Most Matches Played Best of 3

At the top of the best-of-3 matches played list stands Jimmy Connors, with 1,194 tour-level matches played at the three-set distance from 1969 to 1996. This is the format that defines the regular ATP schedule, and his total is the highest volume ever recorded in the Open Era for best-of-3 encounters.

Second is Roger Federer, with 1,027 best-of-3 matches between 1998 and 2021. Next come Guillermo Vilas with 927 matches (from 1969 to 1992), followed by Ivan Lendl with 925 matches (1978–1994) and Rafael Nadal with 917 matches (2002–2024).

This record is not just about winning big titles: it is about the players who kept returning to the tour’s weekly three-set battles, filling their schedules with the most common professional match format and turning durability into the defining metric.