ATP Tour

Federer's record 14-year span from first to last day as No. 1

Of the 29 players to hold the No. 1 PIF ATP Ranking, only three spanned more than 10 years between their first and last stints at the top. Of course, it's not just any three, but the Big Three of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal who can make that exclusive claim.

Even amongst that elite company, Federer is an outlier. The Swiss had a gap of 14 years, 142 days between his first and final day atop the PIF ATP Rankings: 2 February 2004 and 24 June 2018.

Longest Gaps Between First & Last Days At No. 1

Federer rose to No. 1 for the first time in February 2004 on the back of his first Australian Open title.

“I’m happy to have had a great start now to the season, and to finally be No. 1,” Federer said at the time. “And it does make me feel really strange.”

He quickly grew accustomed to his lofty standing and would not relinquish his place for a record 237 weeks, with Nadal taking over the top spot in August 2008. The Swiss spent another 48 weeks at No. 1 from 2009-10 and a further 17 in 2012.

More than five years later, Federer set a record for the longest gap between consecutive No. 1 stints when he returned to the summit in February 2018. He enjoyed three brief stints totaling eight weeks at No. 1 that year, trading the top spot with Nadal throughout the season before Djokovic swooped in to claim ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours.

"I think reaching No. 1 is one of, if not the ultimate achievement in our sport," Federer said after returning to the summit for the first time in 2018. "Sometimes at the beginning you just all of a sudden get there just because you’re playing so well. Later you sometimes try to fight it back and you wrestle it back from somebody else who deserved to be there. And when you’re older, you feel like you have to put maybe sometimes double the work in.

"So this one maybe means the most to me [of any achievement] throughout my career, getting to No. 1 and enjoying it right here at 36, almost 37 years old. [It] is an absolute dream come true, I can’t believe it."

Federer's final stint at No. 1 came from 18-24 June 2018, when he broke his own record to become the oldest No. 1 at the age of 36 years and 10 months.

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