The 9 players with most seasons reaching a Grand Slam final: Novak Djokovic skips past Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic continues to notch up records left, right and centre and he has once again surpassed his two great rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for a new Grand Slam milestone by reaching the 2024 Wimbledon final.
The 24-time major winner brushed aside Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-final at the All England Club to reach a 10th final at Wimbledon while he extended his tally for Grand Slam finals to 37 – Federer is next best with 31 while Nadal is on 30.
But Djokovic also set a new outright record for most seasons reaching a Grand Slam final as he edged ahead of Federer and Nadal.
He had to wait for the new record as he joined them on 15 seasons reaching a final at last year’s US Open, but then lost in the semi-final of the Australian Open and then withdrew from Roland Garros ahead of his quarter-final match.
He finally got the job done at Wimbledon!
Players with the most seasons reaching a Grand Slam final
=7. Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker – 8 seasons
Bjorn Borg reached 16 Grand Slam finals, winning 11 titles, but they were spread over “just” eight seasons and here is the great stat: they were consecutive seasons, which puts him joint-second for most consecutive seasons with at least one major won (Nadal leads with 10).
Borg reached his first Grand Slam final at the 1974 French Open and then lifted a major trophy for eight years in a row with the last coming 1981 US Open.
Fellow Swede Stefan Edberg appeared in 11 finals, winning five Grand Slams. His story started and finished at the Australian Open as he reached his first final in 1985 in Melbourne and his last major final appearance was at the same event in 1993.
Boris Becker stunned the tennis world when he became the youngest player to win Wimbledon in 1985 when he was 17 years, 7 months and 15 days. The German ended up reaching 10 finals – winning six trophies – with those spread over eight seasons.
The 5 men with the most Grand Slam semi-finals as Novak Djokovic extends lead at Wimbledon
The 9 players with the most career wins over the world No 1: Rafael Nadal ahead of rivals
The 10 players to beat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon – ft. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray
=5. Ivan Lendl and Andre Agassi – 11 seasons
The great Ivan Lendl is the only man on this list who has lost more Grand Slam finals than he has won. He appeared in 19 major finals, winning eight Slams.
Lendl’s first Grand Slam final was at the 1981 French Open and the final one at the 1991 Australian Open. He reached three finals in a year in 1986 and 1987 – doing the French Open-US Open double while finishing runner-up at Wimbledon on both occasions.
Andre Agassi started off by losing his first three Grand Slam finals with the first coming at the 1990 French Open. He ended up reaching 15 finals, winning eight titles, spread across 11 seasons with his last final the 2005 US Open when he lost against Roger Federer.
=4. Pete Sampras – 12 seasons
Pete Sampras is joint-second with Bjorn Borg and Federer for most consecutive seasons with at least one Grand Slam title. The Sampras Grand Slam journey started and ended at Flushing Meadows.
He reached and won his maiden major at the 1990 US Open while his last Grand Slam final appearance was also in New York when he lifted the title in 2002. His 18 final appearances were spread over 12 seasons as he won 14 of those finals.
=2. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – 15 seasons
Sampras’ record of 12 was first overtaken by Roger Federer, then Rafael Nadal and then Novak Djokovic.
Federer’s 31 Grand Slam final appearances were spread over 15 seasons as he won 20 titles. The first of those came at Wimbledon in 2003 and his last appearance in a final was also at SW19 when he lost the 2019 showpiece match against Novak Djokovic.
The Swiss Maestro reached all four finals in 2006 and 2007 and it was his great rival Nadal who denied him the Calendar Grand Slam in both years as the Spaniard collected the Roland Garros title both years with Federer winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open.
Nadal has the record for consecutive seasons with at least one major title or final as he sits on 10. The 22-time Grand Slam winner has reached 30 Grand Slam finals and they are spread over 15 campaigns.
The Spaniard’s first final was at the 2005 French Open when he won the title and, unsurprisingly, his most recent final was also at Roland Garros when he won the 2022 title.
Nadal reached three finals in a year in 2010, 2011, 2017 and 2019.
1. Novak Djokovic – 16 seasons
The Grand Slam record holder moved ahead of his great rivals with his run to the 2024 Wimbledon final – 17 years after he reached his first final at the 2007 US Open.
The tennis great has an incredible 88% win-loss rate at Grand Slams and he has won 24 of the 37 finals he has appeared in.
Djokovic reached all four finals in the same year in 2015, 2021 and 2023. Stan Wawrinka denied him the Calendar Grand Slam in 2015 when he won the French Open, Daniil Medvedev’s US Open title run in 2021 put an end to his hopes of winning all four that year while last year Carlos Alcaraz won Wimbledon to deny him the Calendar Slam.
