Tennis seven men with the best record versus opponents ranked in the top ten…
Former world No. 1 Borg has defeated players ranked among the top 10 at the time of the match in 70% of his matches, with Djokovic ranking second on the list behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Some of the all-time greats who have faced opponents ranked in the top ten are not included on this list: Andy Murray (52.2%), Jimmy Connors (54.4%), John McEnroe (57.7%), and Andre Agassi (54.8%). Jannik Sinner leads the current crop at 50.8% with a 32-31 record, while Carlos Alcaraz has a 63.3% record despite having only played 49 games against opponents ranked in the top 10. 7. 63.6% for Pete Sampras The 14-time Grand Slam champion, who was ranked 127th in the world, defeated world No. 8 Tim Mayotte in Detroit in 1988 to record his first-ever top-10 victory. In 1996, he defeated Boris Becker for the first time in the world rankings. From 1992 to 1997, Sampras won double digits of top-10 races; his highest total of 14 came in 1995. With a 124-71 win-loss record, the American’s only top-10 victory came in the 2002 US Open final, where he defeated world No. 6 Agassi. 6. 63.9% for Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal has a 186-105 win-loss record, which puts him lower on the leaderboard but third in terms of most top-10 match wins. In the second round of the 2003 Monte Carlo Masters, Rafael Nadal defeated fellow Spaniard Albert Costa, the 2002 French Open champion, to record his maiden top-10 victory. At the time, Nadal’s position in the ATP Rankings was No. 109. In the subsequent year, he upset Roger Federer at the Miami Open, when ranked No. 34, to record his first-ever victory over a world No. 1. 2013 was Nadal’s best year for top-10 victories, with 24 victories, five of which came against David Ferrer, four each against Tomas Berdych and Roger Federer, and three against Novak Djokovic. 5. 64.3% is Ivan Lendl. In the 1979 French Open’s third round, Ivan Lendl, a native of Czechoslovakia, triumphed over the legendary Arthur Ashe, who was ranked 10th in the world at the time. His most successful season versus top-10 players was in 1985, when he recorded 22 victories. The following year, he achieved his first victory against a world No. 1 when he defeated Borg in Basel. His final top-10 victory came in Tokyo in 1993 against the world’s third-ranked player, Boris Becker. 4. 64.6% for Roger Federer With a record of 224–123, Roger Federer is the only player, behind Novak Djokovic, to have won more than 200 matches against opponents ranked in the top 10. When the Swiss defeated then-world No. 5 Carlos Moya in Marseille in 1999, he was rated No. 243. However, he had to wait until Miami in 2002 to defeat Lleyton Hewitt in order to record his first victory against the world’s top player. When Djokovic defeated the world No. 3 at the 2019 ATP Finals, he was ranked No. 224 out of the top 10. 3. With 65.1%, Boris Becker With a 121–65 win–loss record against teams ranked in the top 10, it is hardly surprising that Boris Becker’s first victory occurred during his remarkable 1985 campaign. Becker, ranked No. 29, defeated world No. 7 Pat Cash in the Queen’s Club quarterfinal before winning three more top-10 matches en route to his Wimbledon championship. In 1986, Lendl became his first world No. 1 opponent, with the German claiming 15 top-10 victories in that campaign. Andy Murray was defeated six matches, Federer five times, and Rafael Nadal four times by him in that year. 2. 69.2% for Novak Djokovic When Novak Djokovic overcame Mariano Puerta in the second round of the 2005 Paris Masters, he was ranked 85th in the world. He defeated Roger Federer at the Canadian Open two years later to record his first victory over a world No. 1 player. The Serbian is the only player to have won more than 20 games against top-10 opponents in four different seasons—his best being an amazing 31 in 2015. His most recent top-10 victim was Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated him in the gold medal match in the 2024 Paris Games to raise his record to 258–115. 1. 71.1% for Bjorn Borg The Ice Man undoubtedly won a few more matches prior to that because the rankings and point system in place back then were different from what they are today. The ATP Tour website claims that the Ice Man played 159 matches against opponents ranked in the top 10. His career record stood at 113-46 at the end. Records state that at the 1973 US Open, he defeated Arthur Ashe (4) to achieve his first victory over a player ranked in the top 10.
