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Congratulations are in order for Roger Federer for becoming the man at the top in being the man at the top. In other words, for being the World No.1 for the most no. of weeks (287 and counting) going past the record held by Pete Sampras(286 weeks) today.
The visualisations below track the ATP No.1 Ranking since its inception in 1973. Here you will get answers to simple questions like ‘Who all have held the coveted position at the top?’;’ How long have these men held it?’ In addition, they also reveal the intensity in terms of competition at the top, i.e., how has the no.1 rank gone from hand to hand at different periods (This is shown in the second visualization and the behaviour in the different periods is summarized).
The following visual is a straightforward representation of the no. of weeks each of these 25 champions have held the No.1 ranking. An exponential pattern emerges putting Federer(287*), Sampras(286), Lendl(270), Connors(268) at the top. It flattens out where other popular names from McEnroe(170) to Djokovic(53) stay. There are quite a lot of No.1 ranked players at the tail who have held to the position for very few weeks, thanks to the men at the top who have had a few below par weeks before rightfully reclaiming it from these people.
Now to the more revealing insights.
I have represented the timeline from Aug 1973 to Jul 2012, indicating the duration for which each player has held on to the No.1 rank. This provides quite a few interesting insights.
What can we infer from this fancy little timeline? A lot in fact. These points are jotted below (Periods acting as ranges are approximately labelled):
Weeks 1 to 250: After a brief stint with Nastase and Newcombe, The No. 1 rank has seen Connors hold monopoly over it!
Weeks 251 to 675: A period of intense competition it seems to have been! The snatching of the rankings has been prominent (indicated by a lot of dashes right against the names of Borg, McEnroe, Lendl & Connors).
Weeeks 676 to 900: Lendl has been at the dominating end owning the ranking himself over a majority of this period.
Weeks 901 to 1100: That’s when Becker, Edberg and Courier had a brief look at the top spot before Pistol Pete entered the scene!
Weeks 1101 to 1400: Sampras was constructing his 286 weeks atop in various stints (some small, some big as indicated by the bars distinctively highlighted in ‘RED’) with Agassi being the sole threat. Others ranging from Muster to Rafter owning it for very brief periods. This is the period where many people had a knock at the No.1 Ranking!
Weeks 1401 to 1650: Safin led the new era into the No.1 rankings club followed promptly by Guga Kuerten, Ferrero and Roddick who have all had small stints. Hewitt appears to hold the big bar there, enjoying a dominant phase. A careful look at the visualization will reveal Agassi getting back to the position after a long gap!
Weeks 1651 to 1850: The first ‘GREEN’ bar is all that there is in this period! The bar is the longest in the entire visual with Federer staying atop for a record 237 weeks. The first Green bar is as big as 2 to 3 Red bars of Sampras put together, explaining how helpful that stint has been for Federer to reach the 286 week record that once appeared unreachable.
Weeks 1851 to Now: This is when Rafael Nadal dethroned Federer at the top before Federer regained control again, taking advantage of a bad 2009 season for Rafa before the Spaniard roared back in 2010(the two ‘BRICK’coloured bars interspersed by the second Green bar). The stallion from Serbia, Djokovic, finally toppled the ‘FeDal’ duopoly, bringing a sizeable bar of his own (the ‘DARK BLUE’ one just before the end) into the visual. The tiny green bar at the end has entered its second week, indicating the third stint for Roger Federer at the top.
P.S.: Look for the green, blue and brick bars to lengthen in the coming few years;. The data on those bars are as of date, but they are sure to change in the coming months!
Another interesting question is the no. of stints each player had at the top of the rankings. The following table provides details on that. Evidently, McEnroe and Sampras have had the zeal to constantly keep knocking back at the position at the top (14 and 11 times respectively) followed closely by Connors, Lendle(9 & 8). The current crop are at 3(Federer), 2(Nadal) and 1(Djokovic) indicating their mind-set of: ‘Once I reach the top, it isn’t easy for others to topple me’.
| Player | No. of stints as No.1 |
| John McEnroe | 14 |
| Pete Sampras | 11 |
| Jimmy Connors | 9 |
| Ivan Lendl | 8 |
| Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi | 6 |
| Stefan Edberg | 5 |
| Jim Courier | 4 |
| Marat Safin,Gustavo Kuerten,Roger Federer | 3 |
| Boris Becker, Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Lleyton Hewitt, Rafael Nadal | 2 |
| Ilie Nastase, John Newcombe,Mats Wilander, Carlos Moya, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Patrick Rafter, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic | 1 |
Hope you enjoyed going through this piece.
