Who is the most dominant #1 ranked men's tennis player of all time?
Novak Djokovic has overtaken Roger Federer for the most weeks as the #1 ranked player in tennis. Does this mean he is the most dominant #1 ranked player of all time?
If you’re a Roger Federer fan, this one has got to sting.
Federer had previously held the record for the most weeks at #1 at 310 weeks, his record unrivalled since July 2012. This week, Novak Djokovic, the perpetual-party-pooper of Federer fan’s fantasies, has muscled his way to a record-breaking 311th week at the top of the men’s rankings.
If you’re not bitter about Federer being knocked off of his throne, perhaps you can appreciate just how remarkable Djokovic’s achievement is. He has been the undisputed king of tennis for a week shy of six years, and with no one looking likely to topple him any time soon, he should continue racking up the weeks.
In light of the record being broken, I wondered whether or not Djokovic can truly be regarded as the sport’s most dominant #1 ranked player of all time. Sure, weeks at #1 mean a lot but is it enough for Djokovic to outright be considered tennis’s most dominant #1 ranked player?
In this article, I look to weigh up all of the variables that come into play in this argument to try to and determine an answer to this question.
Players with the most weeks ranked at #1
Let’s start with some context.
Djokovic’s 311 weeks at #1 is impressive but how does his record compare to the rest of the all-time greats of the sport? Here is a list of the players with the top 10 most weeks ranked at #1.
Djokovic’s total weeks at the top is less than a year removed from his fellow top five members, with Federer, Sampras, Lendl and Connors all fairly close to the record. As he extends his record, Djokovic will truly begin to eclipse the efforts of his peers but as it stands, it’s not farfetched to mention these GOATs names in the same breath as the Serb’s.
Players with the most year-end finishes ranked #1
There’s a difference between weeks at #1 and finishing the year as #1.
The latter shows that a player was the best for an entire season, which is a different brand of dominance to gaining weeks at #1. Here is the list of the players with the top 10 most year-end #1 finishes.
Notice Nadal has five year-end #1 finishes. He is almost two years short of Federer’s weeks at #1, yet he has been the most dominant player throughout an entire year the same number of times as him. Nadal is frequently injured and his attempts at reaching the most weeks at #1 have been hampered over the years due to him missing crucial tournaments. When Nadal is on-form, however, he has gone on some of the most dominant runs of all time, which has earned him the highest winning percentage in men’s tennis.
This is noteworthy for the rest of the pack, but Djokovic still edges out almost everyone else, tying the top spot at six year-end #1 finishes with Sampras.
Players with the most consecutive weeks at #1
Unfortunately for Nadal, sustainability is everything when it comes to being the best player in the world.
Going on an extended streak at the top of the rankings is perhaps more indicative of being a dominant #1 than sporadic periods at the top spot. Here are the players with the top 10 longest streaks #1.
Nadal doesn’t even make the list here, having only once gone more than a full year at the top of the rankings (56 weeks). Perhaps even more surprising is that Djokovic only makes the fourth spot here, with Lendl and Connors edging him out, whilst Federer emphatically takes the top spot at 237 consecutive weeks.
Federer’s period of dominance from 2004 to midway through 2008 has been unmatched by any player and certainly give him a strong case for being the most dominant #1 player.
Highest winning percentages of players when ranked #1
Okay, that’s the Wikipedia statistics dissected, let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
There is an argument to be made that the dominance of a #1 ranked player could be purely defined as how often they win and lose matches at that ranking. I have worked out the players with the top 10 winning percentages at the #1 ranking throughout their respective careers.
Based purely on the number of matches these players have won and lost, Jimmy Connors is the most dominant #1 of all time1, winning 409 matches and losing 38 when he was atop the summit of men’s tennis. Interestingly, Connors and Borg both have higher winning percentages than Federer, and Lendl trumps Djokovic.
Djokovic has been affected by his two rivals the least of all the Big Three members. He has lost 22.2% of his total matches lost when ranked #1 to Federer and Nadal. Conversely, Federer and Nadal have lost just over 30% of their matches when ranked #1 to one another and Djokovic. In other words, Djokovic’s position as fifth on the leaderboard cannot be wholly attributed to his Big Three peers, as Federer is higher on the leaderboard yet he has lost a higher percentage of matches to his fellow Big Three members than Djokovic.
Most Grand Slam victories when ranked #1
It could also be argued winning percentage alone at #1 isn’t everything.
Players and fans alike place the most importance in the Grand Slams. So long as you’re winning the biggest tournaments in the world, your record overall doesn’t matter, right? Here is a list of all the players to have won a Grand Slam when ranked #1.
The #1 ranked player in the world has won a major 57 out of 211 times i.e. a 27% success rate. Unsurprisingly, over 50% of these are from Djokovic, Federer or Nadal. Djokovic and Federer top the list overall with 11 major triumphs apiece when ranked #1 in the world. Connors might have the highest winning percentage overall, but he only won 8 Slams, and only 2 of these were whilst he was #1.
Djokovic has won 11 of his 17 Grand Slams when ranked #1 in the world. This means he has won 64.7% of his majors when he’s been the best player in the world, the highest percentage of any player. The closest behind is Lendl at 62.5%, though Lendl won only 8 majors overall.
Who is the most dominant #1 player of all time?
If you are a Federer fan, hopefully, this article has soothed the burn of Djokovic’s record-breaking antics.
In my opinion2, as it stands, Federer can hold his head up high as the most dominant #1 of all time, followed closely by Djokovic, then Lendl. Federer’s winning percentage just edges out his rivals, even with the other Big Three members causing more of an impact to his record than Djokovic’s record, and his consecutive weeks at #1 overshadows his rival’s by a landslide. His Slam count at #1 and weeks at #1 are practically identical to Djokovic’s and he only has one less finish as year-end #1. For five years or so, Federer was absolutely untouchable3.
Novak Djokovic remains the best player in the world, however, and the distance between him and his rivals is likely to grow. He will probably end up the undisputed most dominant #1 player of all time. For now, though, I believe Roger Federer holds this title, having ruled the most imperious reign the tennis world has ever witnessed.
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The least dominant #1 of all time, and the only #1 to have a losing record at the top, is Marat Safin. His record was 4-7, leaving him with a 36.3% winning percentage.
And it is just that… I have a plethora of statistics at my disposal but I can only hazard an opinion at the most dominant #1 player of all time as there is no statistically correct answer. It all depends on what you think is most important… I’d looove to hear your opinion in the comments below!
I didn’t have room to cover this in the main body of the article, but Federer holds the 2nd and 4th spot for the longest winning streaks as #1, with 41 and 35 wins on the bounce, with McEnroe 1st at 42 and Borg 3rd at 36. Djokovic is all the way down at 8th with “only” 28 wins a row - the majority of his 2011 run of 43 matches came when he was ranked #2.