Rafael Nadal’s 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win over Jordan Thompson on Monday helped the Spaniard overtake Roger Federer’s record for the most singles wins at a single Grand Slam by a male tennis player.
The 35-year-old has now won 106 matches at the French Open – to go with just three losses – compared to Federer’s 105 wins at Wimbledon (105-14 win-loss record).
Nadal’s strike rate though is much more impressive than any other tennis player. He’s lost just three of the 109 matches he’s played at Roland Garros, winning the title 13 times so far.
For the record, Martina Navratilova has 120 wins at Wimbledon, the most for any singles player, while Serena Williams has 106 wins and 14 losses at the US Open.
Most men's singles wins at one Grand Slam
| Players | Tournament | Grand Slam Matches Won |
|---|---|---|
| Rafael Nadal | Roland Garros | 106 |
| Roger Federer | Wimbledon | 105 |
| Roger Federer | Australian Open | 102 |
| Jimmy Connors | US Open | 98 |
| Roger Federer | US Open | 89 |
| Jimmy Connors | Wimbledon | 84 |
| Novak Djokovic | Australian Open | 82 |
| Novak Djokovic | Roland Garros | 82 |
| Novak Djokovic | US Open | 81 |
Nadal’s win on Monday against Thompson was also his 299th at a Grand Slam event. Only Roger Federer (369) and Novak Djokovic (324) are ahead of him in the 300-win club among male tennis players.
Most wins at Grand Slams (men)
| Player | Career Titles | Career Win/Loss |
|---|---|---|
| Roger Federer | 20 | 369-60 |
| Novak Djokovic | 20 | 324-46 |
| Rafael Nadal | 21 | 299-41 |
| Jimmy Connors | 8 | 233-49 |
| Andre Agassi | 8 | 224-53 |
| Ivan Lendl | 8 | 222-49 |
| Pete Sampras | 14 | 203-38 |
| Andy Murray | 3 | 193-50 |
| Stefan Edberg | 6 | 178-47 |
| John McEnroe | 7 | 167-38 |
Nadal also extended his run of first-round wins at the French Open to 18, having never lost in the opening round of his favourite Major.
The Spaniard is making his 18th consecutive appearance at Roland Garros and owns an 106-3 record with a record 13 titles (2005-08, 2010-14, 2017-20). Last year his streak of 4 straight titles ended with a 4-set semi-final loss to Djokovic. Nadal’s earliest Roland Garros loss came to No 25-ranked Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the 2009 edition.
The 2022 marks only the second time he has been seeded outside top four at this event (No 6 in 2015).
He is, of course, on 21 Major titles at the moment – one ahead of both Federer and Djokovic.
There might be many debates in tennis but not one over Nadal’s status as the greatest of all time on clay with 62 of his 91 titles coming on this surface. On clay, he has a stunning 468-45 record overall (.912 W/L), 130-3 record in best-of-5-set matches (.977), an 81-match win streak (2005-07), a 50-set win streak (2017-18) and 0 losing streaks.
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