ATP Finals: The 6 men to reach the most finals – ft. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic
The ATP Finals in Turin is in full swing, and we are just days away from the championship match – the final official match of the ATP season.
As we approach the business end of the tournament, we look at the six men to reach the most finals at the year-end championships.
6) Ilie Nastase – 5
One of the most successful players in the early years of the ATP, former world No 1 Nastase reached five finals at the year-end championships.
The Romanian triumphed for the first time in 1971 and then successfully defended his title in 1972, fending off Stan Smith on both occasions.
Nastase then defeated Tom Okker to capture a third straight title in 1973, before triumphing for the final time with a win over Bjorn Borg in 1975.
Alongside his four triumphs, he was also a beaten finalist in 1974 – losing to Guillermo Vilas.
5) Pete Sampras – 6
Former world No 1 and 14-time Grand Slam champion Sampras was a dominant force at the ATP Finals across the 1990s, reaching the final six times.
The American defeated compatriot Jim Courier to prevail for the first time in 1991 and then downed Boris Becker in the 1994 final for his second title.
Sampras beat Becker and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the 1996 and 1997 finals respectively to claim back-to-back victories, before overcoming Andre Agassi for his fifth and final triumph in 1999.
He was also a beaten finalist in 1993, losing to Michael Stich.
4) Boris Becker – 8
Tennis icon Becker was a three-time champion at the year-end championships and reached the final a further five times.
The German lost his first two finals at the event in 1985 and 1986, falling to Lendl on both occasions, though downed the Czech in a thrilling five-setter to lift the title for the first time in 1988.
After falling to Stefan Edberg in the 1989 final, Becker would triumph for a second time with victory over Jim Courier in 1992, before reaching three straight finals from 1994-1996.
Becker lost to Sampras in 1994 and 1996, though claimed his third and final title by beating Michael Chang in the 1995 final.
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=2) Ivan Lendl – 9
Czech great Lendl holds the record for most consecutive finals reached at the year-end championships, with his nine finals all coming consecutively.
Lendl lost his first final in 1980 to Bjorn Borg, though then beat Vitas Gerulaitis in 1981 and John McEnroe in 1982 to seal back-to-back triumphs.
The former world No 1 then suffered consecutive final defeats to McEnroe in 1983 and 1984, though regained his title with victory over Becker in 1985.
He beat Becker again in 1986 and Mats Wilander in 1987 to claim his fourth and fifth ATP Finals titles, before losing his ninth final to Becker in 1988.
=2) Novak Djokovic – 9
Matching Lendl on nine finals is Djokovic, whose haul of seven ATP Finals titles is the tournament record.
The Serbian defeated Nikolay Davydenko for his first title in 2008 and returned to the final four years later, defeating Roger Federer in the 2012 final.
That started a run of four straight titles for Djokovic, who beat Rafael Nadal in 2013, benefitted from Federer’s walkover in 2014, and beat the Swiss again in 2015.
Djokovic was beaten in the final for the first time by Andy Murray in 2016 and also fell to Alexander Zverev in 2018.
However, he reached back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023 and prevailed both times, beating Casper Ruud and Jannik Sinner respectively.
1) Roger Federer – 10
Narrowly ahead of Djokovic and Lendl is Federer, who is the only man to reach 10 finals at the year-end championships.
The Swiss progressed to his first final in 2003, defeating Andre Agassi, before successfully defending his title by overcoming Lleyton Hewitt in the 2004 final.
After a shock defeat to David Nalbandian in the 2005 championship match, Federer rebounded with victory over James Blake in 2006, before defeating David Ferrer in 2007 – a fifth straight final at the tournament.
Federer returned to the final in 2010 where he beat Nadal, before seeing off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to capture his sixth and final title in 2011.
He reached three more finals, withdrawing due to injury in 2014 and falling to Djokovic in 2012 and 2015.
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