Federer Wins 64th Tour Title; Tied With Sampras At 4th Most All-Time

Roger Federer won the 2010 Stockholm Open over Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to tie Pete Sampras for 4th on the all-time list of ATP tour titles won at 64. Jimmy Connors leads with 107, followed by Ivan Lendl at 94 and John McEnroe at 77.

Federer's career record is now 64 wins and 28 losses in finals, which is significantly better than his 2010 record in finals which is 3-4 (losses to Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Masters on clay, to Andy Murray in the Toronto and Shanghai Masters on hard courts and to Lleyton Hewitt in Halle, on grass).

Federer is now 29 years old but has promised to play through thw 2012 Olympics in London, which will be held on grass. He won the Gold medal in doubles but Nadal won the Gold in singles in Beijing in 2008.

I predict Federer will surpass McEnroe's total by the time he retires  but Lendl's total is safe. Another record Federer would dearly like to have, is the most weeks at #1, where he is exactly one week behind Sampras' record of 286.

Rafa Secures Year End World #1 Ranking

On  the strength of his winning three Grand Slam titles in a row in 2010, Rafael Nadal has clinched the year-end World #1 ranking.

ATP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONS (since 1973)
Year Player2010 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 
2009 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2008 Rafael Nadal (Spain) 
2007 Roger Federer (Switzerland)
2006 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2005 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2004 Roger Federer (Switzerland) 
2003 Andy Roddick (U.S.)
2002 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 
2001 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 
2000 Gustavo Kuerten (Brazil)
1999 Andre Agassi (U.S.)
1998  Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1997 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1996 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1995 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1994 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1993 Pete Sampras (U.S.)
1992 Jim Courier (U.S.)
1991 Stefan Edberg (Sweden)
1990 Stefan Edberg (Sweden)
1989 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1988 Mats Wilander (Sweden)
1987 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1986 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1985 Ivan Lendl (Czech Republic)
1984 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1983 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1982 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1981 John McEnroe (U.S.)
1980 Bjorn Borg (Sweden)
1979 Bjorn Borg (Sweden)
1978 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1977 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1976 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1975 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1974 Jimmy Connors (U.S.)
1973 Ilie Nastase (Romania)  

MULTIPLE ATP WORLD TOUR CHAMPIONS
Player (No.)
Pete Sampras 6
Jimmy Connors 5
Roger Federer 5
Ivan Lendl 4
John McEnroe 4
Bjorn Borg 2
Stefan Edberg 2
Lleyton Hewitt 2
Rafael Nadal 2

AUSSIE OPEN 2010: Federer Wins 16th Major

Roger Federer won his record 16th major by defeating Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 7-6(11) as I predicted two days ago. The 28-year-old Swiss player improves to 16-6 in major finals and cements his hold on the World #1 rank.

When the new rankings are released on Monday 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will rise to #2, Andy Murray will become #3 and last year's Australian Open champ Rafael Nadal will fall to #4. It was also revealed today that Nadal will be out for at least 4 weeks due to a small tear in the same knee in which the Spaniard had previously suffered tendinitis.

Federer and Serena Williams have now both won 3 of the last 5 Grand Slam finals and are both on track to win a calendar Grand Slam ths year, when they will both also turn 29 years old.

Federer Clinches Year-End #1 For 5th Time in 6 Years

15-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer is guaranteed to end the year as the World #1 for the 5th time in 6 years by defeating Andy Murray in London 3-6 6-3 6-1 at the World ATP Finals. Only Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors have been able to finish #1 at the end of the year five times; Sampras was ranked #1 at the end of the year for 6 consecutive years from 1993-1998 and Connors was #1 for 5 consecutive years from 1974-1978. Federer was #1 at the end of year for four consecutive years from 2004-2007, was #2 in 2003 and 2008 and returned to #1 at the end of 2009. Federer becomes the first player ever to spend 7 consecutive years at either #1 or #2.