The 7 men with the best fifth-set win percentage in Open Era: Bjorn Borg 81.8%, Novak Djokovic No 3
Winning a fifth set is one of the greatest challenges in men’s tennis – and some have proven more adept at it than others.
Here, we look at the seven men with the highest fifth-set win percentages of the Open Era, with some very familiar faces joined by one or two surprise packages.
7) Aaron Krickstein – 75.7%
‘Marathon Man’ may be an appropriate nickname for former world No 6 Krickstein, who won an impressive 75.7% of the fifth sets he played in his career.
The US star, a former Australian and US Open semi-finalist, holds a 28-9 record in five set contests, though he may be most famous for one of those nine defeats.
Krickstein was famously beaten in an instant classic by 39-year-old Jimmy Connors at the US Open in 1991.
6) Tommy Robredo – 77.3%
One of the best competitors of his generation, Spain’s Robredo reached a career-high of world No 5 and progressed to seven Grand Slam quarter-finals.
He also proved difficult to beat in a fifth and deciding set, losing just five of 22 matches that went the distance.
That leaves him with a fifth set win percentage of 77.3%, the sixth-highest of the Open Era.
=4) Adrian Mannarino – 77.8%
World No 44 Mannarino has an impressive record for five-set encounters, winning 14 such matches and losing just four times.
That leaves the Frenchman with a win percentage of 77.8%, placing him joint-fourth on the Open Era rankings.
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=4) Kei Nishikori – 77.8%
Matching Mannarino on 77.8% is former world No 4 Nishikori, who has also shined in deciding sets across his career.
‘Special Kei’ has played in 36 matches that have gone the distance and has won 28 of them, tasting defeat just eight times.
His most recent five-set win came at Roland Garros, where he saw off Gabriel Diallo 7-5 in the final set.
3) Novak Djokovic – 78.4%
Perhaps no player in men’s tennis history has proven more difficult to beat than Djokovic, with 24 Grand Slam titles and 428 weeks at world No 1 to his name.
Djokovic has been pushed to a fifth set 51 times and has won 40 of those matches, holding an overall win percentage of 78.4%
That places him third in the Open Era, with only two fellow Grand Slam winners ahead of him.
=1) Johan Kriek – 81.8%
Sitting joint-top of this countdown is South African-born American Kriek, a winner of two Australian Open titles in the early 1980s.
Kriek played 22 matches that went to a fifth set and lost just four times, winning 18 of those contests.
Overall, the former world No 7 has a fifth-set win rate of 81.8%
=1) Bjorn Borg – 81.8%
Joining Kriek at the top of this list is true tennis icon Borg, a former world No 1 and winner of 11 Grand Slam singles titles.
The Swede played in 33 fifth sets and won an impressive 27 of them, tasting defeat just six times.
Perhaps his most famous win in such circumstances was Wimbledon in 1980, where he battled past John McEnroe in a legendary Wimbledon final.
