1100: Roger Federer Again Proves His Unprecedented Longevity on the Tennis Tour

Another tennis week has rolled in and Roger Federer has another milestone to his name. In a long career, the Swiss maestro has shown just how meaningful his longevity has been with the several high-profile records and milestones to his name. One important one was achieved recently, emphasizing his place in the rankings and how he has maintained it.

With the new ATP week rolled in, Federer has now completed 1100 weeks inside the top 100 of the rankings. He is 6th in the world at the moment and will extend his record further. He has the most number of weeks inside the top 100, by a country mile.

The second best is American great Andre Agassi, who was in the top 10 for 1019 weeks. And the next active player on the list is Feliciano Lopez, with 946 weeks. Federer’s greatest rival, Rafael Nadal, is far behind with 913 weeks.

What has happened since Roger Federer was out of the top 100?

Federer has been inside the top 100 since late 1999. In the past 21 years, Federer has never dropped out of the top 100 with his lowest ranking being 93rd. Furthermore, Federer has been in the top 50 since June 2000.

Since Federer breached the top 100, he has won 103 titles out of which 20 are Grand Slam titles. Further, he has played 157 career singles finals. He entered the top 100 as a teenager and is still in there despite being on the verge of turning 40. And he has an Olympic Gold and Silver medal to cap everything off.

2020 seemed like the year Federer would drop out of the top 100. Federer underwent two knee surgeries in 2020, which ended his season early in the year. He played a single tournament the whole year, yet Federer not only stayed in the top 100 but in the top 10 as well.

Federer’s surgeries came at the same time as the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic brought the tennis season to a complete halt, forcing ATP to make changes to the ranking system.

ATP froze the rankings, thus no player lost points for no participation. So Federer never lost his 2019 points and thus kept his place in the top 10. If the rankings weren’t frozen, Federer would have found himself on the fringes of the top 100.

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Nevertheless, Federer is back on the tour and now has to start defending his 2019 points.

Could Roger Federer slip out of the top 20 this year?