The 9 players with the most career wins over the world No 1: Rafael Nadal ahead of rivals
Daniil Medvedev scored another win over a world No 1 when he beat Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon, but does he feature in the top 9 of players with the most matches won against a world No 1?
Medvedev defeated Sinner in five sets in the quarter-final of Wimbledon 2024 for his seventh win over the world No 1. Last year he defeated Carlos Alcaraz in the semi-final of the US Open when the Spaniard was sitting top of the rankings.
His other five wins over a world No 1 have been against Novak Djokovic as he beat the Serbian twice in 2019, once in 2020, in the final of the 2021 US Open and once in 2023.
But Medvedev is currently outside the top 19 as he is joint 12th for most wins over a world No 1 along with John McEnroe, Michael Change, Richard Krajicek and Roy Emerson.
The 9 players with the most career wins over the world No 1:
=6. Andre Agassi, Juan Martin del Potro, Roger Federer, Tom Okker – 10 wins
Only nine players have reached double figures for wins against a world No 1 with Andre Agassi, Juan Martin del Potro, Roger Federer and Tom Okker joint sixth with exactly 10.
Half of Agassi’s 10 wins came against his great rival Pete Sampras while he also defeated Stefan Edberg twice, Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten and Lleyton Hewitt.
Del Potro played when the Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were at their peak and he split the wins over them nicely, beating Federer four times, and Djokovic and Nadal three times each.
Most of Federer’s wins (5) came against Djokovic, three were against Nadal and one each against Andy Roddick and Hewitt.
Okker beat Ilie Nastase six times, Rod Laver three times and Ken Rosewell once.
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5. Andy Murray – 12 wins
Three-time Grand Slam winner beat the Big Three of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer 30 times, but only 12 of those were when one of them was top of the rankings.
Five of his wins over a world No 1 came against Djokovic, four were against Federer and three against Nadal.
4. Ivan Lendl – 13 wins
Ten of Lendl’s wins against a world No 1 came against John McEnroe – including twice in a Grand Slam final – while he also beat Stefan Edberg twice and Bjorn Borg once.
3. Novak Djokovic – 16 wins
Novak Djokovic leads his head-to-head rivalry with Rafael Nadal 30-29 so unsurprisingly he features most for wins over world No 1s.
Ten of Djokovic’s 16 wins have come against the Spaniard, three against Federer, two against Carlos Alcaraz and one against Murray.
2. Boris Becker – 19 wins
Boris Becker claimed his first-ever win against a world No 1 over Ivan Lendl in 1986 and he defeated the Czech-American seven times in total.
Next best was Pete Sampras as he defeated him four times while Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier were beaten three times and Mats Wilander and Agassi once each.
1. Rafael Nadal – 23 wins
All of Rafael Nadal’s wins over the world No 1 have come against his Big Three rivals Federer and Nadal.
His first win over a world No 1 came at Miami in 2004 when he beat Federer. He went on to defeat the Swiss Maestro another 13 times when he was at No 1 in the rankings.
Djokovic has been beaten 10 times while No 1 with the most recent in the quarter-final of the 2022 French Open.
