What are the longest tennis winning streaks to begin a season? | ATP Tour

ATP Tour

What are the longest tennis winning streaks to begin a season?

Alcaraz is 16-0 heading into his Indian Wells SF vs. Medvedev

March 14, 2026

Carlos Alcaraz has gone from strength to strength so far in 2026.

With his BNP Paribas Open quarter-final triumph against Cameron Norrie in Indian Wells, the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings improved to 16-0 for the year, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Alcaraz’s perfect opening to the year, which includes title runs at the Australian Open and the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, represents the joint-fifth best start to a season in ATP Tour history (since 1990).

Undefeated starts to an ATP Tour season (since 1990)

^{*Active streak}

So far, Alcaraz’s 2026 launch sits alongside Roger Federer’s beginning to the 2006 season and Jannik Sinner’s opening to 2024. Should Alcaraz defeat Daniil Medvedev in Saturday’s night-session semi-final in Indian Wells to move to 17-0, the Spaniard would tie for the fourth-longest winning streak to begin an ATP Tour season, matching Pete Sampras in 1997, Novak Djokovic in 2013 and Federer in 2018.

Djokovic holds the two best starts to a season in ATP Tour history. In 2011, the Serbian went 41-0 all the way through to the Wimbledon final, where his remarkable perfect streak was snapped by Federer. Nine years later, Djokovic posted a 26-0 start to the 2020 season.

The closest anyone has come to matching either of those Djokovic seasons was in 2022, when the Serbian’s great Lexus ATP Head2Head rival Rafael Nadal won his first 20 matches of the season. Nadal’s run came to an end after he lost to Taylor Fritz in the BNP Paribas Open final. Alcaraz will hope that he can avoid a similar fate to his countryman this year by lifting his third Indian Wells crown to depart ‘Tennis Paradise’ with a perfect 18-0 record for 2026.