He defeated Pete Sampras and then went on the longest losing streak in ATP history

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Even beating the world number one doesn’t guarantee you long-term success on the ruthless ATP Tour.

Winning is of course the goal in tennis, as ATP and WTA stars look to take home titles, rise up the rankings, and carve their own legacies within the sport.

However, for every tournament, and every week that goes by, all but one player has to suffer defeat.

With every round that passes, players pack their bags and go home, with a new loss added to their record.

In fact, it’s not uncommon for struggling players to lose in the first round of multiple tournaments in a row, quickly racking up a losing streak.

This was the case recently in the women’s game, as Zhang Shuai lost 22 matches in a row on the WTA Tour.

A record in the women’s game, but who has lost the most matches in a row in men’s tennis?

Vincent Spadea: The man who lost 21 ATP matches in a row

In August of 1999, Vincent Spadea beat fellow American, world number one, and future 14-time Grand Slam champion, Pete Sampras at the RCA Championships in Indianapolis.

Just a few months later, Spadea beat world number two, Yevgeny Kafelnikov at the Lyon Open to secure his eighth top-ten win of the season.

The American was on top of the world, but what he didn’t know at the time, was that his win against Kafelnikov would be his last for almost nine months.

What followed were 21 heart-breaking defeats that left Spadea as the laughing stock of the ATP Tour for over half a year.

The losing streak led the Associated Press to describe Spadea as the ‘Charlie Brown of tennis’.

Wins against Sampras and Kafelnikov had seen the American reach the world’s top 20 for the first time in his career, but after his infamous losing streak, Spadea found himself ranked as low as 237th.

His luck did eventually change, however, as he became 1-21 after winning in the Wimbledon first round in 2000.

He fought an absolute battle against Greg Rusedski to get back in the win column, beating the Brit 6-3, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 9-7, in just under four hours.

Wins didn’t quite come like London buses in Wimbledon for Spadea however, as he lost comfortably in the second round.

He never went on another losing streak quite like that and won his first and only ATP title in 2004, before reaching a career-high ranking of 18 in 2005.

Spadea retired from tennis in 2010, as a player who not only holds a win against a world number one but perhaps the most unwanted record in the sport altogether.

Who has the longest winning streak in ATP history?

Whilst Spadea holds the unfortunate record of the longest losing streak in ATP history, the man who won the most matches in a row may be more inclined to show off his achievement.

Bjorn Borg won 49 matches in a row between March and August of 1978, the longest in the history of the sport.

The Swede began his winning streak at the Davis Cup preliminary rounds, before finally losing in his 50th match to Jimmy Connors in the US Open final.

But how does Borg’s winning streak compare to others on the ATP Tour?

It is incredibly tough to go unbeaten as long as these ATP stars have done in the past, especially in the case of Borg and Jimmy Connors who can boast two 30+ match-winning streaks.

In contrast the longest active winning streak in men’s tennis resides with Jannik Sinner, who has won his past 15 matches, spanning the Shanghai Masters, ATP Finals, and Davis Cup.

It remains to be seen if the Italian can continue that unbeaten run long enough into 2025, to earn his place on the list.