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This article is concerned with the major tennis achievements of tennis male players of all tennis history.

Professional tennis before the Open Era

Before the start of the Open Era and in addition to numerous small tournaments and head-to-head tours between the leading professionals, there were a few major professional tournaments that stood out during different periods:

• Some survived sporadically because of financial collapses and others temporarily stood out when other important tournaments were not held:
  • Bristol Cup (held on the Côte d'Azur (French Riviera) at Cannes or Menton or Beaulieu) from 1920 to 1932.
  • Queen's Club Pro in 1927 and 1928.
  • World Pro Championships in Berlin in 1932 and 1933.
  • International Pro Championship of Britain in Southport from 1935 to 1939.
  • U.S Pro Hardcourt in Los Angeles, California in 1945 (the only significant professional tournament that year).
  • Philadelphia Pro 1950–1952.
  • Roland Garros Stadium Pro Round Robin in 1952.
  • Australian Pro in 1954.
  • Masters Pro Round Robin in Los Angeles in 1956, 1957, 1958 and 1959.
  • Tournament of Champions, held at Forest Hills 1957, 1958, 1959, and also held in Australia at White City (1957, 1959) and at Kooyong (1958).
  • Sydney Ampol Masters in 1958.
  • Qantas International Kooyong Professional at Kooyong Stadium in 1960 and 1962.
  • Madison Square Garden Pro in 1966 and 1967.
  • Forest Hills Pro in 1966.
  • Wimbledon Pro in 1967.
• There were a few team events modeled on the Davis Cup, such as the Bonnardel Cup from 1935 to 1937 and the Kramer Cup from 1961 to 1963.
• Three traditional "championship tournaments" survived into the Open Era, often having all the leading players but sometimes having very depleted fields.
  • The most prestigious of the three was generally the London Indoor Professional Championship. Played between 1934 and 1990 at Wembley Arena in England.
  • The oldest of the three was the United States Professional Championship, played between 1927 and 1999. From 1954 through 1962, this tournament was played indoors in Cleveland and was billed as the "World Professional Championships".
  • The third major tournament was the French Professional Championship, played usually at Roland Garros from 1930 through 1968 (not held in all years). The British and American championships continued into the Open Era but soon devolved to the status of minor tournaments.

However these three tournaments were considered retrospectively by some tennis experts as the three tournaments of the professional Grand Slam (until 1967). Some years as in 1948, only one of them was held, the U.S Pro in this case, and even in 1944 none was organized : this explains why professionals players sometimes have less major titles than those of the modern players but it doesn't mean that the banished players of the pre-Open Era were less great than their Open Era colleagues.

As with any statistics, those of tennis players should be put into the correct context because: a) they are mixing performances of the amateur circuit (until 1967), the professional circuit (until 1967), and the open circuit (since 1968). b) they don't always take into account the greatest events of a given year.

For instance, Ken Rosewall's amateur successes between 1953 and 1956 were achieved without having to compete against world-class professionals like Frank Sedgman and Pancho Gonzales. Likewise, when Rod Laver captured the amateur Grand Slam in 1962, he did not have to face opponents such as Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Pancho Segura and Andrés Gimeno, all professionals. In 1967 Laver won all the greatest pro tournaments that year, Wimbledon Pro (grass), the U.S. Pro (grass), Wembley Pro (indoor wood) and the French Pro (indoor wood). In the official statistics as published by the ITF or ATP, pro events before 1968 are not listed because only the amateur tournaments were taken into account.

Most major singles titles

The three professional tournaments (Wembley Pro, French Pro, U.S. Pro) until 1967 are sometimes referred as the 'professional Grand Slam tournaments' by tennis historians, such as Robert Geist or Raymond Lee (in his Greatest Player of All time: A Statistical Analysis article). This list comprises winners of three types of titles; Amateur Era and Open Era majors (Australian, French, Wimbledon, and US championships), plus the three Amateur Era professional majors (French Pro, Wembley Pro, and US Pro).

• As of the 2024 Australian Open (active players in boldface).

Player	Total	Grand Slam tournaments				Pro Slam tournaments
		Australian	French	Wimbledon	U.S.	French Pro	Wembley Pro	U.S. Pro
Novak Djokovic	24	2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2023	2016, 2021, 2023	2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022	2011, 2015, 2018, 2023
Ken Rosewall	23	1953, 1955, 1971, 1972	1953, 1968		1956, 1970	1958, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966	1957, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963	1963, 1965
Rafael Nadal	22	2009, 2022	2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022	2008, 2010	2010, 2013, 2017, 2019
Roger Federer	20	2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2018	2009	2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Rod Laver	19	1960, 1962, 1969	1962, 1969	1961, 1962, 1968, 1969	1962, 1969	1967	1964, 1965, 1966, 1967	1964, 1966, 1967
Bill Tilden	14			1920, 1921, 1930	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929	1934		1931, 1935
Pancho Gonzales					1948, 1949		1950, 1951, 1952, 1956	1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961
Pete Sampras		1994, 1997		1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000	1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
Roy Emerson	12	1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967	1963, 1967	1964, 1965	1961, 1964
Henri Cochet	11		1926, 1928, 1930, 1932	1927, 1929	1928	1936
Björn Borg			1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981	1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
Fred Perry	10	1934	1935	1934, 1935, 1936	1933, 1934, 1936			1938, 1941
Don Budge		1938	1938	1937, 1938	1937, 1938	1939	1939	1940, 1942

Only players with 10+ Major titles listed.

1. Grand Slam tournaments of the Open Era are marked in bold font.
2. Rosewall's wins at the Wembley Pro in 1968 and the U.S. Pro in 1971 are not included in the list of his "major" titles because those tournaments were not major events after the start of the Open Era in April 1968.
3. Laver's wins at the Wembley Pro in 1969 and 1970, the U.S. Pro in 1968 and 1969, and the French Pro in 1968 are not included in the list of his "major" titles because those tournaments were not major events after the start of the Open Era.
4. Tilden's total includes the World Hard Court Championships in 1921 (official clay court world championships). See ILTF World Championships winners.
5. Cochet's total includes the World Hard Court Championships in 1922 and World Covered Court Championships in 1922 and 1923 (official wood court world championships). See ILTF World Championships winners.

Majors statistics

The draws of Pro majors were significantly smaller than the traditional Grand Slam tournaments; usually they only had 16 or even fewer professional players. Though they were the top players in the world, this meant only four rounds of play instead of the modern six or seven rounds of play.

Player	Slams	Pro	Era			Surface				Time Span			Win/Loss	Win %
			Amateur	Pro	Open	Grass	Clay	Hard	Indoor	Age	Span	Years
Novak Djokovic	24	–	N/A		24	7	3	14	N/A	20–36	16	2008–2023	375–50	88.23
Ken Rosewall	8	15	4	15	4	8	6	N/A	9	18–37	20	1953–1972	246–46	84.24
Rafael Nadal	22	–	N/A		22	2	14	6	N/A	19–35	18	2005–2022	314–43	87.96
Roger Federer	20	–	N/A		20	8	1	11	N/A	21–36	16	2003–2018	369–60	86.01
Rod Laver	11	8	6	8	5	12	2	N/A	5	21–31	10	1960–1969	180–36	83.33
Bill Tilden	10	3	10 (+1)	3	N/A	11	3	0	0	27–42	16	1920–1935	154–30	83.69
Pancho Gonzales	2	12	2	12	0	2	0	N/A	12	20–33	14	1948–1961	103–29	78.03
Pete Sampras	14	–	N/A		14	7	0	7	N/A	19–31	13	1990–2002	203–38	84.23
Roy Emerson	12	–	12	N/A	0	10	2	N/A	N/A	24–30	7	1961–1967	174–39	81.69
Henri Cochet	8	1	8 (+2)	1	N/A	3	5	0	3	20–34	15	1922–1936	113–20	84.96
Björn Borg	11	–	N/A		11	5	6	0	N/A	18–25	8	1974–1981	141–16	89.81
Fred Perry	8	2	8	2	N/A	7	2	0	1	24–32	9	1933–1941	120–22	84.51
Don Budge	6	4	6	4	N/A	6	3	0	1	22–27	6	1937–1942	95–18	84.07

1. ^ ILTF majors in parentheses. See ILTF World Championships winners.

World Professional Championship tours winners

In the years before the Open Era, male professionals often played more frequently in tours than in tournaments because a head-to-head tour between two tennis stars was much more remunerative than a circuit of pro tournaments and the number of professional tournaments was small. For example, Fred Perry earned U.S. $91,000 in a 1937 North American tour against Ellsworth Vines but won only U.S. $450 for his 1938 victory at the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships. Vines probably never entered a tournament between the London Indoor Professional Championship in October 1935, which he won, and the May 1939 edition of that tournament, which he lost. In 1937, Vines played 70 matches on two tours and no matches in tournaments. Even in the 1950s, some professionals continued to play numerous tour matches. During his first five months as a professional (January through May 1957), Ken Rosewall played 76 matches on a tour against Pancho Gonzales.

The prevalence of head-to-head tours before 1959 and the small number of professional tournaments in many years makes it necessary to consider the tours when comparing male players from before the Open Era with male players during the Open Era. The following lists the pre-Open Era professionals who won the most world professional championship tours.

Winners World Professional Championship tours (1928–63)

Player	#	Years
Pancho Gonzales	7	1954, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61
Ellsworth Vines	5	1934, 35, 36, 37, 38
Don Budge	4	1939 (Mar), 39 (May), 41, 42
Jack Kramer		1948, 50, 51, 53
Bill Tilden	3	1931, 32, 33
Karel Koželuh	1	1928
Bobby Riggs		1946
Ken Rosewall		1963

Professional tournament ranking series winners

After World War II, with an increasing number of prominent professional players, there were occasionally tournament series with point systems which created official rankings for the complete field of pros.

In 1946, there was a professional tournament series of 18 events in the U.S. under the organization of the P.P.A.T. (Professional Players Association of Tennis) linked by a points system won by Riggs, which he relied upon as evidence of his mastery of the entire pro field. In 1959, Kramer established a series of 15 tournaments in Australia, North America, and Europe linked by a points system which provided a full field ranking of all the contract professionals, plus a substantial money prize for the top finisher, with Hoad emerging as world No. 1. The 1959 tournament series was officially named the "Ampol Open Trophy", after the principal sponsor of the tournaments, the Ampol oil company, and the trophy awarded to the winner. In 1960, Kramer again established a tournament series with a points system, but both Gonzales and Hoad withdrew from the field and the final results are unknown.

In 1964, under Kramer's advice, the I.P.T.P.A. (International Professional Tennis Players Association) established a series of 17 tournaments in U.S. and Europe with a points system, and a world No. 1 and world champion was named as a result, Rosewall. This system continued in subsequent years, with Laver attaining the No. 1 ranking position for the 1965, 1966, and 1967 pro tournament series. The final points tables of these later tournament series were not published.

In 1968–69, the two professional tennis tours, the NTL and the WCT, each had a tournament series ranking list which contributed four players from each tour to a combined final 8-man tournament at the Madison Square Garden. Roche won the 1968 event, and Laver won the 1969 event.

In 1970, the ILTF authorized Kramer to arrange a year-end championship in which the pros with the highest tournament series points competed for the title of Grand Prix champion. This event was held in various locations and finally remained at Madison Square Garden from 1977 to 1989. In 1990, the ATP took over running the event and started awarding ranking points for the 8 qualifiers based on their results in the tournament. Currently, the championship is known as the "ATP Finals".

Professional tournament ranking series winners

Series	Player	Years
4	Rod Laver	1965, 1966, 1967, 1969
1	Bobby Riggs	1946
1	Lew Hoad	1959
1	Ken Rosewall	1964
1	Tony Roche	1968

ILTF World Championships winners

• World Championships were played between 1912 and 1923.

Year	WGCC	WHCC	WCCC
1912	Anthony Wilding	Otto Froitzheim	tournament not created
1913	Anthony Wilding (2/5)	Anthony Wilding (3/5)	Anthony Wilding (4/5)
1914	Norman Brookes	Anthony Wilding (5/5)	Not held due to World War I
1915	No competition due to World War I
1916
1917
1918
1919	Gerald Patterson	Not held	Andre Gobert
1920	Bill Tilden	William Laurentz	Gordon Lowe
1921	Bill Tilden (2/3)	Bill Tilden (3/3)	William Laurentz
1922	Gerald Patterson (2/2)	Henri Cochet	Henri Cochet (2/3)
1923	Bill Johnston	Bill Johnston (2/2)	Henri Cochet (3/3)

Year-end Championships winners

• Year-end Championships have been played since 1970.

Player	ATP Finals	WCT Finals	Slam Cup	Years
Novak Djokovic	7	N/A	N/A	2008–2023
Roger Federer	6	N/A	N/A	2003–2011
Ivan Lendl	5	2	–	1981–1987
Pete Sampras		N/A	2	1991–1999
Ilie Năstase	4	–	N/A	1971–1975
John McEnroe	3	5	–	1978–1989
Boris Becker		1	1	1988–1996
Björn Borg	2	1	N/A	1976–1980
Jimmy Connors	1	2	N/A	1977–1980

Only players with 3+ YEC titles listed.

Masters Series winners

• Masters Series has been played since 1990.

Player	Titles	Years
Novak Djokovic	40	2007–2023
Rafael Nadal	36	2005–2021
Roger Federer	28	2002–2019
Andre Agassi	17	1990–2004
Andy Murray	14	2008–2016
Pete Sampras	11	1992–2000

Only players with 10+ Masters titles listed.

Most years a player was ranked No. 1

Before 1912, contemporary rankings were national rankings.

• An undisputed number one player for the year (without another player regarded as co-number one) is shown in bold.

Total	World No. 1	Years
12 years	Pancho Gonzales	1948, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
9 years	Novak Djokovic	2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023
	Rod Laver	1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970
	Bill Tilden	1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931, 1932, 1933
8 years	Jack Kramer	1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
	Ken Rosewall	1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1970, 1971, 1972
6 years	Pete Sampras	1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
	Rafael Nadal	2008, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2022
	Ellsworth Vines	1932, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938
	Jimmy Connors	1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982
	Don Budge	1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942, (1945)
5 years	Roger Federer	2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
	Fred Perry	1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1941
	Bobby Riggs	1939, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1949
	Ivan Lendl	1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990
	Björn Borg	1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
4 years	John McEnroe	1981, 1982, 1983, 1984
	Henri Cochet	1928, 1929, 1930, 1931
	John Newcombe	1967, 1970, 1971, 1973
	Frank Sedgman	1950, 1951, 1952, 1953
3 years	René Lacoste	1926, 1927, 1929
	Norman Brookes	1907, 1912, 1914
	Roy Emerson	1961, 1964, 1965,
	Lew Hoad	1953, 1956, 1959
	Tony Trabert	1953, 1954, 1955
	Pancho Segura	1950, 1951, 1952
2 years	Ashley Cooper	1957, 1958
	Neale Fraser	1959, 1960
	Lleyton Hewitt	2001, 2002
	Stefan Edberg	1990, 1991
	Bill Johnston	1919, 1922
	Maurice McLoughlin	1913, 1914
	Hans Nüsslein	1933, 1934
	James Cecil Parke	1913, 1914
	Manuel Santana	1965, 1966
	Stan Smith	1971, 1972
	Anthony Wilding	1911, 1913
	Frank Kovacs	(1945), 1951
1 year	Andre Agassi	1999
	Jim Courier	1992
	Jack Crawford	1933
	Gustavo Kuerten	2000
	Andy Murray	2016
	Andy Roddick	2003
	Mats Wilander	1988
	Carlos Alcaraz	2022
	Arthur Ashe	1975
	Boris Becker	1989
	Jean Borotra	1930
	Jaroslav Drobný	1954
	Chuck McKinley	1963
	Ilie Năstase	1973
	Rafael Osuna	1963
	Frank Parker	1948
	Gerald Patterson	1919
	Budge Patty	1950
	Martin Plaa	1932
	Ted Schroeder	1949
	Vic Seixas	1954
	Fred Stolle	1966
	Guillermo Vilas	1977

See also

• List of Grand Slam tournaments champions
• List of Professional Majors champions
• List of World Championship Tours winners
• List of ATP Big Titles champions
• List of ATP Masters champions
• List of ATP Finals champions and WCT Finals champions
• World number 1 male tennis player rankings
• List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players

References

1. "Karel Koželuh". Tennis Hall of Fame. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
2. "History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter 2 Part 1: 1927-1928". Tennis Server. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
3. "History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter IV: Tilden and Nusslein, 1932-1933". Tennis Server. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
4. "Forgotten Victories: History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter VI: Vines's Second Year: 1935". Tennis Server. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
5. "Forgotten victories: A History of Pro Tennis, Chapter XIII - The high war years 1943-1945". Tennis Server. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
6. "Gonzales wins tennis title in upset". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 27 March 1950 – via Newspapers.com.
7. Michel Lejard (June 30, 1952). "Ségura, exécutant Budge s'affirme un étonnant champion". L'Equipe (in French). p. 9. Segura vainqueur de ses trois matches a fait mieux que confirmer l'extraordinaire impression de la première journeé Segura (Equat.) b. Budge (USA), 6-3, 6-2. Segura b. Gonzalès, 6-2, 6-1.
8. "Sedgman takes prize of A£1,400". The West Australian (Perth). 29 November 1954 – via Trove.
9. "Pancho eyes new title in pro tourney". The Los Angeles Times. 2 June 1959 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Around the world". World Tennis. November 1958 – via Archive.org.
11. "Sedgman has A£2,000 victory". The Sydney Morning Herald. 5 February 1958 – via Google Newspapers.
12. Don Lawrence (4 January 1960). "Tennis final to Lew Hoad". The Age. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
13. Martin Kane (4 April 1966). "The old game stages a rally". Sports Illustrated – via vault.SI.com.
14. Sports Illustrated. https://vault.si.com/vault/1966/06/20/a-man-to-lead-the-pros-out-of-the-darkness
15. "Wimbledon marks 50th anniversary of landmark event". Wimbledon.com. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
16. "Forgotten Victories: History of the Pro Tennis Wars, Chapter VI: Vines's Second Year: 1935". Tennis Server. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
17. Herman Nickel (20 November 1961). "The Kramer Cup runneth all over the court". Sports Illustrated – via vault.SI.com.
18. Tennis Myth and Method (1978), Ellsworth Vines and Gene Vier (ISBN 9780670696659), page 43
19. Twenty years at the top (1976), Peter Rowley with Ken Rosewall, end pages
20. The history of professional tennis (2000), Joe McCauley
21. "Greatest Player Of All Time: A Statistical Analysis". Archived from the original on 2007-11-17. Retrieved 2007-09-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
22. "History of the Pro Tennis Wars Chapter VIII: Perry and Vines, 1937". Tennis Server. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
23. "History of the Pro Tennis Wars,Chapter IX: Readying for Budge, 1938". Tennis Server. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
24. "History of the Pro Tennis Wars Chapter VIII: Perry and Vines, 1937". Tennis Server. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
25. "Ken Rosewall". ATP. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
26. McCauley (2000), p. 41. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMcCauley2000 (help)
27. McCauley (2000), p. 97. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMcCauley2000 (help)
28. "'Little Pancho' Segura Eyes Repeat in Round Robin Tourney". The Los Angeles Times. 31 May 1959. p. 83 – via newspapers.com.
29. McCauley (2000), p. 126. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMcCauley2000 (help)
30. McCauley (2000), p. 135. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMcCauley2000 (help)
31. McCauley (2000), pp. 156, 255. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFMcCauley2000 (help)
32. "American tennis tilt set at Garden tonight". The Bryan Times. UPI. May 15, 1969. p. 11.
33. "History of The ATP Finals". Association of Tennis Professionals. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

External links

• History of tennis
• Tennis records and statistics