Who is the GOAT in men's tennis? Grand Slam title timeline and key statistics of how Novak Djokovic leapfrogged Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the top

The debate about the GOAT in men's tennis has become as vociferously heated as any other in world sport over the past few years but it may not be too long before two groups of ardent fans reluctantly fall on their swords.

When Roger Federer racked up his sixth Wimbledon crown back in 2009, the Swiss legend surpassed Pete Sampras as the most successful Grand Slam champion with 15 and cemented his undisputed status as the greatest male player ever at the age of just 27 - and just eight years after he'd famously beaten the American as a teenager at SW19.

Two months earlier he'd become just the third player in the Open Era behind Rod Laver (1969) and Andre Agassi (1999) to complete the career Grand Slam by winning his one and only French Open title - so with history books being written with every passing season and so much time still on his side, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be able to catch him until long into his retirement age. Let alone two while he was still playing.

At this time, Rafael Nadal had six in the bag - four of which on the clay of Roland Garros - and Novak Djokovic just one.

But after winning his 16th at the 2010 Australian Open, Federer's dominance would be broken as the chasing pack, which also included three-time champions Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka - closed the gulf in class emphatically, while injuries would eventually start to take their toll on a body he now had to push to the absolute limits.

Having contested 22 of the 27 possible Grand Slam finals since his maiden success in 2003, he'd reach 'just' four of the next 23 until the end of 2015, with his sole success coming at Wimbledon in 2012 to move onto 17.

During these years, Nadal had remarkably cut the deficit to just three, with the comparatively unpopular Djokovic getting worryingly close on 10 having defeated Federer in both the Wimbledon and US Open finals of 2015 - a year in which he also picked up the Australian Open.

The GOAT discussion was being reawakened, but as long as Djokovic was in third place on Grand Slam titles - the tennis purists would only ever allow it to be about two icons who had completely changed the landscape of the sport for generations to come.

However, as injuries and surgery wrecked Nadal and Federer's chances of adding to their legendary CVs in 2016, the unrelenting machine from Serbia would capitalise with two more titles to strike genuine fear into 'Fedal' fans around the globe. Excuses, caveats, asterisks, other stats and words such as 'nuanced' needed to be found fast. Just in case.

In 2017, Federer’s renaissance and Nadal’s comeback seemingly ended the panic and they’d go on to equally share the next six Grand Slams – including Fed’s emotional eighth and last Wimbledon title - to move well clear again and push their nemesis into the shade.

Djokovic would rally again by winning four of the next five and crucially put the final nail in Federer’s Grand Slam-winning career with a herculean victory in the epic 2019 Wimbledon final that went 13-12 in the deciding set and it was now left to Nadal to keep the reluctant villain at arm’s reach.

The Spaniard moved onto 20 with yet another French Open title in 2020 but Djokovic would match both his rivals by picking up the first three Grand Slams of 2021 before Daniil Medvedev denied him an historic calendar Grand Slam at the US Open – a feat that neither Federer nor Nadal have achieved either.

Missing two Grand Slams in 2022 due to his vaccination status helped Nadal move two clear but a fourth successive Wimbledon coupled with back-to-back Slams at the start of 2023 finally put him at the top of the charts.

Despite a thrilling defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final, Djokovic bounced back at the US Open to equal Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 Grand Slams and surely isn't finished yet.

Yet the GOAT debate is no longer about Grand Slam titles. Now it’s become unfairly ‘nuanced’.

Despite all his record and statistics in a phenomenal career – which also includes most Grand Slam finals (34), most total weeks at world number one (389), superior head-to-head records over both Federer and Nadal as well as being the only player to have won each Grand Slam three times or more – he may need at least 30 to end the conversation for good.

And who can rule that out? The disrespect and lack of acceptance he feels from a huge contingent of tennis fans only serves to fire him up to unprecedented levels of dominance.

Only the greatest take on adversity and conquer it. Nobody has done that better than Novak.

Key stats in men's tennis

Most Grand Slams titles

• Novak Djokovic - 24
• Rafael Nadal - 22
• Roger Federer - 20

Most Grand Slams finals

• Novak Djokovic - 36
• Roger Federer - 31
• Rafael Nadal - 30

Most Grand Slam semi-finals

• Novak Djokovic - 47
• Roger Federer - 46
• Rafael Nadal - 38

Most Grand Slam quarter-finals

• Roger Federer - 58
• Novak Djokovic - 57
• Rafael Nadal - 47

Most Grand Slams in one season

• Rod Laver - 4 (1969)
• Novak Djokovic - 4 (2011, 2015, 2021, 2023)
• Roger Federer - 3 (2004, 2006, 2007)
• Rafael Nadal - 3 (2010)
• Mats Wilander - 3 (1988)
• Jimmy Connors - 3 (1974)

Most Australian Open titles

(finals in brackets)

• Novak Djokovic - 10 (10)
• Roger Federer - 6 (7)
• Andre Agassi - 4 (4)
• Mats Wilander - 3 (4)
• Rafael Nadal - 2 (6) Joint fifth with nine other players

Most French Open titles

(finals in brackets)

• Rafael Nadal - 14 (14)
• Bjorn Borg - 6 (6)
• Ivan Lendl - 3 (5)
• Mats Wilander - 3 (5)
• Gustavo Kuerton - 3 (3)
• Novak Djokovic - 2 (7)
• Roger Federer - 1 (5) joint 10th with many other champions

Most Wimbledon titles

(finals in brackets)

• Roger Federer - 8 (12)
• Pete Sampras - 7 (7)
• Novak Djokovic - 7 (9)
• Bjorn Borg - 5 (6)
• John McEnroe - 3 (5)
• Boris Becker - 3 (7)
• Rafael Nadal - 2 (5) joint sixth with six other players

Most US Open titles

(finals in brackets)

• Roger Federer - 5 (7)
• Pete Sampras - 5 (8)
• Novak Djokovic - 4 (10)
• Rafael Nadal - 4 (5)

Most World Tour Finals titles

• Roger Federer - 6
• Novak Djokovic - 6
• * Rafael Nadal - 0

Most ATP titles

• Jimmy Connors - 109
• Roger Federer - 103
• Novak Djokovic - 96
• Ivan Lendl - 94
• Rafael Nadal - 93

Most Olympic titles

• Andy Murray - 2
• Rafael Nadal - 1 (along with Edberg, Mercir, Rosset, Agassi, Kafelnikov, Massu, Zverev)

Most hard court titles

• Roger Federer - 71
• Novak Djokovic - 69
• Andre Agassi - 46
• Jimmy Connors - 45
• Pete Sampras - 36
• Andy Murray - 34
• Ivan Lendl - 31
• Rod Laver - 26
• Rafael Nadal - 25

Most clay titles

• Rafael Nadal - 63
• Guillermo Vilas - 49
• Thomas Muster - 40
• Novak Djokovic - 19 *10th overall
• Roger Federer - 11 *28th overall

Most grass titles

• Roger Federer - 19
• Pete Sampras - 10
• Stan Smith - 9
• Jimmy Connors - 9
• Novak Djokovic - 8 - Joint 5th with six other players
• Rafael Nadal - 4 *Joint 23rd

Most outdoor titles

• Rafael Nadal - 90
• Novak Djokovic - 78
• Roger Federer - 77

Most indoor titles

• Jimmy Connors - 56
• John McEnroe - 52
• Ivan Lendl 42
• Roger Federer - 26 *6th
• Novak Djokovic - 17 *13th
• Rafael Nadal - 3 *Joint 90th

Most match wins ever

• Jimmy Connors - 1275
• Roger Federer - 1245
• Ivan Lendl - 1069
• Novak Djokovic - 1069
• Rafael Nadal - 1066

Most Grand Slam match wins

• Roger Federer - 369
• Novak Djokovic - 355
• Rafael Nadal - 314

Most Australian Open match wins

• Roger Federer - 102
• Novak Djokovic - 89
• Rafael Nadal - 77

Most French Open match wins

• Rafael Nadal - 112
• Novak Djokovic - 92
• Roger Federer - 73

Most Wimbledon match wins

• Roger Federer - 105
• Novak Djokovic - 92
• Jimmy Connors - 84
• Boris Becker - 71
• Pete Sampras - 63
• Andy Murray - 61
• John McEnroe - 59
• Rafael Nadal - 58

Most US Open match wins

• Jimmy Connors - 98
• Roger Federer - 89
• Novak Djokovic - 82
• Andre Agassi - 79
• Ivan Lendl - 73
• Pete Sampras - 71
• Rafael Nadal - 67

Most weeks as world number one

• Novak Djokovic - 390
• Roger Federer - 310
• Pete Sampras - 286
• Ivan Lendl - 270
• Jimmy Connors - 268
• Rafael Nadal - 209

Djokovic v Federer v Nadal: Head to heads

• Djokovic v Nadal: 30-29 overall, 11-7 in Grand Slams, 5-4 in Grand Slam finals
• Djokovic v Federer H2H: 27-23 overall, 11-6 in Grand Slams, 4-1 in Grand Slam finals
• Nadal v Federer H2H: 24-16 overall, 10-4 in Grand Slams, 6-3 in Grand Slam finals