Federer Racing Up the Charts
As most tennis fans know, Roger Federer has been on such a streak of Grand Slam titles the past few years that he has almost reached the top of the charts! With his recent victory at the 2007 U.S. Open, Federer now has 12 Grand Slam titles tying him for second place on the all-time list with Roy Emerson. The only person ahead of Federer is Pete Sampras with 14 Grand Slam titles. Leaving aside the “who is the greatest of all time” conversation for the moment, it is fascinating to see the other tennis legends on the list and notice where they have won their Slam titles. Each player’s record is dominated by one or two Slams, e.g. Sampras at Wimbledon. Emerson at the Australian Open, Borg at Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Andre Agassi stands out amongst the current generation or two with his “career slam,” i.e. at least one title at each Grand Slam (and titles on clay, grass and hard). Federer’s record so far is similar to Laver in that he has won several titles at three different Grand Slams, but the lack of a title at Roland Garros is the one glaring gap in his trophy cabinet to date.
Titles Player Aust French Wimb U.S.14 Pete Sampras 2 0 7 5
12 Roy Emerson 6 2 2 2
12 Roger Federer 3 0 5 4
11 Rod Laver 3 2 4 2
11 Bjorn Borg 0 6 5 0
10 Bill Tilden 0 0 3 7
8 Andre Agassi 4 1 1 2
8 Ivan Lendl 2 3 0 3
8 Jimmy Connors 1 0 2 5
8 Ken Rosewall 4 2 0 2
8 Fred Perry 1 1 3 3
There are eight players who have won seven Grand Slam titles including tennis legends Mats Wilander, John McEnroe and John Newcombe.
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