Around the time of Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal’s stratospheric achievements at the tournament are often celebrated, given they’ve shattered all manner of records.
But he’s not the only player to thrive on clay, or re-write the record books on the Grand Slam stage.
The latest in our monthly Top 10 series, we spotlight 10 Open-era records (1968 onwards) that may never be broken.
1. Rafael Nadal’s record at Roland Garros
Whether it be his 14 titles at the event, or his win-loss record, or performance in finals, many of Nadal’s Roland Garros numbers outshine all other players across all four majors.
The next most titles a player has won at a single major tournament is 10, by Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Margaret Court hoisted 11 Australian trophies, but only four of those were in the Open era.
The next highest number of titles won at Roland Garros is seven, by Chris Evert. Among men, it’s Bjorn Borg’s six.
By winning 112 of his 115 total matches at Roland Garros, Nadal’s winning percentage of 97.4% is the highest of any player, at any Grand Slam tournament, in the Open era.
The fact Nadal is a flawless 14-0 in Roland Garros finals – he has never once been extended to a fifth set in a final in Paris – is another record.
No player, apart from Djokovic being 10-0 in AO finals, is undefeated in more than seven finals at the same Grand Slam tournament.
2. Steffi Graf’s Golden Grand Slam
With 2024 being an Olympic year, this achievement will no doubt be celebrated once more.
In 1988, Graf completed the calendar-year Grand Slam – the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US titles in one season – and iced the statistical cake by winning Olympic singles gold in Seoul 1988.
It’s an achievement nobody has matched in the Open era, and the comparative scarcity of opportunities means it may never be replicated.
Djokovic came close in 2021, winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles before falling in the bronze medal match at the Tokyo Olympics. He also reached the US Open final that year.
Of Olympic singles gold medallists, Venus Williams, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are the only players to have won multiple majors in the same season.
Diede De Groot and Dylan Alcott completed the feat in wheelchair tennis in 2021, winning all four Grand Slam singles titles plus Paralympic gold medals in Tokyo.
3. Novak Djokovic’s weeks at world No.1
Djokovic eclipsed another of Graf’s incredible records when he spent his 378th week at world No.1 in late February 2023.
Graf had previously held the record among both men and women for the most cumulative weeks (377) at world No.1. The previous best among men was Roger Federer’s 310 weeks.
Djokovic has since entered his 426th week as world No.1 as Roland Garros approaches.
He needs a deep run there to ensure he maintains his hold on the position, which is being threatened by fast-rising No.2 Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic has finished year-end No.1 in eight different seasons, a record among men and equal with Graf’s eight year-end No.1 finishes in the WTA rankings.
4. Pete Sampras’ six straight year-end No.1 finishes
The most consecutive year-end No.1 finishes Djokovic has attained is two. Federer, Graf and John McEnroe managed it in four consecutive years. Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova did so five years in a row.
But no other player has ever finished six consecutive seasons at world No.1, like Pete Sampras did.
From 1993 to 1998, Sampras ended every year in top spot, a period in which he also won 10 Grand Slam titles.
He would finish his career with 14 major trophies – a men’s record later eclipsed by Federer, then Nadal, then Djokovic.
5. Chris Evert’s 125-match win streak on clay
This astonishing Open-era record is frequently cited at this time of year, given players have been competing on clay for two months now.
Chris Evert went almost six years without a loss on the surface, winning 125 straight clay-court matches between September 1973 and May 1979.
Tracy Austin snapped her unbeaten run in the Rome semifinals, in a third-set tiebreak. Evert responded by going undefeated on clay for another two years, eventually losing to Hana Mandlikova in the 1981 Roland Garros semifinals.
Nadal owns the best clay-court winning streak among men in the Open era, undefeated in 81 matches on the surface between April 2005 and May 2007.
6. Martina Navratilova’s 354 titles
A player often mentioned in the same breath as Evert is Martina Navratilova, whose 167 career singles titles is a WTA record, narrowly eclipsing Evert’s final tally of 157.
But when combining those singles titles with her 187 doubles ones – including her 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles trophies – Navratilova’s trophy haul swells to 354.
No player in Open-era history comes close to this combined tally; John McEnroe is the best of the men, with 155 (77 singles and 78 doubles, including the 1977 Roland Garros mixed crown).
Navratilova owns countless other records. Here are two more we love:
- She has the best win-loss record in a single season – 86-1 (98.85%) in 1983 – among all players who played a minimum of 15 matches in a year
- She won 120 singles matches at Wimbledon, more than any other player at any other Grand Slam event.
7. Serena Williams – more than 17 years between major wins
Serena Williams won the 1999 US Open as a 17-year-old with braces and beaded hair. She won Australian Open 2017 as a 35-year-old, making her the oldest woman to win a major singles title in the Open era – all while eight weeks’ pregnant with her first child.
The 17-year, four-month period between those two triumphs marks the longest timespan between first and last Grand Slam singles titles in the Open era.
On the men’s side, exactly 17 years elapsed between Nadal’s 2005 and 2022 Roland Garros victories, his first and most recent major titles.
Serena’s AO 2017 victory was also her 23rd Grand Slam singles title – an Open-era record which has since been surpassed by Novak Djokovic, who won his 24th at last year’s US Open.
8. Roger Federer’s 23 consecutive major semifinals
The number 23 emerges again – this time in a showcase of Federer’s incredible Grand Slam consistency.
The Swiss superstar reached the semifinal stage at 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from Wimbledon 2004 to Australian Open 2010.
That streak was snapped when Robin Soderling upset Federer in the 2010 Roland Garros quarterfinals.
Federer ultimately reached the quarterfinals at 36 consecutive majors, a run ending with his second-round exit at Wimbledon in 2013.
On the women’s side, Evert reached 34 major semifinals in a row, but did not do so at consecutive major tournaments. She notched her 34 straight Slam semifinals over the course of 48 majors from 1971 to 1983.
Navratilova is the next best behind Federer, reaching semifinals at 19 consecutive Grand Slam events.
9. Martina Hingis wins Grand Slam title aged 16
Federer’s compatriot Hingis set the tennis world alight in the late 1990s with her rapid ascent from the junior to professional ranks.
She was a 1996 US Open semifinalist at age 15 and entered Australian Open 1997 already ranked inside the top five.
There she coasted to her first major singles title without dropping at set. At age 16 years and three months, she remains the youngest Grand Slam singles champion in the Open era.
A few months later she became world No.1 and built a 37-match winning streak, ending the season as the Wimbledon and US Open champion, too.
Michael Chang is the youngest man in the Open era to win a major singles title; he triumphed at Roland Garros in 1989 aged 17 years and three months.
10. Venus Williams’ 93 Grand Slam main-draw appearances
During that same 1997 season Hingis dominated, Venus Williams emerged as a star, reaching that year’s US Open final before Hingis stopped her in New York.
Three months earlier, Williams had made her Grand Slam main-draw debut at Roland Garros, aged 16.
When she played her first-round match at the 2023 US Open against Greet Minnen, at age 43, it marked her 93rd appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.
This came more than 26 years after her first Grand Slam match in Paris.
Next on the list for most number of main-draw appearances at a major in the Open era? Serena, Federer and Felicano Lopez, all with 81.