Nadal, Djokovic, Williams, Federer: The 12 tennis stars with the most career titles

Unlike some other sports, it is difficult to say conclusively which tennis player is the best from the Open Era. 

If we’re talking Grand Slam singles titles, then Rafael Nadal and Margaret Court top the list –– the former having won 21 majors, while Court has famously won 24. 

However, if we’re talking legacy and impact on the game, then it’s hard to look past the great Billie Jean King. 

Another metric that could help sway the debate is analysing which player has won the most career titles, so that’s exactly what we’re doing. 

To be clear, we’re only looking at singles titles, so unfortunately the Bryan brothers do not feature in this list. 

It’s also important to note that this is not a ranking of who we think is the best player ever, but merely the 12 players who have won the most trophies. 

Williams has won 23 Grand Slams, putting her second on the all-time list behind Court. 

Somewhat surprisingly, however, the 40-year-old has not won as many career titles as a number of other women featured below. 

Nonetheless, Williams has won the Year-end championship finals on five occasions, Olympic gold at London 2012 and has 23 Premier Mandatory victories. Hardly a bad record.

McEnroe won 77 career titles in total, including seven majors, five year-end championship finals and 19 Grand Prix Super Series finals. 

The American also has the best single-season match record for any male player in the Open Era, with a win-loss record of 82-3 (96.5%) set in 1984. 

Though King won more than 100 career titles overall, only 78 came in the Open Era (from 1968 onwards.) 

This still included eight Grand Slam victories, four of which came over Evonne Goolagong Cawley. 

Djokovic has 20 major singles titles, and is one of just two players,