Andy Murray won his 700th match; who else is in the 700-club might surprise you

Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·2 min read

In the world of pro sports, there's something special about having a long and successful career. Sustained excellence, no matter the sport, is an impressive feat even if it comes without triumph at the highest level.

Andy Murray reached a milestone on Friday at Indian Wells, beating Taro Daniel for his 700th career singles win. He is the 18th player to accomplish that feat since 1968.

It got me to thinking who else is part of the 700 club?

The top of the list has the obvious names: Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,251), Ivan Lendl (1,068), Rafael Nadal (1,043) and Novak Djokovic (991).

But some of the names surprised me a little. Guillermo Vilas was next on the list with 951 career wins. That's almost 200 more than someone who I might have expected to be above him like Pete Sampras (762).

There were two guys on the list that I have to admit I had not heard of. Along with the likes of John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe and Andre Agassi and Boris Becker were Manuel Orantes of Spain and Brian Gottfried of the United States.

Andy Murray reaches for a shot near the net during his match against Taro Daniel at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., March 11, 2022.
Andy Murray reaches for a shot near the net during his match against Taro Daniel at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., March 11, 2022.

Gottfried, as I'm sure some of you know, played from 1972 to 1984, winning 25 times. He never won a major and only played in a final once, losing 6-0, 6-3, 6-0 to be one of Guillermo Vilas' 951 wins. The fact that he has 702 singles wins is impressive and deserves praise. That's more than Bjorn Borg or Lleyton Hewitt.

Orantes played from 1968 to 1983 and racked up 36 career victories, along with his 722 matches won. He does have a Grand Slam victory to his credit. He won the 1975 U.S. Open, ironically beating Connors, the winningest player of all time. He also made a French Open final once.

I'm a sucker for historic lists like this. I love to do exactly what I did today, learn about athletes I didn't know about before. And now I can give credit to a guy like Gottfried for sustained excellence, even if it didn't come with moments of extreme triumph.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: BNP Paribas Open: Andy Murray won 700th match. Who else is in the 700-club might surprise you