Most ATP titles won (Open Era)<\/p>\n<p>Those records may have come and gone, but nobody has come close to surpassing Federer\u2019s 237 consecutive weeks atop the world rankings.<\/p>\n<p>Will anyone break Roger Federer\u2019s consecutive weeks record?<\/p>\n<p>After taking the top spot from Connors in February 2007, Federer stayed at world number one until August 2008, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/rafael-nadal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rafael Nadal<\/a> finally reached the summit of men\u2019s tennis<\/p>\n<p>His 237 consecutive weeks are the most any ATP Tour player has ever spent ranked number one in the world.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"inline-links multi\">\n<li><strong>1. Roger Federer \u2013 237 weeks (February 2004 \u2013 August 2008)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>2. Jimmy Connors \u2013 160 weeks (July 1974 \u2013 August 1977)<\/li>\n<li>3. Ivan Lendl \u2013 157 weeks (September 1985 \u2013 September 1988)<\/li>\n<li>4. Novak Djokovic \u2013 122 weeks (July 2014 \u2013 November 2016)<\/li>\n<li>5. Pete Sampras \u2013 102 weeks (April 1996 \u2013 March 1998)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The current world number one, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetennisgazette.com\/tag\/jannik-sinner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jannik Sinner<\/a>, has only spent one week at the top of the rankings, leaving him with a lot of work to do\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Sinner would need to fend off Carlos Alcaraz and the rest of his ATP rivals for another 237 weeks if he wants to break Federer\u2019s record.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore, Federer\u2019s record is guaranteed to remain untouched until April 2030 at the earliest.<\/p>\n<p>Sinner won\u2019t want to worry himself with Federer\u2019s record just yet, however, as he\u2019ll need a perfect ATP Finals campaign to stop Alcaraz from overtaking him.<\/p>\n<p>The 2025 ATP Finals are scheduled to begin on Sunday, November 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Follow us on Google Discover Roger Federer broke plenty of records during his tennis career, including \u2018number of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":361539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1479,50638,13158,62,1464,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-361538","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-atp","9":"tag-martina-navratilova","10":"tag-roger-federer","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-tennis","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115506894171271300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}