Who has won the US Open more times: Federer, Nadal or Djokovic?
If the Spaniard wins the 2022 US Open, he will join Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer on a joint-record five titles in New York.
Rafael Nadal heads into the 2022 US Open on the cusp of more history and as the favourite to land the title in New York for a fifth time. If the Spaniard lifts the trophy in two weeks on Arthur Ashe, he will draw level with Serena Williams on 23 Grand Slams (unless of course the American great claims her 24th), overtaking Steffi Graf on the all-time list and cementing his status as the greatest men’s player ever to wield a racket.
Nadal moved ahead of long-term rivals Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by winning the Australian and French Opens, but the Serb pulled one back at Wimbledon after Nadal retired ahead of the semi-finals. Only Margaret Court has more Grand Slams than Nadal and Williams, although the Australian’s achievements span both the amateur and professional eras.
Nadal has won the US Open on four previous occasions. His first victory in Flushing Meadows came in 2010, when he defeated Djokovic in the final in four sets and he repeated that success with the same score and against the same opponent in 2013. Four years later he beat Kevin Anderson to claim his third US Open title and two years later – on what would turn out to be his last appearance before this year – he beat reigning champion and current world number one Daniil Medvedev.
Connors, Sampras and Federer kings of New York
The Spaniard is one short of the Open Era record of five US Open titles, jointly held by Jimmy Connors (1974, 1976, 1978, 1982, 1983), Pete Sampras (1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002) and Federer (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Djokovic, who is not competing at this year’s tournament due to US covid-19 vaccination regulations, has won the US Open three times (2011, 2015, 2018) depite reaching the final on a record nine occasions.
During the amateur era, three men won the US Open title seven times: Bill Tilden (1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1929), William Larned (1901, 1902, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911) and Richard Sears (1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1887).