Tennis is a sport that most casual fans tune into 4 times a year, it's 4 major tournaments. These are the Australian, French, English (Wimbledon) and American (US Open) Tournaments. These are tournaments where the men play 3 sets out of 5 rather than the usual 2 out of 3. As such, they are more brutal in their demands. I must admit that I haven't watched a complete 3 out of 5 tennis match. But the bits and pieces that I have watched are extremely impressive.
One question that I am interested in is match win-loss records. (Those of you who follow my Basque Pelota Updates blog know this). See here, here, here, here, or here (standings at the bottom of the page). Sneak Peak. I am also in the early stages of setting up a Sumo Wrestling blog for American Professional Wrestling fans. This will be part of a suite of blogs I plan to set up (if sports are ever played again after we all come out of our homes long enough to go to a sporting event) (3/22/20). They will cover esoteric sports that are like American sports, explained to American sports fans. Pessapallo for baseball fans, Calcio Storico, Rugby League and Union, and Canadian Football for football fans, and Valencian Pelota sports to supplement my Basque Pelota blog for court sport or handball fans.
End of shameless plug.
For Tennis there are lots of places to find information about Tournament Champions or ratings, but I have had a difficult time finding historical listings of player annual win-loss records. I am curious about what a good win-loss record is.
I have found this information, going back to 1968 (the beginning of the Open era), in a database called Ultimate Tennis Statistics. The data there is taken from the raw data that is compiled into the most exhaustive Tennis database I have seen, Jeff Sackman's Tennis Abstract. But I have not found annual win-loss tables at TA. That doesn't mean they aren't there, just that I haven't found them. UTS puts this data together, year by year in easily accessible tables. So now I know what a good annual ATP men's singles Tennis record is.
These annual match won-loss records can be found here. Adjust the "career" box at the top left to the year(s) you are interested in. There are two tables below. Table 1 is the top 10 winning percentages since 1968. Table 2 is a list of the top 5 winning percentages for each year 1968-2019. 2020 to date (March 2020) is also on the list.
Table 1--Top 10 winning % since 1968
Key:
Rank; Country; Name; Overall Matches Winning %; Won; Lost; Played; Age (Age added March 24, 2020) (Note that Country is listed twice because in the original database, there is an icon for the country as well as the country name).
1-1983 USA USA John McEnroe 96.47% 82 3 85 24
2-1974 USA USA Jimmy Connors 95.88% 93 4 97 22
3-2005 SUI SUI Roger Federer 95.29% 81 4 85 24
4-2006 SUI SUI Roger Federer 94.85% 92 5 97 25
5-1979 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 93.33% 84 6 90 23
6-2015 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 93.18% 82 6 88 28
7-2004 SUI SUI Roger Federer 92.50% 74 6 80 23
8-1986 USA USA Ivan Lendl 92.50% 74 6 80 26
9-1982 USA USA Ivan Lendl 92.17% 106 9 115 22
10-1980 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 92.11% 70 6 76 24
10-2011 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 92.11% 70 6 76 24
Table corrected (added Lendl 1982, corrected Lendl 1986) (March 25, 2020)
Other players over 90%
1978: 1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 91.86% 79 7 86 22
1989: 1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 91.86% 79 7 86 29
2018: 1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 91.84% 45 4 49 32
2013: 1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 91.46% 75 7 82 27
1987: 1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 91.36% 74 7 81 27
2017: 1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 91.23% 52 5 57 36
1978: 2 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.67% 66 6 72 26
1977: 1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 91.57% 76 7 83 21
1975: 1 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.11% 82 8 90 23
1976: 1 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.09% 92 9 101 24
1977: 2 ARG ARG G. Vilas 90.48% 133 14 147 25
1969: 1 AUS AUS Rod Laver 90.00% 63 7 70 31
Most times player over 90% (RED=TOP 10--SEE ABOVE)
Roger Federer: 4 (2004, 2005, 2006, 2017)
Ivan Lendl: 4 (1982, 1986, 1987, 1989)
Bjorn Borg: 4 (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
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Table 2. Top 5 annual winning percentage--1968-2019
Longest streaks at #1
4 years
Bjorn Borg: 1976-1979
Roger Federer: 2004-2007
Longest consecutive years in the top 5:
Roger Federer: 17 (2003--2019)
Jimmy Connors: 14 (1973--1986)
Novak Djokovic: 13 (2007--2019)
Ivan Lendl: 12 (1980--1991)
Oldest on the list: Ken Rosewall 40 in 1974.
Youngest on the list: Andrei Medvedev 18 in 1992; Andre Agassi 1988; and Bjorn Borg 1974
Note: 1986 table accidently copied 1985 table. Correct 1986 table has been inserted (March 25, 2020)
2020 (as of March)
1 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 100.00% 18 0 18 33
2 BRA BRA Thiago S. Wild 85.71% 6 1 7 20
3 FRA FRA Gael Monfils 84.21% 16 3 19 34
4 RUS RUS Andrey Rublev 83.33% 15 3 18 23
4 CZE CZE Jiri Vesely 83.33% 5 1 6 27
2019
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 89.06% 57 7 64 33
2 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 83.82% 57 11 68 32
3 SUI SUI Roger Federer 83.61% 51 10 61 38
4 RUS RUS D. Medvedev 73.75% 59 21 80 23
5 AUT AUT Dominic Thiem 72.73% 48 18 66 26
2018
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 91.84% 45 4 49 32
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 82.76% 48 10 58 37
3 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 81.54% 53 12 65 31
4 ARG ARG Juan M.D. Potro 78.33% 47 13 60 30
5 GER GER A. Zverev 75.32% 58 19 77 21
2017
1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 91.23% 52 5 57 36
2 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 85.90% 67 11 78 31
3 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 80.00% 32 8 40 30
4 BUL BUL Grigor Dimitrov 72.06% 49 19 68 26
5 FRA FRA J.W. Tsonga 71.70% 38 15 53 32
2016
1 GBR GBR Andy Murray 89.66% 78 9 87 29
2 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 87.84% 65 9 74 29
3 CAN CAN Milos Raonic 75.36% 52 17 69 26
4 SUI SUI Roger Federer 75.00% 21 7 28 35
5 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 73.58% 39 14 53 30
2015
1 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 93.18% 82 6 88 28
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 85.14% 63 11 74 34
3 GBR GBR Andy Murray 83.53% 71 14 85 28
4 ESP ESP David Ferrer 77.46% 55 16 71 33
5 JPN JPN Kei Nishikori 77.14% 54 16 70 26
2014
1 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 88.41% 61 8 69 27
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 85.88% 73 12 85 33
3 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 81.36% 48 11 59 28
4 JPN JPN Kei Nishikori 79.41% 54 14 68 25
5 GBR GBR Andy Murray 74.68% 59 20 79 27
2013
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 91.46% 75 7 82 27
2 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 89.16% 74 9 83 26
3 GBR GBR Andy Murray 84.31% 43 8 51 26
4 ARG ARG J. M.D. Potro 76.12% 51 16 67 25
5 SUI SUI Roger Federer 72.58% 45 17 62 32
2012
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 87.50% 42 6 48 26
2 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 86.21% 75 12 87 25
3 SUI SUI Roger Federer 85.54% 71 12 83 31
4 ESP ESP David Ferrer 83.52% 76 15 91 30
5 ARG ARG J.M.D. Potro 79.27% 65 17 82 24
2011
1 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 92.11% 70 6 76 24
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 84.21% 64 12 76 30
3 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 82.14% 69 15 84 25
4 GBR GBR Andy Murray 81.16% 56 13 69 24
5 SWE SWE R. Soderling 80.85% 38 9 47 27
2010
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 87.65% 71 10 81 24
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 83.33% 65 13 78 29
3 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 77.22% 61 18 79 23
4 USA USA Mardy Fish 74.07% 40 14 54 29
5 ARG ARG D. Nalbandian 73.68% 28 10 38 28
2009
1 GBR GBR Andy Murray 85.71% 66 11 77 22
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 83.56% 61 12 73 28
3 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 82.50% 66 14 80 23
4 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 80.41% 78 19 97 22
5 RUS RUS N. Davydenko 77.03% 57 17 74 28
2008
1 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 88.17% 82 11 93 22
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 81.48% 66 15 81 27
3 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 79.01% 64 17 81 21
4 GBR GBR Andy Murray 78.38% 58 16 74 21
5 ARG ARG J.M.D. Potro 74.19% 46 16 62 20
2007
1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 88.31% 68 9 77 26
2 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 82.35% 70 15 85 21
3 SRB SRB Novak Djokovic 78.16% 68 19 87 20
4 USA USA Andy Roddick 77.14% 54 16 70 25
5 GBR GBR Andy Murray 75.44% 43 14 57 20
2006
1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 94.85% 92 5 97 25
2 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 83.10% 59 12 71 20
3 CRO CRO Ivan Ljubicic 75.00% 60 20 80 27
4 CRO CRO Mario Ancic 74.65% 53 18 71 22
5 USA USA Andy Roddick 72.06% 49 19 68 24
2005
1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 95.29% 81 4 85 24
2 ESP ESP Rafael Nadal 88.76% 79 10 89 19
3 USA USA Andy Roddick 80.82% 59 14 73 23
4 AUS AUS L. Hewitt 80.43% 37 9 46 24
5 USA USA Andre Agassi 76.00% 38 12 50 35
2004
1 SUI SUI Roger Federer 92.50% 74 6 80 23
2 USA USA Andy Roddick 80.43% 74 18 92 22
3 AUS AUS L. Hewitt 79.07% 68 18 86 23
4 ESP ESP Carlos Moya 75.64% 59 19 78 28
5 USA USA Andre Agassi 74.00% 37 13 50 34
2003
1 USA USA Andre Agassi 82.46% 47 10 57 33
2 SUI SUI Roger Federer 82.11% 78 17 95 22
3 USA USA Andy Roddick 79.12% 72 19 91 21
4 ARG ARG G. Coria 78.95% 60 16 76 24
5 AUS AUS L. Hewitt 78.72% 37 10 47 22
2002
1 USA USA Andre Agassi 81.54% 53 12 65 32
2 AUS AUS L. Hewitt 80.26% 61 15 76 21
3 ESP ESP Carlos Moya 73.75% 59 21 80 26
4 SUI SUI Roger Federer 72.50% 58 22 80 21
5 GBR GBR Tim Henman 72.46% 50 19 69 28
2001
1 AUS AUS Lleyton Hewitt 82.29% 79 17 96 20
2 BRA BRA G. Kuerten 76.92% 60 18 78 25
3 USA USA Andre Agassi 75.00% 45 15 60 31
4 ESP ESP J.C. Ferrero 73.08% 57 21 78 21
5 AUS AUS Patrick Rafter 72.73% 48 18 66 29
2000
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 76.36% 42 13 55 30
2 AUS AUS Lleyton Hewitt 76.25% 61 19 80 19
3 BRA BRA G. Kuerten 74.12% 63 22 85 24
4 ESP ESP Alex Corretja 73.97% 54 19 73 26
5 RUS RUS Marat Safin 73.00% 73 27 100 20
1999
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 83.33% 40 8 48 29
2 USA USA Andre Agassi 81.82% 63 14 77 29
3 CHI CHI Marcelo Rios 72.31% 47 18 65 24
4 ECU ECU N. Lapentti 70.73% 58 24 82 23
5 AUS AUS Patrick Rafter 70.37% 38 16 54 27
1998
1 CHI CHI Marcelo Rios 80.00% 68 17 85 23
2 USA USA Andre Agassi 79.07% 68 18 86 28
3 USA USA Pete Sampras 78.21% 61 17 78 28
4 NED NED R. Krajicek 75.00% 45 15 60 27
5 AUS AUS Patrick Rafter 74.07% 60 21 81 26
1997
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 82.09% 55 12 67 27
2 SWE SWE Jonas Bjorkman 73.20% 71 26 97 25
3 USA USA Michael Chang 73.08% 57 21 78 25
4 NED NED R. Krajicek 72.06% 49 19 68 26
5 ESP ESP Felix Mantilla 70.67% 53 22 75 23
1996
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 85.53% 65 11 76 26
2 USA USA Michael Chang 77.38% 65 19 84 24
3 AUT AUT Thomas Muster 77.27% 68 20 88 29
4 RUS RUS Y. Kafelnikov 76.19% 80 25 105 22
5 GER GER Boris Becker 75.00% 42 14 56 29
1995
1 USA USA Andre Agassi 89.02% 73 9 82 25
2 AUT AUT Thomas Muster 82.69% 86 18 104 28
3 USA USA Pete Sampras 81.82% 72 16 88 25
4 USA USA Michael Chang 77.38% 65 19 84 23
5 GER GER Boris Becker 75.00% 54 18 72 28
1994
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 86.52% 77 12 89 24
2 USA USA Andre Agassi 78.79% 52 14 66 24
3 USA USA Michael Chang 75.86% 66 21 87 22
4 GER GER Boris Becker 74.24% 49 17 66 27
5 SWE SWE M. Gustafsson 73.17% 30 11 41 27
1993
1 USA USA Pete Sampras 84.16% 85 16 101 23
2 AUT AUT Thomas Muster 78.57% 77 21 98 26
3 GER GER Michael Stich 77.55% 76 22 98 25
4 USA USA Jim Courier 77.33% 58 17 75 23
5 USA USA Michael Chang 75.86% 66 21 87 21
1992
1 USA USA Jim Courier 79.31% 69 18 87 22
2 USA USA Pete Sampras 79.12% 72 19 91 22
3 GER GER Boris Becker 77.61% 52 15 67 25
4 CRO CRO G. Ivanisevic 76.25% 61 19 80 21
5 UKR UKR A. Medvedev 74.42% 32 11 43 18
1991
1 SWE SWE Stefan Edberg 81.72% 76 17 93 26
2 GER GER Boris Becker 80.65% 50 12 62 24
3 SWE SWE M. Gustafsson 75.36% 52 17 69 24
4 USA USA Ivan Lendl 75.34% 55 18 73 31
5 FRA FRA Guy Forget 75.00% 63 21 84 26
1990
1 GER GER Boris Becker 82.56% 71 15 86 23
2 SWE SWE Stefan Edberg 82.35% 70 15 85 25
3 USA USA Ivan Lendl 81.82% 54 12 66 30
4 USA USA Andre Agassi 78.95% 45 12 57 20
5 USA USA Pete Sampras 75.00% 51 17 68 19
1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 91.86% 79 7 86 29
2 GER GER Boris Becker 88.89% 64 8 72 22
3 USA USA John McEnroe 81.03% 47 11 58 30
4 SWE SWE Stefan Edberg 80.00% 64 16 80 23
5 USA USA Brad Gilbert 77.92% 60 17 77 27
1988
1 SWE SWE Kent Carlsson 89.29% 50 6 56 20
2 GER GER Boris Becker 86.15% 56 9 65 21
3 USA USA Andre Agassi 85.14% 63 11 74 18
4 SWE SWE Mats Wilander 84.13% 53 10 63 24
5 USA USA Ivan Lendl 83.67% 41 8 49 28
1987
1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 91.36% 74 7 81 27
2 SWE SWE Stefan Edberg 86.36% 76 12 88 21
3 SWE SWE Kent Carlsson 82.22% 37 8 45 19
4 SWE SWE Mats Wilander 79.55% 70 18 88 23
5 SVK SVK Miloslav Mecir 78.89% 71 19 90 23
1986
1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 92.50% 74 6 80 26
2 GER GER Boris Becker 84.15% 69 13 82 19
3 USA USA John McEnroe 81.48% 22 5 27 27
4 SWE SWE M. Wilander 80.60% 54 13 67 22
5 SWE SWE J. Nystrom 77.63% 59 17 76 23
1985
1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 92.31% 84 7 91 25
2 USA USA John McEnroe 88.75% 71 9 80 26
3 USA USA Jimmy Connors 77.42% 48 14 62 33
4 SWE SWE Mats Wilander 76.67% 69 21 90 21
5 SWE SWE Stefan Edberg 75.95% 60 19 79 19
1984
1 USA USA John McEnroe 96.47% 82 3 85 25
2 USA USA Jimmy Connors 84.09% 74 14 88 32
3 ECU ECU Andres Gomez 81.58% 62 14 76 24
4 USA USA Ivan Lendl 79.49% 62 16 78 24
5 SWE SWE Mats Wilander 79.41% 54 14 68 20
1983
1 SWE SWE Mats Wilander 88.04% 81 11 92 19
2 USA USA John McEnroe 85.14% 63 11 74 24
3 USA USA Jimmy Connors 82.54% 52 11 63 31
4 USA USA Ivan Lendl 82.42% 75 16 91 23
5 ESP ESP Jose Higueras 77.78% 49 14 63 30
1982
1 USA USA Ivan Lendl 92.17% 106 9 115 22
2 USA USA John McEnroe 88.75% 71 9 80 23
3 USA USA Jimmy Connors 88.64% 78 10 88 30
4 ARG ARG G. Vilas 82.80% 77 16 93 30
5 USA USA V. Gerulaitis 81.08% 60 14 74 28
1 USA USA John McEnroe 88.37% 76 10 86 22
2 USA USA Ivan Lendl 87.27% 96 14 110 21
3 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 85.37% 35 6 41 25
4 USA USA Jimmy Connors 83.56% 61 12 73 29
5 USA USA Gene Mayer 81.82% 36 8 44 25
1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 92.11% 70 6 76 24
2 USA USA Jimmy Connors 82.95% 73 15 88 28
3 USA USA John McEnroe 82.35% 84 18 102 21
3 USA USA Gene Mayer 82.35% 70 15 85 24
5 USA USA Ivan Lendl 79.71% 110 28 138 20
1979
1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 93.33% 84 6 90 23
2 USA USA John McEnroe 87.16% 95 14 109 20
3 USA USA Jimmy Connors 86.81% 79 12 91 27
4 USA USA Roscoe Tanner 76.25% 61 19 80 28
5 USA USA V. Gerulaitis 75.53% 71 23 94 25
1978
1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 91.86% 79 7 86 22
2 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.67% 66 6 72 26
3 ARG ARG G. Vilas 87.14% 61 9 70 26
4 USA USA John McEnroe 80.61% 79 19 98 19
5 USA USA V. Gerulaitis 76.56% 49 15 64 24
1977
1 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 91.57% 76 7 83 21
2 ARG ARG G. Vilas 90.48% 133 14 147 25
3 USA USA Jimmy Connors 85.90% 67 11 78 25
4 USA USA B. Gottfried 82.44% 108 23 131 25
5 USA USA V. Gerulaitis 80.00% 60 15 75 23
1976
1 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.09% 92 9 101 24
2 ROU ROU Ilie Nastase 85.56% 77 13 90 30
3 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 82.61% 57 12 69 20
4 ARG ARG G. Vilas 81.73% 85 19 104 24
5 ESP ESP Manuel Orantes 80.81% 80 19 99 27
1975
1 USA USA Jimmy Connors 91.11% 82 8 90 23
2 USA USA Arthur Ashe 84.35% 97 18 115 32
3 ARG ARG G. Vilas 83.65% 87 17 104 23
4 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 83.17% 84 17 101 19
5 ESP ESP Manuel Orantes 82.14% 92 20 112 26
1974
1 USA USA Jimmy Connors 95.88% 93 4 97 22
2 AUS AUS John Newcombe 86.46% 83 13 96 30
3 AUS AUS Rod Laver 84.62% 44 8 52 36
4 SWE SWE Bjorn Borg 81.25% 91 21 112 18
4 AUS AUS Ken Rosewall 81.25% 26 6 32 40
1973
1 ROU ROU Ilie Nastase 87.05% 121 18 139 27
2 USA USA Jimmy Connors 84.85% 84 15 99 21
3 AUS AUS Rod Laver 81.01% 64 15 79 35
4 NED NED Tom Okker 79.82% 91 23 114 29
5 AUS AUS Ken Rosewall 79.73% 59 15 74 39
1972
1 USA USA Stan Smith 86.81% 79 12 91 26
2 RUS RUS Alex Metreveli 85.71% 36 6 42 28
3 ROU ROU Ilie Nastase 85.51% 118 20 138 26
4 AUS AUS Ken Rosewall 81.08% 60 14 74 38
5 ESP ESP Manuel Orantes 77.17% 71 21 92 23
1971
1 ROU ROU Ilie Nastase 86.21% 75 12 87 25
2 USA USA Stan Smith 81.01% 64 15 79 25
3 AUS AUS Rod Laver 80.20% 81 20 101 33
4 RUS RUS Alex Metreveli 78.26% 18 5 23 27
5 AUS AUS John Newcombe 77.03% 57 17 74 27
1970
1 AUS AUS Rod Laver 85.29% 87 15 102 32
2 USA USA Arthur Ashe 79.76% 67 17 84 27
3 USA USA Cliff Richey 79.59% 78 20 98 24
4 USA USA Stan Smith 78.67% 59 16 75 24
5 RUS RUS Alex Metreveli 78.57% 22 6 28 26
1969
1 AUS AUS Rod Laver 90.00% 63 7 70 31
2 ESP ESP Manuel Santana 82.14% 23 5 28 31
3 AUS AUS Tony Roche 79.45% 58 15 73 24
4 NED NED Tom Okker 77.78% 56 16 72 25
5 USA USA Cliff Richey 76.60% 36 11 47 23
1968
1 AUS AUS Ken Rosewall 89.29% 25 3 28 34
2 GER GER W. Bungert 87.50% 21 3 24 29
3 USA USA Arthur Ashe 87.18% 34 5 39 25
4 AUS AUS Rod Laver 86.49% 32 5 37 30
5 AUS AUS M. Mulligan 86.36% 19 3 22 28
1968 table corrected March 22, 2020
