200 weeks on top!

Last Monday, 26 November, marked Federer's 200th consecutive week as world number one in men's tennis. He has been ranked at the top since 02 February 2004 after he won his second Grand Slam title at the 2004 Australian Open.

The Swiss tennis superstar surpassed Steffi Graf's all-time record of 186 straight weeks as number one last August 27. He also broke Jimmy Connor's record (for men's tennis) of 160 straight weeks last 26 February.

He now sets his sights on the record of 286 weeks for the total number of weeks at number one held by no other than Pete Sampras. Tennis greats Jimmy Connors (268 weeks) and Ivan Lendl (270 weeks) are also ahead of Federer in the record books. But they, like Sampras, accumulated their total weeks at number one over several "reigns"--which makes Federer's accomplishment all the more amazing.

Ever since Federer took the top spot, four ATP players have trailed him as number two: Juan Carlos Ferrero for two weeks, Lleyton Hewitt for 25 weeks, Andy Roddick for 44 weeks and Rafael Nadal for a 123 weeks, which is coincidentally a record in itself for the longest time a male tennis player has been ranked number two.

The ATP Tennis official website has an article that nicely summarizes Federer's achievements since becoming number one and has once again assembled a photo gallery in tribute.
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