5 tennis records that would be nearly impossible to break

Tennis is one of the most popular and beautiful sports in world history. The exhilaration and entertainment that this sport gives you is unparalleled.

Considering the fact that fans always celebrate the players, their achievements and sportsmanship, it will be interesting to check some records which are likely to stand tall over the years and would be near impossible to surpass. Here are five such records:

5. Andy Murray - winning 2 consecutive Olympic singles gold medals

Tennis is a sport where the fans are far more crazy about Grand Slams than the Olympics. But Andy Murray showed that Olympics glory is also something to be cherished.

Murray belongs to the "Big Four" of modern tennis along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. However, he has a proud golden feather to his cap which no other player in tennis history can claim to have - two consecutive Olympic gold medals.

He won his first Gold at the 2012 Olympics in London, in front of his home crowd, beating Roger Federer in the final. He repeated the feat four years later, beating Juan Martin Del Potro in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.

No tennis player has won more than one Olympics singles gold. A feat like this would definitely require longevity and consistent top class tennis, and hence would be very difficult to replicate for future stars.

Martina Navratilova

4. Martina Navratilova - Longest match winning streak

All of us know that Martina Navratilova is a player who had a meritorious career which spanned almost three decades. That itself is a feat difficult to find in any sport.

Navratilova was selected as the greatest female tennis player for the period spanning from 1965 to 2005 by Tennis Magazine - ahead of Steffi Graf and Billie Jean King!

Hence it would not be surprising that she holds the record of the longest match winning streak in Open Era. She won 74 consecutive singles matches in 1984.

If this does not astound you, please note that her male counterpart is Bjorn Borg with the longest match winning streak being 49. A difference of 25 wins is a huge one indeed!

This record will to remain unbroken for a long time considering the immense amount of competition and the sheer number of new talents being injected into the sport on a regular basis.

Roger Federer

3. Roger Federer - Longest consecutive run as World No. 1

The ATP has a system which ranks its players on the basis of points accumulated. Since 1973, 26 men have been ranked World No.1.

Roger Federer is a household name among people who follow the sport. There are several records to his name. But we are dealing with only one aspect of his dominance in tennis here.

Federer holds the record for being the Word No. 1 in the rankings for the most number of weeks in a row. He was No. 1 for 237 consecutive weeks! This amounts to 1659 days between February 2, 2004 and August 17, 2008.

Federer surpassed the previous record of 160 weeks (1120 days) held by Jimmy Connors, and went on to add so many more weeks to it that it now seems impossible to ever be accomplished again.

Rafael Nadal

2. Rafael Nadal – Only player to win the same Grand Slam 11 times

Rafael Nadal is the other modern day tennis great who is spoken of in the same breath as Federer. He is popularly known as the King of Clay and is a serious contender for the “Greatest of All Time” tag.

Nadal has the rare achievement of winning at least one Grand Slam in his teens, 20s and 30s. His is a career studded with epic comebacks from injuries.

But most importantly, Nadal has won a staggering 11 French Open titles! His first win at Roland Garros was in 2005 and his latest in 2018. He won all the French Opens between 2005 and 2018 except 2009, 2015 and 2016.

Nadal is the only player to win any Major 10 times or more. He has similar records with the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.

The only active player who can potentially come close to him is Federer with eight Wimbledon titles. But he is five years older and needs time to match Nadal’s French Open, which seems unlikely.

Steffi Graf

1. Steffi Graf - Golden Slam

Steffi Graf has several mind-boggling records in her kitty, and is easily one of the greatest players ever in tennis history.

Graf was ranked world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for a record 377 weeks - the longest period for which any player, male or female, was at the top. She was a very versatile player who has an amazing record across all the surfaces. Graf is regarded by many as the greatest female tennis player of all time.

But there is one brilliant record to her name which stands out and is number one on this list. In 1988, Graf won all the 4 Grand Slams and the Olympic Gold medal in the same year! It was a feat unheard of, and yet Graf did it at a canter.

She beat Chris Evert at the Australian Open and Natasha Zvereva at the French Open, followed by Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon before finishing with Gabriela Sabatini at the US Open.

She defeated Sabatini again at the Seoul Olympics for the gold medal.