Players With the Most Tennis Titles in History
Jimmy Connors won his first tour title in 1972 and kept winning them for the better part of two decades, finishing with a number that nobody has come close to touching since. On the women’s side, Martina Navratilova piled up more singles titles than any player, male or female, has ever managed. Chasing down the players with the most tennis titles in history means digging through five decades of tennis, and the names at the top are not always the ones casual fans expect.
The Open Era Standard: How Title Counts Are Measured
Most title-count conversations start in 1968, when tennis entered the Open Era and allowed professionals to compete alongside amateurs at every major tournament. Before that, the sport’s record books get messy, since amateur-only events and professional barnstorming tours were tracked separately and inconsistently. For that reason, this list sticks to Open Era ATP and WTA singles titles, which is also how the tours themselves keep their official records.
It is worth noting up front that a title count blends together everything from Grand Slams down to small 250-level events. A player with 100 titles has not necessarily won more majors than a player with 30. Keep that distinction in mind as the names below start piling up.
Men’s All-Time Leaders in ATP Singles Titles
Jimmy Connors and the Untouchable 109
Jimmy Connors sits alone at the top of the men’s list with 109 ATP singles titles, a record that has stood since he retired in 1996. Connors built that total across nearly a quarter-century on tour, playing an aggressive, high-volume schedule that modern players rarely attempt. No man in the Open Era has finished a career within twenty titles of that number.
Federer and Djokovic Close the Gap
Roger Federer retired with 103 ATP singles titles, the second-highest total in men’s tennis history and the only real challenge Connors has faced on the all-time list. Novak Djokovic sits just behind him with 101 titles, making him the third man ever to clear the century mark. Djokovic remains active, which means his final number is not locked in yet, though a serious run at Connors’ record would require a late-career surge that even a player of his caliber would find demanding.
Where Nadal, McEnroe, and Borg Rank
Rafael Nadal closed out his career with 92 titles, the fourth-highest total in men’s history, built heavily around his dominance on clay. John McEnroe finished with 77, a number that still ranks him among the top handful of players ever despite a career that ended relatively early. Bjorn Borg, who walked away from the sport at just 26, still managed 66 titles in a career that lasted barely a decade, which says a lot about how quickly he accumulated wins during his peak years.
Women’s All-Time Leaders in WTA Singles Titles
Martina Navratilova’s Record 167
Martina Navratilova holds the outright record for most singles titles by any player, man or woman, with 167 career wins. Her career stretched from 1974 into the mid-1990s, with a brief comeback afterward, and she built her total across every surface, though grass and carpet courts suited her serve-and-volley game best. Nobody in tennis history, in either the men’s or women’s game, has come within thirty titles of that mark.
Chris Evert and the Chase for 150
Chris Evert finished her career with 154 singles titles, placing her second on the all-time women’s list and ahead of every man except Navratilova’s own total obviously excluded. Evert and Navratilova played each other 80 times across their careers, and their rivalry defined women’s tennis through the late 1970s and 1980s. Evert built much of her total on clay, where her consistency and baseline game were nearly impossible to break down.
Steffi Graf, Margaret Court, and the Modern Contenders
Steffi Graf ranks third among women with 107 singles titles, a total she built during a career that included the calendar Golden Slam in 1988. Margaret Court, whose career began before the Open Era but continued into it, finished with 92 Open Era titles. Serena Williams, the most decorated player of the modern era in terms of Grand Slam titles, finished her career with 73 singles titles, a number that reflects how much the sport’s calendar and scheduling philosophy shifted in the decades after Navratilova and Evert were active.
Quick Reference: Top All-Time Singles Title Leaders
Here is a side-by-side look at where the biggest names in men’s and women’s tennis rank on the all-time list:
- Martina Navratilova – 167 WTA singles titles
- Chris Evert – 154 WTA singles titles
- Jimmy Connors – 109 ATP singles titles
- Steffi Graf – 107 WTA singles titles
- Roger Federer – 103 ATP singles titles
- Novak Djokovic – 101 ATP singles titles (active)
- Margaret Court – 92 WTA singles titles (Open Era total)
- Rafael Nadal – 92 ATP singles titles
- Serena Williams – 73 WTA singles titles
- John McEnroe – 77 ATP singles titles
The Active Players Still Climbing the List
Djokovic remains the only active player within realistic striking distance of the men’s Open Era record, though his ranking and title pace have slowed compared to his peak years, and at this stage of his career every additional title matters more than it once did. Jannik Sinner, by contrast, is still building. He has already reached 30 ATP singles titles, including five majors, a number that puts him ahead of where most future record-chasers stood at the same age.
Carlos Alcaraz has moved even faster in some respects. He has already collected 26 ATP titles and seven Grand Slam championships, and he became the youngest man in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam when he won the Australian Open earlier this year. A wrist injury interrupted his 2026 season, a reminder of how fragile even the most dominant young careers can be. If Sinner and Alcaraz both stay healthy through their late twenties and early thirties, the way Djokovic did, either one could plausibly threaten Federer’s total, though catching Connors’ 109 would still require a career of rare longevity.
Why Raw Title Counts Do Not Tell the Whole Story
Title counts reward volume, and volume depends heavily on how a player’s schedule was built. Connors played an enormous number of smaller events across his career, especially early on, in a tour calendar that offered far more tournaments than today’s ATP schedule does. Modern players compete in a more condensed calendar with fewer mandatory events, which naturally caps how many titles even a dominant player can collect in a season.
This is a bit like comparing a baseball hitter from the 1930s, who played in a league with fewer teams and a different pace of the game, to a modern player facing today’s specialized bullpens. The raw numbers do not always translate cleanly across eras. That is why most serious historical rankings weigh Grand Slam titles separately from total titles, and why a player like Serena Williams, with only 73 total titles but 23 majors, is still considered by many to be the greatest women’s player of the Open Era despite trailing Navratilova and Evert by a wide margin on the all-time title list.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Most Tennis Titles in History
Who has won the most tennis titles of all time?
Martina Navratilova holds the outright record with 167 career singles titles, the most by any player in tennis history, male or female. Among men, Jimmy Connors leads with 109 ATP singles titles.
Could Novak Djokovic ever catch Jimmy Connors’ record?
Djokovic currently has 101 ATP singles titles, eight behind Connors’ record of 109. He remains active, but the gap combined with a more condensed modern tour calendar makes catching Connors a difficult, though not impossible, target.
Why does Serena Williams have fewer titles than Navratilova and Evert?
Serena Williams finished her career with 73 singles titles, well behind Navratilova’s 167 and Evert’s 154, largely because the modern tour calendar offers fewer tournaments and because Williams prioritized major championships over accumulating volume across smaller events.
Do Grand Slam titles count the same as regular tour titles in these totals?
Yes, official ATP and WTA all-time title counts include every tour-level singles title a player won, from Grand Slams down to the smallest 250-level events, without separating them by importance.
