Federer Records - Rankings and Points

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Rankings

Year End Rankings - Number 1

After his win in Basel at the end of 2007, Federer guarenteed the numer 1 year end ranking for a 4th consecutive year and for a record setting 3 full years in a row.

Federer is currently 3th in the all time list of players that ended the year at number 1, with 4 years:
1 - Pete Sampras - 6 years
2 - Jimmy Connors - 5 years
3 - Roger Federer - 4 years (04-07)
3 - John McEnroe - 4 years
3 - Ivan Lendl - 4 years
6 - Bjorn Borg - 2 years
6 - Stefan Edberg - 2 years
6 - Lleyton Hewitt - 2 years

As Federer himself once admited in an interview, if he hadn´t been nervous about becoming number 1 for the first time in his career, he probably wouln´t have lost to Roddick in the tie-break of the third set of the semi-final of the Montreal tournament in August 2003 (one of only 2 losses to Roddick until now in 17 matches), and, as a consequence, he could have been number 1 from that week onwards and ended 2003 as number 1 as well.

As it is, to brake Sampras record, he will have to finish another 3 years at number 1.

Year end rankings - Top 2

Federer is currently tied in 3th in the all time list of players that ended the year in the top 2, with 5 years; Jimmy Connors is the leader, with 8 years.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 8 years
2 - Ivan Lendl - 7 years
3 - Roger Federer - 6 years (03-08)
3 - John McEnroe - 6 years
3 - Pete Sampras - 6 years
6 - Rafael Nadal - 4 years
6 - Bjorn Borg - 4 years
6 - Stefan Edberg - 4 years
6 - Andre Agassi - 4 years
10 - Boris Becker - 3 years

Year end rankings - Top 3

Federer is currently tied in 6th in the all time list of players that ended the year in the top 3, with 6 years; Jimmy Connors is the leader, with 12 years.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 12
2 - Ivan Lendl - 10
3 - Pete Sampras - 9
4 - Bjorn Borg - 7
4 - John McEnroe - 7
6 - Roger Federer - 6 (03-08)
6 - Andre Agassi - 6
8 - Boris Becker - 5
8 - Stefan Edberg - 5
10 - Rafael Nadal - 4
10 - Mats Wilander - 4
12 - Guillermo Vilas - 3
12 - Jim Courier - 3
12 - Lleyton Hewitt - 3
12- Andy Roddick - 3

Year end rankings - Top 4

Federer is currently tied in 8th in the all time list of players that ended the year in the top 4, with 6 years; Jimmy Connors is the leader, with 14 years.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 14
2 - Ivan Lendl - 10
3 - John McEnroe - 9
3 - Pete Sampras - 9
5 - Bjorn Borg - 8
5 - Andre Agassi - 8
7 - Boris Becker - 7
8 - Roger Federer - 6 (03-08)
8 - Mats Wilander - 6
10 - Stefan Edberg - 5
11 - Guillermo Vilas - 4
11 - Lleyton Hewitt - 4
11 - Rafael Nadal - 4

Year end rankings - Top 5

Federer is currently tied in 9th in the all time list of players that ended the year in the top 5, with 6 years; Jimmy Connors is the leader, with 14 years.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 14
2 - Ivan Lendl - 11
3 - Pete Sampras - 10
4 - John McEnroe - 9
4 - Stefan Edberg - 9
4 - Boris Becker - 9
7 - Bjorn Borg - 8
7 - Andre Agassi - 8
9 - Roger Federer - 6 (03-08)
9 - Guillermo Vilas - 6
9 - Mats Wilander - 6
12 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov - 5

Year end rankings - Top 10

Federer is currently tied in 10th in the all time list of players that ended the year in the top 10, with 7 years; Connors and Agassi lead, with 16 years each.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 16
1 - Andre Agassi - 16
3 - Ivan Lendl - 13
4 - Pete Sampras - 12
5 - Boris Becker - 11
6 - John McEnroe - 10
6 - Stefan Edberg - 10
8 - Guillermo Vilas - 9
9 - Bjorn Borg - 8
10 - Roger Federer - 7 (02-08)
10 - Mats Wilander - 7
10 - Michael Chang - 7
13 - Vitas Gerulaitis - 6
13 - Yannick Noah - 6
13 - Goran Ivanisevic - 6
13 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov - 6

Total weeks at number 1

Midway through 2007 Federer passed McEnroe and is now ranked in 4th place on the all time list of total weeks spent at number 1, which, on the 24th of August, 2009, stands as follows (100 weeks or more):

1 - Pete Sampras - 286 weeks
2 - Ivan Lendl - 270 weeks
3 - Jimmy Connors - 268 weeks
4 - Roger Federer - 245 weeks and counting
5 - John McEnroe - 170 weeks
6 - Bjorn Borg - 109 weeks
7 - Andre Agassi - 101 weeks

After 237 consecutive as number 1, he finally lost the top spot to Nadal on August 18th, 2008. However, by winning Wimbledon 2009, he regained his number 1 ranking and will keep it at least until the end of the Us Open, on September 12th (and probably until January, after his Cincinnatti title).

At the moment he is 4th place in overall time spent in number 1 and needs the following number of weeks to pass the 3 players in front of him:

Jimmy Connors (268 weeks) - 24 weeks;
Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) - 26 weeks;
and finally Pete Sampras (286 weeks) - 42 weeks.

If he holds the ranking for another 132 weeks, he could even beat Steffi Grafs record of 377 weeks at number one.

Total weeks in the top 2, 3, 4, 5 & 10 (incomplete because of lack of available information)

Total weeks in the top 2 (very incomplete)

(...)
Pete Sampras - 286 + 90 = 376
Ivan Lendl - 270 + 60* = 330
Jimmy Connors - 268 + ??? = ???
Roger Federer - 237 + 55 = 292
John MacEnroe - 170 + ??? = ???
Rafael Nadal - 40 + 160 = 200
*from 1984 onwards
(...)

Full year at number 1

Federer is the fifth player in the history of the ATP computer rankings to be the top ranked player every week during a calendar year (2005, 2006 and 2007).

1 - Roger Federer - 3 years (05-07)
1 - Jimmy Connors - 3 years (75,76,78)
3 - Ivan Lendl - 2 years (86,87)
3 - Pete Sampras - 2 years (94,97)
5 - Lleyton Hewitt - 1 year (02)

He is the only player with 3 full consecutive years at number 1.

Consecutive weeks at number 1

Federer has been ranked number 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks , which is an all time record; here are the players with at least 100 consecutive weaks at number 1:

1 - Roger Federer - 237 (02-Feb-04-17-Aug-08)
2 - Jimmy Connors - 160 (29-Jul-74-22-Aug-77)
3 - Ivan Lendl - 157 (09-Sep-85-11-Sep-88)
4 - Pete Sampras - 102 (15-Apr-96-29-Mar-98)

His first week at number 1 was on February, 2nd, 2004, after winning that years Australian Open; his last week ended on August 17th, 2008.

Consecutive weeks in the top 2, 3 & 4 (information not available)

(...)

Consecutive weeks in the top 5

Counting the week of August, 24th, 2009, Federer has spent 341 consecutive weeks ranked in the top 5, which is the most of any active player; he is currently 7th in the all time list, which is lead by Connors, with 659 weeks.

1 - Jimmy Connors - 659
2 - Ivan Lendl - 588
3 - Pete Sampras - 491
4 - John McEnroe - 398
5 - Bjorn Borg - 383
6 - Stefan Edberg - 373
7 - Roger Federer - 341 (Feb 17, 2003-August, 24, 2009)
8 - Rafael Nadal - 211
9 - Boris Becker - 209
10 - Mats Wilander - 205

Consecutive weaks in the top 10, 25, 50 and 100

Since entering the top 100 on October 1999, Federer has spent these amount of weeks on the following tops:

Top 10 - 359 consecutive weeks (which is the most of any active player and 10th in the all time list)

1 - Jimmy Connors - 788
2 - Ivan Lendl - 626
3 - Pete Sampras - 565
4 - Stefan Edberg - 493
5 - Guillermo Vilas - 486
6 - Boris Becker - 436
7 - Bjorn Borg - 419
8 - John McEnroe - 414
9 - Mats Wilander - 365
10 - Roger Federer - 359 (Oct 14, 2002-August, 24, 2009)

Top 25 - 447 consecutive weeks (which is the most of any active player and 7th in the all time list)

1 - Jimmy Connors - 865
2 - Ivan Lendl - 758
3 - John McEnroe - 728
4 - Pete Sampras - 694
5 - Boris Becker - 645
6 - Stefan Edberg - 593
7 - Roger Federer - 447 (Feb 05, 2001-August 24th, 2009)
8 - Lleyton Hewitt - 445
9 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov - 443
10 - Andre Agassi - 437

Top 50 - 481 consecutive weeks (which is the most of any active player and only 32 weeks away from entering the top ten all time list)

1 - Jimmy Connors - 873
2 - John McEnroe - 826
3 - Ivan Lendl - 800
4 - Pete Sampras - 710
5 - Boris Becker - 651
6 - Stefan Edberg - 624
7 - Michael Chang - 561
8 - Yevgeny Kafelnikov - 523
9 - Richard Krajicek - 519
10 - Andre Agassi - 513
(...)
?? - Roger Federer - 481 (Jun 12, 2000-August 24th, 2009)

Top 100 - 516 consecutive weeks (4th place, counting only active players, and 129 weeks away from entering the top ten all time list);

Here are the active players with the most consecutive weaks in the Top 100:

1 - Carlos Moya - 720
2 - Fabrice Santoro - 645
3 - Ivan Ljubicic - 510
4 - Roger Federer - 516 (Oct 11, 1999-August 24, 2009)

And here is the Top Ten all time list off players with the most consecutive weaks in the Top 100:

1 - Jimmy Connors - 889
2 - Ivan Lendl - 852
3 - John McEnroe - 835
4 - Stefan Edberg - 750
5 - Michael Chang - 735
6 - Pete Sampras - 734
7 - Carlos Moya - 720
8 - Boris Becker - 708
9 - Wayne Ferreira - 699
10 - Aaron Krickstein - 641
(...)
??? - Roger Federer - 516 (Oct 11, 1999-August 24, 2009)

In 1999, when he entered the Top 100 for the fisrt time, Federer was the youngest player that year (18 years, 4 months) in the ATP ranking's year end Top 100.

Federer has said a number of times that he wants to play at least untill the 2012 Olympic games and has mentioned how much he admired Agassis' longevity and that it he would also like to play top level tennis untill his mid 30s, so reaching at least the Top in all these previous lists is perfectly doable, if he does in fact continue to play.

Details of all these lists can be checked at:

http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/cons_weeks_top5etal.html

and

http://www.tennis28.com/rankings/cons_weeks_top5etal_active.html

Thank you once again to whoever organizes that site (I imagine it's a huge team armed with supercomputers...) for all the great work!!!

Points

Points - Ranking system (before 2009)

Federer holds the record of the maximum number of ranking points, with 8370 (2009 equivalent: 16740), established on November 20th, 2006, and which is highest amount of points anyone has amassed since the ATP circuit began in 1990.

8370 is also the record of the biggest amount of points that anyone has had at the end of a year. That beat his previous records of 6725 in 2005 and 6,335 in 2004. The system was changed slightly in 2000 (and the points were doubled in 2009), but to put things in perspective the previous year-ending record was Sampras's with 5097 points in 1994.

Since this new system of ranking was established in the year 2000, he has the record for biggest gap to the second ranked player (3900 points, also on November, 20th, 2006).

He also holds the record for being the earliest player to clinch the year-end No. 1 ranking, on September, 13th, 2004, after winning his first U.S. Open.

Points - Race system (has been discontinued in 2009)

Even tough the points system has been oficially discontinued, Federer is already in front of the 2009 race, with 8640; Nadal is in second with 7425, Murray in third with 5860 and Djokovic n fourth with 5010.

Since the "race" points system was created in 2000, Federer also has the record for biggest total ever reached, with 1674 at the end of the 2006 season. That beat his record of 1345, achieved in 2005, and his record of 2004, with 1267.

To put things in perspective, before Federer came around, the record for maximum number of points belonged to Roddick in 2003, with only 907 points.

Federer finished 2007 in first place once again, with 1436 points after his wins in Australia, Dubai, Hamburg, Winbledon, Cincinatti, the US Open, Basel and the Masters Cup and his finals in Monte Carlo, Roland Garros, Montreal and Madrid. Nadal finished in second place with 1147 points and Djokovic was 3rd with 894 points.

Ranking Forecast:

August 2009 (after Cincinnatti)

After Federer won the title in Cincinnatti, here is how they stand:

1 - Federer 12040

3 - Murray 9610

2 - Nadal 9025

4 - Djokovic 7650

Even is Federer has a miserable US Open and Murray or Nadal wins, he will be ranked number 1 after it finishes. In the fall, there are 4500 points up for grabs from 2 Masters 1000, 2 Atp tour 500 and the World Championships. Only if things go horribly wrong will Federer not be ranked number 1 at the end of the year.

Old updates:

July 2009 (after Wimbledon)

After Federer won the title in Wimbledon, here is how they stand:

1 - Federer 11220
2 - Nadal 10420
3 - Murray 9450
4 - Djokovic 8150

Because Federer preformed much worse than Nadal in July and August last year, he would stay number 1 at least until the final of the US Open.

This year, Montreal and Cincinnati are later than last year (starting on the 8th and 16th of August), so the points will come off earlier than the tournaments are played; i have left Murray and Djokovic out the equation, because they have no chance being number one until at least the Us Open.

On the 26th of August, when the points from the Canada Open will drop; the this would happen:

1 - Federer 11220 - 10 = 11210
2 - Nadal 10735 - 1000 = 9735

On August the 3rd, the Cincinnati points will drop:

1 - Federer 11210 - 150 = 11060
2 - Nadal 9735 - 450 = 9285

Then on August the 17th, the Olympic Games points will drop (by then there should be points adding up from these years tournaments):

1 - Federer 11060 - 200 = 10860
2 - Nadal 9285 - 800 = 8485

And finally, on September 14th, the US Open points will drop:

1 - Federer 10860 - 2000 = 8860
2 - Nadal 8485 - 900 = 7585

So he will hold that spot at least untill at least the US Open final. He needs 49 more weeks to pass the Sampras total which is 286 weeks. So we can all start counting again :)

September 2008

At this moment, he has a points total is 5805; his current point distance to Nadal, currently in first place with 7100 points, is 1295 points.

At this moment, Federer is in 2nd place with 1016 points, with Nadal leading the field with 1310 points and Djokovic in third with 914 points. It is matematicly impossible for Federer to finish the year 2008 as number 1 again.

June-July 2008 - He is only 58 weeks away from equaling Sampras' record.

Having more or less survived the clay court season, loosing only 150 points in Hamburg and looking ahead to the mini-grass court season, if it goes well, he should stay at number 1 until the end of the Canadian Open, on July 27th, for a total of 234 weeks.

Looking a little bit further ahead, Federer will be playing both north american Masters Series events, where he has 850 points to defend, and the Olympic Games, which is worth an extra 400 points and that will probably count as one of the "best 5 other tournaments".

If he performs well in those 3 tournaments during the summer he could hold on to his number 1 ranking until the middle of the US Open, on September 1st, for a total of 240 weaks, 46 short of Sampras' record.

If Federer stays consecutivly ranked at number one, he will pass: Jimmy Connors (268 weeks) on March, 23rd, 2009; Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) on April, 6th, 2009; and finally Pete Sampras (286 weeks) on July, 27th, 2009, just before his 28th birthday.

If he holds the ranking permanently until he is 29 years old (in the year 2011), he could even beat Steffi Grafs record of 377 weeks at number one.

At this moment, he has a points total is 6675; his current point distance to Nadal, currently in second place with 5585 points, (although not is big as it once was) is big enough (1090 points) that only if he didn't win a match for the next month he wouldn't loose the number 1 spot (if, however, he underperforms in Halle and Winbledon, Nadal and Djokovic could close up really fast)

Having guarenteed the number 1 spot for now and looking ahead to the next couple of months, Federer has 1000 points to defend from Wimbledon while, for that same period, Nadal has 755 points to defend from 2 tournaments, and Djokovic has 470 points to defend from the same 2 tournaments.

April 2008 - He is only 64 weeks away from equaling Sampras' record. Unless Nadal has a brilliant clay court season and Federer seriously underperforms, he should guarentee the number 1 ranking until at least the end of the French Open, on June, 8th, for a total of 227 weeks; if the grass court season goes well, he should stay at number 1 until the end of the Canadian Open, on July 27th, for a total of 234 weeks.

January 2008 - Having reached the semifinals at the Australian Open, he will continue ranked number 1 until at least the end of the Dubai Open, finishing on March 7th, 2008, for a minimum total of 214 weeks.

After having to defend his win in Dubai, Federer has almost no points to defend up until his final in Monte Carlo, on the 13th of April of 2008, so if he holds the ranking up until Dubai he will almost certainly be ranked number 1 until mid April, for a total of at least 219 weeks.

However, in March, Nadal has 625 points to defend while Federer only has 80 (he had a really bad spell at Indian Wells and Miami in 2007) so if all goes according to norm, Federer should hold the number 1 spot at least until the end of Miami, on the 5th of April 2008, for a total of at least 219 weaks.

November 2007 - Having won the Masters Cup, he will continue ranked number 1 until at least the end of the next years Australian Open, finishing on January 27th, 2008, for a minimum total of 208 weeks. Also, after having to defend his wins in the Australian Open and Dubai, Federer has almost no points to defend up until his final in Monte Carlo, on the 13th of April of 2008, so if he holds the ranking up until Dubai he will almost certainly be ranked number 1 until mid April, for a total of at least 219 weeks.

At this moment, after his Masters victory in November 2007, he finished 2007 with a points total is 7180; his current point distance to Nadal, currently in second place with 5735 points, (although not is big as it once was) is big enough (1445 points) that even if he didn´t win a game for the next couple of months he would still continue to be ranked number 1.

Having guarenteed the number 1 spot until the beginning of 2008 and looking ahead to the the first couple of months, Federer has 1300 points to defend (Australian Open - 1000 and Dubai - 300) while for that same period, Nadal only has 400 points to defend, so Federer has to keep winning to hold the number 1 spot until Febuary of next year.

October 2007 - Having guarenteed the number 1 spot for the rest of the 2007 and looking ahead to the beginning of 2008, Federer has 2050 points to defend (Masters Cup - 750, Australian Open - 1000 and Dubai - 300) while for that same period, Nadal only has 600 points to defend, so Federer has to keep winning to hold the number 1 spot until Febuary of next year.

September 2007 - Having regained his title at the US Open, Federer still has 1750 points to defend from the four titles he won at the end of last year in a row. However, because Nadal lost early in the US Open, Federer now has a 795 points advantage over him, which means Nadal has to do the chasing now. Unless Federer injures himself or has a horrible end of the year, he is almost certain to finish 2007 ranked as number 1.

August 2007 - Reaching the final in Montreal and winning in Cincinnati was the perfect start: he is scheduled to play in 6 more tournaments (as opposed to Nadals' five), which means he has an extra chance to earn some points; also, because Nadal retired injured in the first round of Cincinnati, Federer cut his lead to only 11 points, which loosely means Federer has to win only 1 or 2 more matches than Nadal to end the year at number 1.

July 2007 - Despite winning Wimbledon, beacuse Nadal was also able to reach the final, he wasn´t able to pass him into the number 1 position at that point. He needs a really good hard court and indoor season if he is going to win the points race and hold on the his number 1 ranking at the end of the year.