That honour goes to Pete Sampras as he is one of three players with a winning percentage of at least 60% against players who were ranked inside the top five at the time of the match.
All totals are from 1990 onwards when men’s tennis was rebranded and the ATP Tour was launched so tennis legends like Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors – to name just a few – miss out.
Andy Murray played in the era of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and copped plenty of losses during that time, but let’s not forget he has 12 wins over No 1-ranked players as he beat Djokovic five times, Federer four times and Nadal three times.
The three-time Grand Slam winner played 124 matches against top-five opponents and had a win-loss record was 53–71.
Roger Federer sits at No 2 behind Novak Djokovic in terms of best-winning percentage and most match wins against top-10 rivals, but he is outside the top five for winning percentage against top-five players.
Pete Sampras was 122–67 against top-10 opponents and he is 60–35 against top-five opponents.
His first top-five win after the launch of the ATP Tour in 1990 came at the US Open that year when he beat world No 3 Ivan Lendl in five sets in the quarter-final while Tommy Haas was his final top-five victim when he won their 2002 US Open encounter.
