A century for Roger Federer: The big numbers from his record 100th singles win at Wimbledon

Roger Federer has hit yet another milestone in his career today. The 37-year old has now won 100 matches at Wimbledon and is the first player to do so! Quite the feat. 

To get to 100, he faced the always dangerous Kei Nishikori, who came out firing and captured the first set. Roger found his bearings in the second set and looked more relaxed as he dictated and controlled the tempo for the rest of the match. Roger was victorious 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 and into the semifinals to face his long time rival, Rafael Nadal. 

"It's special...It's been a lot of years I've been coming here. That's given me the opportunity to win a lot, naturally. I didn't think of it while I was playing today. Actually not at all, not once. Then as I'm signing, the guy says, 'Congratulations for your 100.' It's nice, because if I look back at the hundred that have happened, some were so incredibly cool. Today again was a big match going into the semis [to face] Rafa, now that he won. A hundred wins here at Wimbledon. Who would have thought? I didn't for sure."

For Roger Federer, making and breaking records for men’s tennis isn’t really a new thing.

He has the most number of Grand Slam titles, the most weeks at No 1 position and just this year won his 100th ATP title. He has 102 now, becoming the first player to win two titles this year. The 37-year-old leads the ATP Tour with three titles in 2019 (Dubai, Miami, Halle).

At Wimbledon, this milestones become even more incredible. He has played an unprecedented 21 straight years in the singles draw and has a record eight titles (from 11 finals).

But with his quarterfinal win on Wednesday, he reached a rare landmark: The first male player to win 100 singles matches at one Grand Slam. He joins He joins Martina Navratilova (120 at Wimbledon) and Chris Evert (101 at US Open) in the exclusive club.

Jimmy Connors is the only male player been closest to accomplishing the feat be with wins in 98 matches at the US Open.

Earlier in the tournament, he had become the first first player with 350 career wins in Grand Slam singles matches. At French Open, he became the first player to play 400 Grand Slam singles matches.

The 37-year-old would have had this record earlier at the Australian Open, where he has won 97 matches, had he not lost in the fourth round.

But in a way, it’s fitting the record came at the venue of his favourite Major.