6 active tennis players with the best win-loss record in finals
Roger Federer won a record-extending 10th title at his hometown tournament of Basel in 2019 to become the first player to win 10 titles at a hardcourt tournament and also the first player to win 10 titles at a tournament on two different surfaces. Earlier in the season, Federer lifted his 'La Decima' on the grasscourts of Halle.
With the Basel triumph, Federer lifted the 103rd singles title of his illustrious career, trailing only American Jimmy Connors' tally of 109. The 38-year-old, in the process, moved to 103-54 lifetime in career singles finals, which places him inside the top 20 of the all-time list in terms of success in tournament finals.
As is perhaps expected, Federer's Big 3 peers Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic also make the top 20 in the all-time list. On that note, let us have a look at six active players (minimum of six titles) with the best record in career singles finals:
#5 Roger Federer (103-54; 65.6%)
Federer's career singles record of 103-54 over a 22-year ongoing professional career translates to roughly two titles won in every three finals contested. That is an impressive success rate for anyone who has been in the game for as long as Federer has.
The Swiss maestro has had more than his fair share of miseries and heartbreaks in tournament finals though. Federer squandered match points in a titanic five-hour tussle with Rafael Nadal for the 2006 Rome title. The 38-year-old has lost two more Rome finals after that missed opportunity of 2006, to remain win-less in four title matches in the Italian capital.
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In the 2018 final against Juan Martin del Potro at Indian Wells, Federer had three match points on serve late in the third set, but he went on to lose the match in a tiebreak. The win would have made the Swiss the first player to win six titles at the tournament.
There was bigger final heartbreak in store for Federer. In the 2019 Wimbledon final against Djokovic, Federer delivered successive aces to arrive at 8-7 40-15 late in the fifth set to arrive at consecutive championship points for a record-extending 9th Wimbledon title. But it was not to be as he blinked with the finish line in touching distance and came out second-best in the first ever Wimbledon match to feature a fifth-set tiebreak.
On the flip side, Federer came closest to winning a title after saving championship points in 2008 when he did so in the fourth set tiebreak of the pair's epic Wimbledon final. The Swiss maestro came within two points of victory at 5-4 30-30 on Nadal's serve in the fifth set, before going down 7-9 in one of the most epic Wimbledon finals in the Open Era.
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#4 Andy Murray (46-22; 67.6%)
Two and a half years after winning his last singles title at 2017 Dubai, Andy Murray stood on the winner's podium after beating Stan Wawrinka in three sets in the 2019 European Open final in Antwerp.
The 32-year-old Scot is also a winner of three Grand Slam and 14 Masters 1000 titles, and is the only player to win two Olympic singles gold medals (2012 and 2016).
Murray saved five championship points apiece against Tommy Robredo to win the 2014 Valencia and Shenzhen Open titles respectively, while he also came back from a championship point down to beat another Spaniard David Ferrer in the 2013 Miami Masters final.
At the other end of the spectrum, Murray has squandered championship points on two occasions during his career - Sam Querrey in the 2010 Los Angeles Open (1 Championship point) and Novak Djokovic in the 2012 Shanghai Masters (5 Championship points).