Men's Grand Slam Tennis: 11 Great Records That Few People Know

Professional tennis players first strive for a place in the sun, aiming at their first ATP points and start making a living out of traveling around the world doing what they like most.

The next step is to start winning tournaments: futures, challengers, ATP tour events, Masters 1000 and finally Grand Slams.

The most fortunate get to the point in which establishing records become their main goal after having written their names in the history of the sport and having reached their financial independence.

Records and statistics are one of the most common ways to measure performance and place players and tournaments in the history of the game.

Although physical, mental and technical analysis, along with intangibles are just as important, if not even more important, numbers are straight forward, accurate and lead to undisputed conclusions.

There are records that are very much known, frequently mentioned and no one forgets them, like Roger Federer’s 16 Grand Slam titles, or the longest match in history shown in the photo above.

But there is a whole world of less known records and achievements, that make their holders part of history, instigate the curiosity of true lovers of the game and contribute to the greatness of the sport.

The data in this article was researched by a great tennis blogger called José Nilton Dalcim: http://tenisjn.zip.net/

Most of the records in the list are unknown records established by famous players but there are also unknown players that established remarkable records.

1) Most Doubles Titles Won

John Newcombe—17

The great Australian won a total of seven Grand Slam singles titles, but did even better in doubles, capturing 17 majors:

5 Australian Open: 1965, 1967, 1971, 1973, 1976

3 French Open: 1967, 1969, 1973

6 Wimbledon: 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1974

3 US Open: 1967, 1971, 1973

2) Most Mixed Doubles Titles Won

Owen Davidson—11

Davidson was an Australian player who competed in the 60’s and 70’s and remarkably won a calendar Grand Slam in mixed doubles 1967 

He won a total of 11 major mixed double titles:

2 Australian Open: 1965, 1967

1 French Open: 1967

4 Wimbledon: 1967, 1971, 1973, 1974

4 US Open: 1966, 1967, 1971, 1973

3) Most Overall Titles Won

Roy Emerson—28

Considered one of the greatest players of all time, Emerson won 28 major titles (12 in singles and 16 in doubles):

Singles:

6 Australian Open: 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967

2 French Open: 1963, 1967

2 Wimbledon: 1964, 1965

2 US Open: 1961, 1964

Doubles:

3 Australian Open: 1962, 1966, 1969

6 French Open: 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965

3 Wimbledon: 1959, 1961, 1971

4 US Open: 1959, 1960, 1965, 1966

4) Most Titles Won in a Single Season

Don Budge—8

Budge was the first player to ever win a calendar Grand Slam, in 1938, which is also the year when he established this great record, winning eight titles (4 singles, 2 doubles and 2 mixed doubles):

Singles: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open.

Doubles: Wimbledon, US Open

Mixed Doubles: Wimbledon, US Open

5) Best Percentage of Matches Won

Bjorn Borg—89.8% (141 Wins and 16 Losses)

Bjorn is considered one of the greatest and played major events among a nine-year span. From 1973 to 1981, he managed to win almost 90 % of all his Grand Slam matches.

Borg’s short career makes this record very impressive.

He played in only one Australian Open, in 1974 and lost in the 3^rd round.

The Swedish remarkably reached the quarterfinal of all the other three majors at least once.

6) Most Consecutive Seasons with at Least One Grand Slam Title

Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer—8 years

Bjorn Borg: all his Grand Slam titles were won between 1974 and 1981: 6 French Open and 5 Wimbledon

Pete Sampras: 12 of his 14 titles were won between 1993 and 2000: 2 Australian Open, 7 Wimbledon, 3 US Open. He also won the US Open in 1990 and 2002.

Roger Federer: all his major titles so far happened between 2003 and 2010: 4 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 6 Wimbledon, 5 US Open.

7) Most Grand Slam Finals Losses

Ivan Lendl—11

Lendl won a total of eight Grand Slam titles but struggled a lot in finals.

He lost four finals before winning his first at the French Open, in 1984, and lost 11 singles finals overall, between 1981 and 1991.

He reached US Open finals for 8 straight years: from 1981 to 1989.

8) Most Consecutive Seasons with at Least One Grand Slam Final

Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras—11 years

Sampras: did it between 1992 and 2002

Lendl: did it between 1981 and 1991 

9) Most Consecutive Matches Won

Don Budge—38

On the run to his calendar Slam in 1938, the American went 38—0 between 1937 and 1938:

1937 Wimbledon: 7 wins

1937 US Open: 6 wins

1938 Australian Open: 6 wins

1938 French Open: 6 wins

1938 Wimbledon: 7 wins

1938 US Open: 6 wins

10 ) Most Consecutive Sets Won

Roger Federer—36 (between 2006 and 2007)

After losing the second set to Andy Roddick in the 2006 US Open final, Roger Federer went on a 36 set winning streak that included:

The last two sets of the 2006 US Open final.

A flawless title at the 2007 Australian Open: 21—0

Four more straight set wins on the French Open of 2007, before finally dropping the second set to Tommy Robredo in the quarters.

11) Lowest Ranked Grand Slam Champion

Mark Edmondson—ranked 212 at the 1976 Australian Open

The Australian player was ranked as high as No.15 in the world capturing a total of six singles titles in his career.

He was ranked No. 212 when he beat the No. 1 seed Ken Rosewall in the semifinal and the No. 2 seed John Newcombe in the final, en route for his sole Grand Slam tittle.

Edmondson’s second best performance in Grand Slam was a Wimbledon semifinal appearance in 1982.