Tennis legend Roger Federer added a new milestone to his long list of career records on Tuesday as he became the first player to remain within the top 100 on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking list for 1,000 consecutive weeks.
As big as the news is, it is easily eclipsed by other records Federer has under his belt.
In the 1,000 weeks of being on the top 100 list, Federer spent a total of 310 weeks being the world's No.1 and has been sitting on that throne for 237 consecutive weeks. Both are unbreakable records since his closest competitor, retired player Jimmy Connors, has spent 160 weeks on the top. Among those still on the court, Novak Djokovic's longest time was 122 weeks while Rafael Nadal's was 56 weeks, both too far away to catch up.
Roger Federer and his 19 men's singles Grand Slam titles by 2017. /VCG Photo
Federer is also the world's oldest ATP No.1 ranking player. In February when he returned to the top position, Federer, 36 years and 195 days old at the time, broke Andre Agassi's record (33 years and five months). Then in June, he updated the record to 36 years and 314 days.
Though Federer's record of winning 20 men's singles Grand Slam titles may one day be challenged by Djokovic or Nadal, the following records of the Swiss player are unbeaten.
He is the only tennis player who has won at least five championships at three of the Grand Slams (six for Australian Open, eight for Wimbledon and five for U.S. Open), including five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon (2003-2007) and U.S. Open (2004-2008).
Roger Federer and his 20th men's singles Grand Slam title won at 2018 Australian Open. /VCG Photo
After the 2018 U.S. Open, Federer won in total 338 Grand Slam singles' matches, the most in history, followed by Djokovic (258) and Nadal (247). Moreover, from Wimbledon in 2004 to Australian Open in 2010, Federer made it to Grand Slam semi-finals 23 straight times, an achievement that also left others far behind.
Since 2002, Federer has in total made it 16 times to the ATP Finals, of which 14 were back-to-back between 2002 and 2015. He also won six titles at the ATP Finals (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011), a record that may be broken by Djokovic who has already won five.