SUMMARY
- Martina Navratilova is a legend in the history of tennis for various reasons.
- Steffi Graf took over Martina Navratilova's dominance during the early 90's.
A few players on the tennis tour have been holding records for decades. Only a few records stood unbroken on the ATP and the WTA tours. One of the players who is still holding numerous achievements is Martina Navratilova. The former player had an outrageously long and successful career. Martina Navratilova played her first professional match in 1974 and her last in 2006.
The former world No. 1 tops the list regarding consistency on the tour. She is the only player in history to have won over 70 consecutive matches on all surfaces. Navratilova won 74 successive matches; the winning streak began in February 1984 and ended in December at the Australian Open semifinal. She won three consecutive grand slam titles alongside 45 consecutive wins at majors during the period.
During the 1983–1984 season, Martina Navratilova won 54 straight matches and then secured 58 consecutive wins in the 1986–1987 seasons. In the 1982 season, she played 93 matches, winning 90 of them. Her record improved even further in the following season, to 86-1. The 1983 season also saw Navratilova break a record-breaking 109-match winning streak in doubles alongside Pam Shriver.
Steffi Graf-66 matches
The 1980s on the WTA tour saw the sport being dominated by few players. In the beginning, it was Navratilova and Chris Evert. But during the late 80s, it was all Steffi Graf; she extended her position as the top player till the 90s. Graff remains the only player to have won each of the Grand Slams at least four times. She could prove her consistency on all surfaces.
1990 Berlin Final:
(2)Monica Seles def. (1)Steffi Graf 6-4, 6-3
Seles snapped Graf’s 66-match winning streak, the 2nd longest streak in WTA history.
Graf was the 4-time defending champion. They’d meet again in the French Open final, where Seles would win again in straight sets pic.twitter.com/iwQRz5ZOCC
— Tennis Historian (@HistorianTennis) April 22, 2022
After winning all the grand slams, along with the Olympic gold in 1988, Graff’s winning run began after the 1989 French Open final loss, and he won the subsequent three grand slam events until the 1990 Australian Open. Graff’s run of 66 match wins ended in the final of the German Open. Graff was defeated in straight sets by rising star Monica Seles.
Bjorn Borg: 49 matches
Very few records stand on the ATP tour, which has been untouched by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. The big three have dominated the tour in every aspect of the game. While Djokovic continues to stay on top of his game, there is one record that seems to be untouchable. Bjorn Borg set the record with 49 consecutive match wins in the 1977–1978 season.
US Open 1978. pic.twitter.com/FW9YmQTRn2
— Lars-Johan Larsson (@LarsJohanL) February 27, 2023
The winning streak remains the only time a male player has won more than 46 matches. Bjorg’s run came to an end in the 1978 US Open final. He lost to Jimmy Connors in straight sets as his five-month winning reign ended.
Guillermo Vilas: 46 matches
The 1977–1978 season on the ATP tour saw two players set similar records. Guillermo Vilas was playing on tour in his ninth year. His 46-match winning streak began after his first grand slam title at the 1977 French Open. Vilas and Borg were unbeatable during the 1977 season. Vilas went on to win his second Grand Slam title at the 1977 US Open.
Billed as the old racket versus the new racket, the La Racquette D’Or final in Aix turned out to be a one-sided affair. Finding no answers to the power and accuracy of a Spaghetti racket-wielding Nastase, Vilas abandoned the match at the start of the third set. 6-1, 7-5 down. pic.twitter.com/gySW0bSSff
— Spaghetti Racket documentary (@spaghettiracket) December 17, 2020
The Argentinian was involved in a controversial withdrawal against Ilie Nastase, who used a spaghetti-strung racket. Vilas held the longest winning streak record for less than 12 months, as Borg eclipsed his record in 1978. But both of these records seemed to be safe for a few more years on the ATP tour.