Camila Vega
Statistics are a big part of what tennis is all about, so today we look back to make a top 5 of the best defending ATP Grand Slam tournament champions. Surely you can already imagine who they might be.
ATP’s Top Defending Grand Slam Champions
5. Pete Sampras
Last place goes to American Pete Sampras, or “Pistol Pete” with 6 successful defenses. Five of them were at the prestigious All Lawn English Tennis Club in 1994 and 1995 and then from 1998 to 2000. On the other hand, he won the US Open in 1996, defending his title of the previous year.
4. Novak Djokovic
In fourth place is Novak Djokovic. The Serb trails Nadal and Federer’s records by only two championships.
He has won the Australian Open and successfully defended in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Then, he did so in 2016 and from 2019 to 2021. Moreover, he has defended his Wimbledon title 3 times (2015, 2019, and 2022). This gives him a total of 8 Grand Slam tournaments successfully defended.
3. Björn Borg
The third position of best defending champions is held by Björn Borg with 9 successful defenses. Four of which were at Roland Garros, four at Wimbledon, and one at the US Open. The Swede won 4 Roland Garros in a row (1978-1981) and had a 6-0 record in French Open finals.
On the other hand, he defended the Wimbledon title by winning the tournament 5 times in a row, from 1976 to 1980. Finally, in 1981 he was able to win the US Open title he had won the previous year back.
2. Rafael Nadal
As a rare thing, whenever Roger is around, Rafa is around and vice versa. Also, he’s tied with Roger. The great Spaniard, who currently holds the crown for most GS titles won, has successfully defended the Roland Garros 10 times.
It is no mystery that there is an eternal love and a special connection between the Parisian clay court tournament and the Mallorcan player. His statistics are impressive: he won this tournament from 2005 to 2008, then from 2010 to 2014 and finally from 2017 to 2020. He is the player who has won this Grand Slam the most times and who has defended the title the best.
1. Roger Federer
On the top of our list, here is the best of all time (for me, of course). Switzerland’s Roger Federer has successfully defended Grand Slam tournaments won in previous years 10 times: twice at the Australian Open (2006 and 2007), four times at Wimbledon (2003 to 2007), and four times at the US Open (2004 to 2008). Along with Djokovic, Federer has managed to win three Grand Slams in the same year in three years: 2004, 2006, and 2007.
