US Open Men's Tennis Legends

Three of the greatest men's tennis players of all time share the Open Era record for the most singles wins at the US Open - the tempestuous Jimmy Connors, the precise Pete Sampras and the unbeatable Roger Federer. They have all clinched the crown at New York on five occasions.

Jimmy Connors

Jimmy Connors of the U.S. chases down a return from Brazil's Jaime Oncins 02 September, 1992 at the U.S. Open. Connors won the match 6-1, 6-2, 6-3.American Jimmy Connors was one of the superstars of the 1970s. He was the world number one for 160 consecutive weeks, and at the age of 39 he incredibly reached the semi finals at Flushing Meadows, only to be beaten by compatriot Jim Courier.

In his long career he won eight Grand Slam singles titles, two doubles crowns with Romanian, Illie Nastase and was runner-up in the mixed doubles with former sweetheart, Chris Evert at the 1974 US Open.

Connors won his first US Open singles title in his debut year. He trounced the inspired Ken Rosewall of Australia in three sets on the grass courts of the Westside Tennis Club. In 1976 the tournament had moved to Forest Hills, and Connors was victorious again, but this time on clay. He beat his arch-rival, Bjorn Borg, 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) 6-4.

In 1978 the US Open moved to its permanent venue of Flushing Meadows, and for the first time a Grand Slam event was contested on a hard court surface. Again he subdued the Swede, Borg, in just three easy sets, 6-4 6-2 6-2.

The feat of winning the US Open on three different surfaces is possibly what makes Connors so remarkable. He did, however, also stun the world when he came back in 1982 and 1983 to win consecutive US Open singles titles against one of the young up-and-coming stars of the future, Ivan Lendl.

Connors, US Open men's tennis legend, has never really left the game that has been so good to him, in 2006, it was formally announced that he would coach another American legend, Andy Roddick.

Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras will be remembered for his incredible stranglehold he had on the Wimbledon Championships. He won at the All England Club no fewer than seven times - three consecutive wins, followed by a further four straight victories. He also held the top spot on the ATP ranking for an extraordinary six consecutive years.

He won at Flushing Meadows five times, joining Jimmy Connors in the record books, but what makes him a US Open men's tennis legend is that he became the youngest ever US Open men's singles champion at 19 years and 28 days, on lifting his first crown in 1990.

Pete's US Open record:

  • 1990 defeated Andre Agassi, 6-4 6-3 6-2
  • 1993 defeated Cedric Pioline, 6-4 6-4 6-3
  • 1995 defeated Andre Agassi, 6-4 6-3 4-6 7-5
  • 1996 defeated Michael Chang, 6-1 6-4 7-6
  • 2002 defeated Andre Agassi, 6-3 6-4 5-7 6-4

Roger Federer

The Swiss Master, Roger Federer came back from one his his worst grand slam seasons in 2008 to equal the records of both Sampras and Connors with five consecutive wins. 2008 proved to be testing year for Federer, his chances of winning a 6th Wimbledon title were dashed by rival Rafael Nadal, and he sank to world number 2 status after 237 weeks at number 1. This didn't stop him from claiming his thrown as the greatest player in history!

Roger Federer's US Open record:

  • 2004 defeated Lleyton Hewitt, 6–0 7–6(3) 6–0
  • 2005 defeated Andre Agassi,  6–3 2–6 7–6(1) 6–1
  • 2006 defeated Andy Roddick, 6–2 4–6 7–5 6–1
  • 2007 defeated Novak Djokovic,  7–6(4) 7–6(2) 6–4
  • 2008 defeated Andy Murray, 6–2 7–5 6–2