Roger Federer records that may never be broken: Reaching 10 straight Grand Slam finals

Every day until the final event of his career, the Laver Cup, we’ll be highlighting one of Roger Federer’s records that may never be broken.

So far we’ve covered how he’s the only tennis player ever to win two different majors five years in a row each, his 65-match grass-court winning streak (the men’s Open Era record), his 24-final winning streak (also a men’s Open Era record), how he’s the only player ever to win 100 matches at two different majors, and most recently how he won his first seven major finals in a row (another men's Open Era record).

Today, a monster of a streak that even Federer himself once called a monster:

Reaching 10 straight major finals (and 23 straight major semifinals, and 36 straight major quarterfinals)

Federer reached the final of 10 consecutive Grand Slam events from Wimbledon in 2005 to the US Open in 2007, the longest streak of Grand Slam finals for a man in tennis history. In fact, he had become such a fixture in major finals that when he didn’t reach the final of an 11th in a row—falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2008—it was considered by many to be a major surprise.

“Of course, I’ve created a monster, so I know I need to always win every tournament,” Federer said afterwards. “But semis is still, you know, pretty good.”

Even crazier: after that loss, Federer would go on to reach the final of the next eight majors in a row between Roland Garros in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2010, which is actually the second-longest streak of major finals for a man in tennis history.

So in total, Federer reached the final at an absolutely ridiculous 18 out of 19 Grand Slams between 2005 Wimbledon and the 2010 Australian Open.

His 23 consecutive semifinals between 2004 Wimbledon and the 2010 Australian Open and his 36 consecutive quarterfinals between 2004 Wimbledon and 2013 Roland Garros are also the longest streaks for a man in tennis history.

FEDERER'S 36 STRAIGHT QFs AT MAJORS (2004 Wimbledon to 2013 Roland Garros):

• Won 2004 Wimbledon
• Won 2004 US Open
• SFs at 2005 Australian Open (l. to Safin)
• SFs at 2005 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)
• Won 2005 Wimbledon
• Won 2005 US Open
• Won 2006 Australian Open
• F at 2006 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)
• Won 2006 Wimbledon
• Won 2006 US Open
• Won 2007 Australian Open
• F at 2007 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)
• Won 2007 Wimbledon
• Won 2007 US Open
• SFs at 2008 Australian Open (l. to Djokovic)
• F at 2008 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)
• F at 2008 Wimbledon (l. to Nadal)
• Won 2008 US Open
• F at 2009 Australian Open (l. to Nadal)
• Won 2009 Roland Garros
• Won 2009 Wimbledon
• F at 2009 US Open (l. to Del Potro)
• Won 2010 Australian Open
• QFs at 2010 Roland Garros (l. to Soderling)
• QFs at 2010 Wimbledon (l. to Berdych)
• SFs at 2010 US Open (l. to Djokovic)
• SFs at 2011 Australian Open (l. to Djokovic)
• F at 2011 Roland Garros (l. to Nadal)
• QFs at 2011 Wimbledon (l. to Tsonga)
• SFs at 2011 US Open (l. to Djokovic)
• SFs at 2012 Australian Open (l. to Nadal)
• SFs at 2012 Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic)
• Won 2012 Wimbledon
• QFs at 2012 US Open (l. to Berdych)
• SFs at 2013 Australian Open (l. to Murray)
• QFs at 2013 Roland Garros (l. to Tsonga)

Federer’s quarterfinals streak at majors came to an end with a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 7-5, 7-6 (5) second-round loss to Sergiy Stakhovsky at Wimbledon in 2013.

“It will be okay because I’ll be okay,” he said when asked about his fans mourning the end of the 36 quarterfinals in a row. “I mean, I guess it’s a great number. I’m very happy about it. I wish it wasn’t going to end here today. But I don’t think that’s something fans are going to mourn about, or myself.

“It’s a great number. I can be proud of it. But moving on from here.”

Tomorrow, our last Roger Federer record that may never be broken—another streak that lasted for years and years, and years...