Top five players with most Grand Slam final appearances in Men's Singles

Published at :April 3, 2024 at 4:39 PM

Modified at :April 3, 2024 at 4:39 PM

The list contains a few of the greatest ever to play the sport.

Tennis is a sport where records are made and broken overnight. The sport is dynamic in every aspect. There are multiple avenues in the game where a player can leave his mark. Just like there are records for Grand Slam victories Similarly, there are records for the fastest serve. Players with the most effective wins in tiebreakers.

There are also records for aces, youngest and oldest players to win. Record for winning a Grand Slam without losing a single set and so on. So today we are going to focus on one such record. A record for the most number of Grand Slam final appearances in men’s singles. So here are the names of these elites in the game.

5. Pete Sampras (18)

Retired tennis legend Pete Sampras had a distinguished career during his playing days. The former World No 1 won a total of 14 Grand Slams in his illustrious career. That too in just 18 finals which is an astounding success rate in the finale.

Pete played 3 Australian Open finals,7 Wimbledon finals and 8 US Open finals. Moreover he won all 7 of his Wimbledon finals. Surprisingly enough a player of his stature could not make it through the finals at the Roland Garros even once in his career. Pete’s last Grand Slam final appearance was in 2002 at the US Open. A match he subsequently won to lift his final Grand Slam.

4. Ivan Lendl (19)

Ivan Lendl’s playing career lasted for just 11 years. Despite that Lendl managed to feature in 19 Grand Slam finals. That is quite a staggering record. However, Lendl’s exploits at the finals were not as great as Sampras’s.

As he managed to win just 8 Grand Slams out of his total 19 appearances. One thing however Ivan did manage to do was play in the French Open final. Not just once but five times and he managed to win it thrice. Ivan however never managed to win the Wimbledon despite his two final showdowns. He lost to Boris Becker (1986) and Pat Cash (1987) respectively.

3. Rafael Nadal (30)

Rafa Nadal has made 30 Grand Slam appearances. The Spaniard has been a part of all the Grand Slams and has also managed to win each one of them. The French Open would most definitely be the talking point of his career.

Nadal won every French Open final he appeared in. A record of 14 victories at the Roland Garros finals will be hard to surpass for anyone. Ironically his last final appearance was also in Paris in 2022. The King of Clay beat Casper Ruud (6-3,6-3,6-0) in straight sets to win his 14th French Open title.

2. Roger Federer (31)

The latest addition to the list of retired players. Roger Federer announced his retirement last year in 2022. The Fed Express ended his 17-year-long career in the process. But not before making an array of records in his name. Roger has played a total of 31 finals and added 20 Grand Slams to his decorated cabinet.

His 17-year-long career has witnessed some true classics. His legacy will always be etched in every tennis fan’s memory.

1. Novak Djokovic (38)

Novak Djokovic added one more Grand Slam title to his kitty. Courtesy of his blistering performance at Melbourne Park. The same ground where he has never missed out on the finals. He holds a perfect record of 10 out of 10 in Australia. Novak beat 3rd seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets (6-3,7-6,7-6) to win his first Grand Slam of the current year.

It was a fitting end to all the controversy that surrounded him last year. Novak was disallowed to compete as he was unvaccinated. However, all that is past now and the Serbian is in golden touch. So it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year holds up for him. Cause if this is a sign of things to come we are in for a whole lot of finals and Grand Slam moments for the “Djoker”.