Beating the world number one is a huge achievement, but not even some great champions are able to do it.
Carlos Alcaraz is the current world number one, which he achieved after winning the US Open earlier this year.
Despite being at the top of the ATP rankings, Alcaraz has been beaten by Cameron Norrie, Jannik Sinner and Taylor Fritz as world number one.
While these three players have victories over a world number one, a two-time Grand Slam champion was never able to do so.
Lleyton Hewitt never beat a world number one player
Lleyton Hewitt won two Grand Slam titles in his career, with his first coming at the 2001 US Open, before being followed by a Wimbledon victory in 2002.
These victories enabled Hewitt to be world number one for a total of 80 weeks, which is the 10th most ever.
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Despite being a multiple-time Grand Slam winner and former world number one, something Hewitt was never able to achieve was beating another world number one.
Hewitt played against world number one players on 18 occasions, but lost every single one of them.
Four of these defeats came against Marat Safin (1), Novak Djokovic (1) and Rafael Nadal (2), but the overriding theme is Hewitt’s extremely one-sided head-to-head against Roger Federer.
Federer led his head-to-head against Hewitt 18-9, but was even more dominant against the Australian as world number one, winning all 14 matches against him.
This includes the 2004 US Open final, where Federer only dropped six games against Hewitt.
| Tournament where Lleyton Hewitt played a world number one | Lleyton Hewitt’s result against world number one |
| ATP Finals 2000 (Round-robin) | Marat Safin beat Hewitt, 6-4 6-4 |
| Hamburg Masters 2004 (Semifinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-0 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 2004 (Quarterfinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-1 6(1)-7 6-0 6-4 |
| US Open 2004 (Final) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-0 7-6(3) 6-0 |
| ATP Finals 2004 (Round-robin) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6-4 |
| ATP Finals 2004 (Final) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6-2 |
| Indian Wells 2005 (Final) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-2 6-4 6-4 |
| Wimbledon 2005 (Semifinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6-4 7-6(4) |
| US Open 2005 (Semifinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 7-6(0) 4-6 6-3 |
| Canadian Open 2007 (Quarterfinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6-4 |
| Cincinnati Open 2007 (Semifinal) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6(7)-7 7-6(1) |
| Wimbledon 2008 (R16) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 7-6(7) 6-2 6-4 |
| French Open 2009 (R32) | Rafael Nadal beat Hewitt, 6-1 6-3 6-1 |
| Cincinnati Open 2009 (QF) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-3 6-4 |
| US Open 2009 (R32) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 4-6 6-3 7-5 6-4 |
| Australian Open 2010 (R16) | Roger Federer beat Hewitt, 6-2 6-3 6-4 |
| Australian Open 2012 (R16) | Novak Djokovic beat Hewitt, 6-1 6-3 4-6 6-3 |
| Miami Open 2014 (R64) | Rafael Nadal beat Hewitt, 6-1 6-3 |
Who has the best record against world number one players out of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer?
While Federer was very dominant as world number one, he did not find so much joy when playing other players at the top of the ATP rankings.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion won only a third of his matches against world number one players, with Federer ironically losing two of his three meetings against world number one Hewitt.
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Djokovic also has a negative record against world number one players, despite beating Nadal 10 times, as he has particularly struggled against Federer and Sinner in that position.
| The Big Three | Win-loss record against world number one players |
| Rafael Nadal | 23-19 (54.8%) |
| Novak Djokovic | 16-21 (43.2%) |
| Roger Federer | 10-20 (33.3%) |
Alcaraz is currently the world number one, but there is no doubt that he will have a big target on his back when the 2026 season gets underway.
Perhaps the biggest target on his back will be from the world number two, with Sinner looking to overtake Alcaraz in 2026.
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