Magical 100 titles in sight, but can Roger Federer break Jimmy Connors’ record?

“To reach 100 titles during my career, it would be special,” Roger Federer said shortly he became the oldest player No 1 in tennis history.

He is only three shy of that magical mark after he moved to 97 titles with the Rotterdam Open trophy, but can he claim the outright record for most ATP singles titles won?

Jimmy Connors currently leads the way with 109 while he also holds the records for most appearances in a final with 164 while Federer is joint-second with Ivan Lendl on 146.

One person who thinks it will be difficult for the 36-year-old to reach that record is Sky Sports’ tennis analyst Miles Maclagan.

“It’s not impossible but two more years like that last year is pretty tough,” he told the British broadcaster.

“I’m not sure it’s one he’s taking aim at yet because that’s a lot of winning. If I had to bet I’d say not but I’ve been wrong many times with Roger Federer.”

James Blake is another who thinks he won’t get to 109, with the American telling Tennis Channel: “I love Roger – he is the greatest of all time in my opinion – but 109 is just too many at this point in his career.”

However, are another 13 titles, which would give him the outright lead of 110, really out of his reach?

This year marks Federer’s 20th year on the ATP Tour so he averages roughly five titles per year. Last year he won seven titles, but many consider it to be an anomaly and believe he is unlikely to replicate that this year, especially as he is limiting the number of events he enters every year.

He competed in 12 tournaments in 2017 and is expected to hit a similar figure this year.

Although he hasn’t decided yet when he will retire, there has been talk that he could play until Tokyo 2020 as he still wants to win an Olympic singles gold medal and if he does play for another two seasons after this campaign then there is no reason why he can’t add another 13 titles to his collection to break Connors’ record.

ATP Tour Features Roger Federer

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