5 tennis players with the most tie-break wins in the Open Era ft. John Isner and Roger Federer

Tennis is a game of varied nuances. Although we have players like the Big-3 and yesteryear legends who have overall dominated the sport, there are certain records held by other specialist players who dominate certain unique aspects of the game.

Various stars may not have been top seeds or Grand Slam champions but due to their influential games and long tennis careers, they have managed to forge a name for themselves on tour as real threats, breaking and making records of their own.

On that note, let's take a look at 5 players with a unique record -- most tie-breaks played and won in the Open Era:

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#1 American tennis star John Isner (500-319)

American star John Isner is one of the best known faces in tennis. With a scathing serve and an ongoing career of 16 years, John Isner holds a variety of records.

In the ongoing Dallas Open, during the quarterfinal match against Emilio Gomez, Isner won a record-breaking 500th tie-break in ATP history. Isner won the match 7-6(8), 7-5.

During the on-court interview, Isner acknowledged his unique feat.

"I've won a lot of tie-breaks in my career, and in the first set I won a big number of them: 500 of them. I'm very glad I didn't have to win 501," he said.

Isner has now won 500 tie-breaks out of the 819 he has played. He also holds the record for the longest match ever played, which was against Nicolas Mahut in the first round at the 2010 Wimbledon with a never-before-seen scoreline of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.

The match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, played over a span of 3 days. He also holds the record for the most aces by a player in the Open era -- 14211 aces.

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#2 Swiss legend Roger Federer (466-247)

Swiss great Roger Federer was the first man in the Open Era to reach 20 Grand Slam titles and the former World No. 1 comes a close second on the list of most tiebreaks won.

During his 24-year long career, Federer has achieved many milestones, one of which is his tie-break win record. He has played a total of 713 tie-breaks out of which he has won 466 of them, making him the player with the second-most tie-break wins behind John Isner.

The longest tie-break of Federer's career was against former World No.1 Marat Safin, one that lasted 26 minutes in the semifinals of the 2004 Tennis Masters Cup in Houston. The Swiss Maestro holds a number of records, one of which is the most Grand Slam matches won -- 369 matches.

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#3 Croatian tennis star Ivo Karlovic (398-403)

Croatian tennis player Ivo Karlovic, who was known for his lethal serve, is the third player on this list. Karlovic, who retired last year and played his last match in 2021, has played a total of 801 tie-breaks, winning 398 of them.

Standing tall at 6 feet 11 inches, Karlovic is one of the five tennis players to have surpassed 10,000 aces on tour. He had the fastest recorded serve in tennis history at 251 km/hr at one time, a record broken by John Isner in 2012.

One of the Croatian's most famous matches came at the 2017 Australian Open, where Karlovic won the match 6-7(6), 3-6, 7-5, 6-2, 22-20 in five hours and 22 minutes against unseeded Horacio Zeballos.

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#4 American legend Pete Sampras (328-194)

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Former World No. 1 Pete Sampras, who is a 14-time Grand Slam champion, during his 14-year career, played a total of 522 tie-breaks and won 328 of them.

Interestingly, four of his tie-breaks came from one match. During the 2001 US open quarterfinal match against fellow countryman Andre Agassi, Sampras won in 4 sets -- all four sets of which went to a tie-breaker as no player broke serve during the contest.

Sampras won 6(7)-7 , 7-6(2), 7-6(2), 7-6(5). The tennis legends have faced off 34 times with Sampras leading the head-to-head 20-14.

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#5 Spanish star Feliciano Lopez (325-278)

Spanish tennis star Feliciano Lopez, who turned pro in 1998 and hung up his boots this year, has made a deep impact on the sport. Lopez has played 603 tie-breaks in his career, winning 325 of them, granting him the fifth spot in the all-time tie-break winning race.

Lopez holds numerous records, one of them being the record for the most consecutive appearances at the French Open with 21 appearances. The Spaniard also holds the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam main draw appearances since the 2018 Wimbledon Championships, which marked his 66th consecutive appearance. Roger Federer previously held the record in 65 appearances.