Top five men's singles players with most matches at US Open in Open Era

Jimmy Connors tops the list with 115 appearances.

Novak Djokovic beat Daniil Medvedev to clinch the US Open 2023 men’s singles title and, in the process, lift his 24th Major slam. The Serbian has played four Grand Slam finals this year and won three out of those. The World No. 1 only loss came against Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz at the Wimbledon final.

Speaking of records are you aware of the men’s singles players who have played the most number of men’s singles matches at the US Open? If not here’s a list of the players who have played a staggering number of matches in New York.

Ivan Lendl (86)

Ivan Lendl played his first match at the US Open in 1979. Following which he made three back-to-back final appearances in the years 1982,1983 and 1984. However, as luck would have it, he did not win those finals. But all that changed when Lendl managed to break the curse in 1985 by defeating John McEnroe and added two more trophies in the following years (1986 and 1987). So, ironically a hat-trick of US title losses followed by hat-trick of wins.

In the process of beating McEnroe, he also avenged his loss to him in the previous edition (1984). Ivan won the game in straight sets (7-6, 6-3, 6-4) to win his maiden US Open title. His last appearance in the competition was in 1994 where he made a second-round exit after retiring while trailing to Germany’s Bernd Karbacher.

Andre Agassi (98)

Andre Agassi’s multiple appearances in the US Open circuit is vastly credited to his consistency on hard courts in his home-country. Right from his first appearance in 1986 to 2006, Agassi made sure he played in every edition of the Slam.

These 20 years saw Agassi win two titles in 1994 and 1999. Apart from this, he also made multiple final and semi-final appearances which took his total matches to 98 in US Open. Agassi’s last appearance in Flushing Meadows was in 2006.

Novak Djokovic (104)

The 24-time Grand Slam champion reached the milestone of a century appearances when he played in the semi-final of US Open 2023 against unseeded American Ben Shelton. Novak Djokovic apart from getting to the century also equaled Margaret Court’s record of winning 24 Grand Slam titles after beating Novak Djokovic in the final.

Coincidentally, the final was a rematch of the 2021 final in which Daniil beat Novak in straight sets to earn his only Grand Slam trophy. However, Novak exacted his revenge with straight sets win in the 2023 edition to lift his fourth US Open title.

But in the US Open 2024, Djokovoc lost in the third round to Alexei Popyrin in four sets.

Roger Federer (103)

Tennis legend Roger Federer is a five-time US Open champion. More so, the Swiss also won five consecutive titles from 2004 to 2008. No player could stand their ground against him at that point in time and he still remains the only the men’s singles player to win consecutive titles in the competition history in the past decade.

Federer enjoyed an 86% win percentage at the US Open with an astounding 89-14 win-loss. His last appearance in the tournament was in 2019 where he made it to the quarterfinals.

Jimmy Connors (115)

Jimmy Connors enjoyed playing on hard courts of the US Open. The American was also a five-time US Open champion and ruled the courts between 1974-1983. This period saw him clashing with tennis legends including the likes of Bjorn Borg and Ivan Lendl among others.

The American after winning the title five times did not win the US Open title any further. However, he kept on putting up performances progressing to the semis and quarterfinals regularly. His brilliant streak of performances helped him become the player with most number of Grand Slam appearances at the US Open.