The Most Successful Champions in Wimbledon History
Wimbledon has been won by the same handful of players time and again, which is part of what gives the tournament its sense of order. The grass rewards those who learn to master it, and the leading champions tend to return to the closing weekend year after year.
That pattern often holds when the Wimbledon odds are first published, with recent winners and proven grass-court players near the top of the list. History at the All England Club tends to repeat itself.
In this article, we look at the players who have lifted the Wimbledon singles trophy more often than anyone else.
Roger Federer
Federer holds the men's record with eight singles titles, won between 2003 and 2017. He reached 12 finals, more than any other man, including seven in a row from 2003 to 2009. His 2017 win, achieved without dropping a set, came at the age of 35 and made him the oldest men's champion of the Open Era at the time. His five titles in a row from 2003 to 2007 matched Bjorn Borg's earlier Open Era run.
Martina Navratilova
No player has won more Wimbledon singles titles than Navratilova, who claimed nine between 1978 and 1990. Six came in consecutive years from 1982 to 1987, a run no woman has matched. Across all events at the club, including doubles, her total reached 20. She also reached the singles final on 12 occasions, losing four, including twice to Steffi Graf.
Steffi Graf
Graf won seven Wimbledon singles titles between 1988 and 1996, ending Navratilova's six-year run when she claimed the first of them. Her 1988 win came in the year she completed the calendar Golden Slam, taking all four majors and Olympic gold, a feat no singles player has matched since.
Novak Djokovic
Djokovic has won the men's singles seven times, level with Pete Sampras and one behind Federer. He took four titles across 2018 to 2022, with the 2020 Championships cancelled, and later passed 100 match wins at Wimbledon, a mark reached by only a few players in the tournament's history.
Pete Sampras
Sampras won seven titles between 1993 and 2000, and he won all seven finals he reached. His serve-and-volley game suited the faster grass of the 1990s and made him the benchmark before Federer's era began. Only a quarter-final loss in 1996 broke his run through that decade.
Bjorn Borg
Borg won five titles in a row from 1976 to 1980, a streak matched in the Open Era only by Federer. He reached six straight finals, losing the last to John McEnroe in 1981, and stepped away from the sport not long after at the age of 26.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams won seven Wimbledon singles titles between 2002 and 2016, level with Steffi Graf for the most in the Open Era behind Navratilova. She also won six women's doubles titles alongside her sister Venus Williams and reached 11 singles finals at the club in total.
These records show how rarely the Wimbledon title spreads itself around. Grass-court form carries over from one year to the next, which is why proven champions feature so heavily in tennis betting markets long before the draw is even made.