Roger Federer won his 100th career title at the Dubai Tennis Championships on Saturday.
Analysis of the Swiss great’s career shows that he has won more titles compared with other prolific winners as the years progressed.
The graphs below depict Open Era tournaments entered and won by players in three intervals of their careers — 1 to 7 active years (Year in which a player entered at least one ATP tournament is considered active) after they became pro; 8 to 14 active years; and 14 plus active years.
Each graph has 15 circles, one each for the 15 players with the most number of titles.
Darker the shade of the circle and bigger the circle, higher the percentage of tournaments won.
Federer went from beginner...
In the first seven years, Federer won close to 17% of ATP tournaments, significantly lower than the success rate of Jimmy Connors (45%) and Rod Laver (35%).
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...to champion...
Federer improved his game in the next seven years, winning 41% of the titles for which he played. Novak Djokovic and Ivan Lendl had a similar career trajectory. Bjorn Borg was the outlier at this stage, winning 53% of tournaments he played.
...to legend
In the final phase, Federer outclassed others, winning 29% of the titles for which he played. Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are close on his heels. Connors, despite playing for 138 titles, won only 7% of them.
