The 5 men to win the Cincinnati Open while at No 1 in the rankings: Roger Federer has done it four times
Roger Federer holds the record for the most Cincinnati Open titles won and he is, unsurprisingly, one of only five men to win the tournament while sitting at No 1 in the ATP Rankings.
The 20-time Grand Slam winner has won the ATP Masters 1000 title seven times and he has achieved the feat of lifting the title while at No 1 on multiple occasions.
Federer is also the last player to win the Cincinnati Open while in top spot with current world No 1 Jannik Sinner looking to become only the sixth player to join the esteemed list.
Although the Cincinnati event has been part of the calendar since the start of the Open Era in 1968, the ATP Rankings were only introduced in 1973.
Since then there have been several high-profile winners including Federer, Mats Wilander (4), Pete Sampras (3) and Novak Djokovic (3).
Wilander, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal are among the list of players who have missed out on winning the title while at No 1 with Carlos Alcaraz also failing to achieve the feat last year when he was beaten in the final by Djokovic.
The 5 men to win the Cincinnati Open while world No 1:
John McEnroe – 1981
American great John McEnroe started his fourth stint at No 1 in the ATP Rankings on August 3 and was the top seed for the 1981 ATP Championship (as the Cincinnati Open was known as back then).
McEnroe went all the way as he defeated Chris Lewis 6–3, 6–4 in the final to become the first world No 1 to win the title.
Andre Agassi – 1995
The Cincinnati fans had to wait more than a decade for another world No 1 to achieve the feat and it was once again an American as Agassi won the first of his two titles in 1995.
Agassi became world No 1 for the first time on April 10, 1995 and he stayed there until November 5. Sandwiched in between those dates was the Cincinnati Open – or Thriftway ATP Championships if you like – and Agassi defeated Michael Chang in the final.
Pete Sampras – 1997 and 1999
Two years after Agassi’s achievement, Pete Sampras made it a three-man club as he was top of the rankings from April 15, 1996 until March 29, 1998.
In August 1997 he won his second Cincinnati Open title with a two-set win over Thomas Muster.
In 1998 Sampras became the first man to notch up the achievement twice as was back at No 1 when he won his third and last title with victory over Patrick Rafter in the final.
Facts & Stats Features
The 5 men with the most Cincinnati Open titles – ft Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic
Gustavo Kuerton – 2001
Brazilian legend Kuerten won 20 titles with 14 coming on clay and only six on hard courts. One of those six hard-court trophies was won at the Cincinnati Open when he was at the top of the rankings as he was at No 1 from April 23 until November 18.
Guga defeated Rafter in the final.
Roger Federer – 2005, 2007, 2009, 2012
Roger Federer was at his peak in the early noughties and he was at No 1 from February 2, 2004 until August 17, 2008.
The Swiss cashed in at the Cincinnati Open as he won the title in 2005, defeating Andy Roddick, and again in 2007, this time getting the better of James Blake in the final.
Federer was back at No 1 for a third stint from July 6, 2009 until June 6, 2010 and he collected his third trophy in 2009 as he beat Djokovic in the final.
Having returned to the top of the rankings again in July 2012, a month later he won the fifth of his seven titles with another win over Djokovic.
