The tennis players (men and women) with the most titles in history

Djokovic again puts his ideology ahead of his career 4:06

(CNN Spanish) -- 

Records in tennis go back decades: John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova are the athletes who have won the most titles in the ATP and WTA, respectively, by combining singles and doubles.

These are the stats you need to know.

In each Men's Open, the eyes are usually concentrated on Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who occupy the first and second places in the ranking of the most Grand Slam titles.

In this US Open, however, the situation changes since the Serbian, due to his refusal to be vaccinated against covid-19, is not competing for the title that would allow him to tie the Spanish.

In the field of the Women's Open, things change: if she were to win, Serena Williams would be able to tie the historical tennis player who today heads the podium for the most Grand Slam titles, the Australian Margaret Court.

• Serena Williams begins the US Open with a resounding victory in the individual branch

But these are not the only statistics to consider.

Here, a review of the tennis players with the most titles that you should know.

Guinness World Record holders McEnroe and Navratilova

The Guinness record for the most ATP titles is held, since January 2021, by the American John McEnroe.

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During his career he has won 155 association titles: 77 singles and 77 doubles.

Of that total there are 17 Grand Slam titles in three different categories, singles (seven), men's doubles (nine) and mixed doubles (one).

Retired John McEnroe comforts Novak Djokovic of Serbia as he discusses Kobe Bryant at the Australian Open in Melbourne on January 28, 2020. (Credit: William West/AFP/Getty Images)

If you became interested in tennis recently, you probably don't remember McEnroe's singles Grand Slams because those victories are decades old: they happened between 1979, a year after he turned professional, and 1984.

In addition, according to information from the Guinness World Records, his record includes eight annual championships that he won between 1978 and 1989.

Among women, the Guinness is held by Martina Navratilova, an American born in Czechoslovakia, who during her career won 344 WTA titles.

Navratilova won 167 singles and 177 doubles titles and also holds the record for the most Grand Slams (59).

In those competitions she won 18 singles, mainly in the 1990s, 31 women's doubles and 10 mixed doubles.

That 59 is also impressive considering that the number of finals played was 85, meaning he won a vast majority of those he competed in.

The tennis players with the most ATP and WTA singles titles

John McEnroe takes the Guinness for ATP titles, but he is not the tennis player with the most individual titles.

That ranking is led so far by another American, Jimmy Connors, with 109 wins.

Jimmy Conners

He is followed by the Swiss Roger Federer with 103 and in third place is the Czech-American Ivan Lendl with 94 titles.

Rafael Nadal (92 titles) and Novak Djokovic (88) close the top five places.

McEnroe, in this ranking, would be in sixth place with 77 titles.

In the case of women, Navratilova does lead the ranking of the most WTA singles titles.

She has 167, which leaves her with a difference of more than a dozen with respect to the second, which is the American Chris Evert, with 154 titles.

In third place is the German Steffi Graf with 107 and the top five are closed by the Australian Margaret Court (92 titles) and Serena Williams (73).

Men

Women

The winners of the most Grand Slam tournaments

The Spanish Rafael Nadal is the male tennis player with the most Grand Slam titles (the four most important tournaments on the world circuit: Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open).

He is currently 22.

His most recent title was obtained in May with the triumph at Roland Garros.

However, since January he has been on top of the podium.

That month, with victory at the Australian Open, he surpassed Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

The 36-year-old has won 14 Roland Garros titles, four US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and two Australian Open titles in his career, making him only the second man in the Open Era (since 1970, when tennis tournaments were unified) to win each of the four Grand Slams twice.

Nadal is closely followed by Novak Djokovic, who has 21 Grand Slam titles to his name so far.

Djokovic will not be able to try to match the Spaniard at the current US Open because, due to his refusal to be vaccinated against covid-19, he cannot participate in the competition (current US rules state that any non-US person must have the full schedule). of vaccination against the virus to obtain a visa and be able to enter the country).

Not being vaccinated has cost him his place in several tournaments: Australia deported Djokovic in January and prevented him from participating in their Open, while he was also unable to compete in Indian Wells or the Miami Open in March.

He did have a free pass to participate in Wimbledon in July, which was where he won his most recent title.

The third place is occupied by the Swiss Roger Federer with 20 Grand Slam titles so far.

In the ranking they are followed, with a wide difference, by three historical ones: the American Pete Sampras (14 Grand Slam titles), the Swedish Bjorn Borg (11) and the American Jimmy Connors (8).

Margaret Court-Smith on July 3, 1970, during the Wimbledon Championships in London.

(Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

Among women, the Australian Margaret Court holds the record in the field of Grand Slams, with 24 titles to her credit.

She is followed by the American Serena Williams with 23 and, to close the list, is the German Steffi Graf with 22 titles.

The current US Open could be the last for Williams, who has hinted at a possible step away from competition (although not confirmed) and also her chance to match Court.

"I've never liked the word retirement. It doesn't seem like a modern word to me. I've been thinking about this as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people," Williams said of her career in a

article published earlier this month.

Men

Women

Grand SlamNovak DjokovicRafael NadalRoger FedererUS Open