Man of the Century: Roger Federer wins his 100th career title
The 37-year-old, who won his first title at 19 in 2001, defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in Dubai to claim the milestone trophy.
Roger Federer defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday to capture his eighth trophy in Dubai—and the milestone 100th ATP title of his career. But who's counting?
With the victory, Federer becomes just the second man in the Open Era to win 100 career ATP titles. The only other player to do it was Jimmy Connors, who finished his career with 109 titles.
Going into the tournament, Federer talked about what reaching 100 would mean to him.
“I never thought it would be possible to reach 99, let alone 100,” he said. “It’s a great number that sounds extremely exciting. I need to draw motivation from everywhere I can and I’ll give it all that I have.
“I would love for it to happen in Dubai, no doubt about it.”
Most Career ATP Titles (Open Era)
109 - Jimmy Connors
100 - Roger Federer
94 - Ivan Lendl
80 - Rafael Nadal
77 - John McEnroe
Federer’s 100 Career ATP Titles By Surface
71 - Hard
18 - Grass
11 - Clay
Federer’s 100 Career ATP Titles By Age Won
1 in his teens
66 in his 20s
33 in his 30s
Federer’s 100 Career ATP Titles By Tier-Level
20 Grand Slams
6 ATP Finals
27 Masters 1000s
22 ATP 500s (includes ATP International Series Gold pre-2009)
25 ATP 250s (includes ATP International Series pre-2009)
Dubai is the fourth ATP tournament Federer has won eight or more times. He’s won Halle nine times, Basel nine times and Wimbledon eight times.
“Dubai has always been a successful hunting ground for me,” Federer said. “It didn’t start easy, to be honest—the first time I played here, people weren’t happy with my performance, so I came back the following year and tried to prove them wrong, and show them that they didn’t see the right Roger.
“It’s been a really good place for me since then.”
The 500 points Federer picked up by winning the 500-level event will also bump him up from No. 7 to No. 4 when the new ATP rankings are released on Monday. It guarantees that Federer will not to have to play either No. 1 Novak Djokovic or No. 2 Rafael Nadal until at least the semifinals of Indian Wells.