The Greatest Tennis Players of All Time

Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Record holder for the most Grand Slam singles titles among men and women (along with Margaret Court) - 24. Djokovic has won seven ATP Finals titles, 40 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 15 ATP Tour 500 titles, and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for over 400 weeks. In majors, he has won a record ten Australian Open titles, seven Wimbledon titles, four US Open titles, and three French Open title. By winning the 2016 French Open, he became the eighth player in history to achieve the Career Grand Slam and the third man to hold all four major titles at once, the first since Rod Laver in 1969 and the first ever to do so on three different surfaces. He is the only male player to have won all nine of the Masters 1000 tournaments. Djokovic was also a member of Serbia's winning Davis Cup team in 2010 and in the 2020 ATP Cup.

Djokovic is the first Serbian player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP and the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. He is a eight-time ITF World Champion and a eight-time ATP year-end No. 1 ranked player. Djokovic has won numerous awards, including the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year (four times) and the 2011 BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year award.

Federer is the former #1 ranked tennis player in the world, having held the number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks.

He won the Indesit ATP 2004 Race on September 14. The ATP confirmed that his lead was insurmountable, marking what is believed to be the earliest a player has locked up the year-end No. 1 position since the ATP Rankings were established in 1973.

He won his third Grand Slam title of the year at the U.S. Open. That was his 9th title of the year, his 16th since the beginning of 2003, his 19th career title. No other male player had ever won his first four Grand Slam finals.

He is considered to have the talent to be the best tennis player of all time. His fellow players have nicknamed him "The Natural."

He is the favorite tennis player of Anna Wintour, editor of American Vogue. She sometimes can be seen at his matches. He's frequently featured in American Vogue and once graced the cover of Men's Vogue.

He has appointed former American tennis player Paul Annacone as his coach.

Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player in men's singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Nadal has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 21 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles. In addition, Nadal has held the world No. 1 ranking for a total of 209 weeks. In majors, Nadal has won a record twelve French Open titles, four US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open title, and won at least one Grand Slam every year for a record ten consecutive years (2005-2014). Nadal has won 87 career titles overall, including the most outdoor titles in the Open Era (83) and a record 60 titles on clay. With 81 consecutive wins on clay, Nadal holds the record for the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.

Nadal has been involved in five Davis Cup titles with Spain, and has a 29-win streak and 29-1 record in singles matches at the event. In 2010, at the age of 24, he became the seventh male player and the youngest of five in the Open Era to achieve the singles Career Grand Slam. Nadal is the second male player after Andre Agassi to complete the singles Career Golden Slam, as well as the second male player after Mats Wilander to have won at least two Grand Slams on all three surfaces (grass, hard court and clay).

Partnering Marc López, he won the gold medal in men's doubles at the Rio 2016 Olympics for Spain by defeating Romania's Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau in the finals. This made Nadal the second man in the open era to have won gold medals in both singles and doubles.

Nadal's evolution into an all-court champion has established him as one of the best players of all time.

Jimmy Connors is a retired American world No. 1 tennis player, often considered among the greatest in the history of the sport. He held the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking for a then-record 160 consecutive weeks from 1974 to 1977 and a career total of 268 weeks.

By virtue of his long and prolific career, Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men's singles records: 109 titles, 1,556 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. His titles include eight majors (joint Open Era five US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles, one Australian Open title), three year-end championships, and 17 Grand Prix Super Series titles. In 1974, he became the second man in the Open Era to win three majors in a calendar year, and was not permitted to participate in the fourth, the French Open. In 1982, he won both Wimbledon and the US Open and is considered to be the World-number-one Player for that year, in addition to 1974 and 1976.

Ivan Lendl is a retired Czech-American professional tennis player.

He was world No. 1 for 270 weeks and won 94 singles titles. At the majors he won eight titles and was runner-up a record 11 times. He also won seven year-end championships.

In each year from 1985 through 1987, Lendl's match-winning percentage was over 90%. This record was equaled by Roger Federer in 2004-2006, but Lendl remains the only male tennis player with over 90% match wins in five different years (1982 was the first, 1989 the last). From the 1985 US Open to the 1988 Australian Open, Lendl reached ten consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals, a record that was broken by Federer at the 2007 Australian Open.

Lendl pioneered a new style of tennis; his game was built around his forehand, hit hard with heavy topspin, and his success is cited as a primary influence in popularizing the common playing style of aggressive baseline power tennis. After retirement he became a tennis coach of multiple players, and has helped Andy Murray win three major titles and reach the No. 1 ranking.

Sampras began learning tennis at the age of seven. He was discovered by trainer Pete Fischer, who subsequently imparted the knowledge to him. In 1988 he became a professional player. One of his sponsors was the former world-class player Ivan Lendl. In the same year he was already among the top hundred best tennis players in the world. In 1990, Pete Sampras experienced his first major success on the tennis circuit. The nineteen-year-old won the US Open tournament as seed number 19, making him the youngest winner of this Grand Slam tournament to date. In 1992 he played his way up to number three in the world rankings. The following year, 1993, he left the pitch as winner for the first time in the traditional London Wimbledon tournament, which is considered the unofficial world championship.

During this time he won the US Open again and a total of six other tournaments. He ended the tennis year with 83 match victories and was almost able to repeat the success of Ivan Lendl in 1985, who recorded 84 victories at the time. His track record includes a total of 14 Grand Slam tournament victories: seven victories at Wimbledon in the years 1993 to 1995 and 1997 to 2000, four victories at the US Open in 1990, 1993, 1995 and 1996 and two victories at the Australian Open in 1994 and 1997 as well as the five-time title of ATP World Champion in 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1999 and the two-time victory of the Davis Cup with the American team in 1992 and 1995. Further decided He was number one in the ATP world rankings for a total of six tennis seasons in a row.

The 14 Grand Slam victories represent an unprecedented record in men's tennis. However, Sampras was still missing a victorious finish at the French Open from his long list of successes. He earned the name "Pistol Pete" because of his hard serve. In the world rankings for doubles players, Sampras reached 27th place as his highest placement. Compared to 66 titles as a singles player, he only achieved two career titles in doubles. His other playing qualities included an excellent serve-and-volley game with a lot of pressure. In addition, his baseline shots were feared, which he also executed powerfully and with a high level of confidence. At the traditional tournament in Wimbledon, England in 2002, the tennis star had to be content with an early exit against the unknown Swiss player Georg Bastl.

His chances of winning before the start of the tournament were only 60 percent. In the same year, Sampras changed his previous coach Tom Gullikson. Since the beginning of 2002, Sampras has been coached by former world-class player José Higueras. After Pete Sampras won his 14th Grand Slam title by winning the US Open in 2002, he officially announced his retirement from active professional sports on August 26, 2003 at the US Open stadium in New York. Meanwhile, Pete Sampras was looking forward to the birth of his child in November 2003. He lives with his wife in Orlando, California.

John McEnroe is a former professional American tennis player, born in Wiesbaden, West Germany in 1959.

Breaking many records, McEnroe is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, though he is perhaps equally, if not more known, for his losses of temper on the court. His outbursts became so infamous that he titled his 2002 autobiography "You cannot be serious" after his most-known phrase, and observed in the book as he got older that: "There were times I felt like an old circus act, in a show that was attracting less and less interest. "

Since retiring from the sport, McEnroe has worked as a commentator, and often parodied his own public persona, playing fictional versions of himself in commercials, and movies including You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008), Anger Management (2003) and Jack and Jill (2011).

McEnroe was formerly married to actress Tatum O'Neal from 1986 to 1994, and is presently married to singer Patty Smyth.

Bjorn Borg is one of the greatest players in tennis history. Perhaps the greatest player of the open era in tennis. He is the 1st of two men to have won Wimbledon 5 straight years in the modern era; the 2nd being Roger Federer. He also won the French Open 6 times for a total of 11 major titles, the second highest of the open era and the third highest of all time next to Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Roy Emerson who had 14,14 and 12 respectively. Of course Federer is still active and can add more majors to his record. The major difference is that Borg, except for a short comeback in the 1990s retired basically at the age of 25 while Sampras played into his thirties and Emerson played into his forties.

Borg is estimated to have won about 100 tournaments in his very short career. He is the only man to have won the double of the French Open on red clay and Wimbledon on grass three years in a row.

Borg was a baseline machine with precise passing shots that discouraged many a net rusher. Borg also was able to great versatility in that he was able to serve and volley to win Wimbledon five years in a row, a modern era record also held by Roger Federer.

His rivalries with John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors are legendary. The match with John McEnroe in the 1980 Wimbledon final was perhaps the finest tennis match ever played. Certainly the fourth set tie-break in which each player fought off match points and set points respectively was perhaps the most famous tie-break of all time. Borg won that match 8-6 in the fifth set. Arguably the greatest player of all time.

Andre Kirk Agassi (born April 29, 1970) is an American retired professional tennis player and former World No. 1, who was one of the game's most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi had been called the greatest service returner in the history of the game. Described by the BBC upon his retirement as "perhaps the biggest worldwide star in the sport's history", Agassi compiled performances that, along with his unorthodox apparel and attitude, saw him cited as one of the most charismatic players in the history of the game. As a result, he is credited for helping to revive the popularity of tennis during the 1990s.

Possibly the greatest tennis player of all time. Winner of two Grand Slams, one Pro Slam and at least 199 tournaments, winner of 11 major titles. The amount of major titles probably would have been far more if he was not banned from playing in the majors from 1963 to 1967 and part of 1968 because he turned professional. Truly a legend in his own time.

Laver won the amateur Grand Slam in 1962 and then turned pro in 1963. Turning pro prevented him from entered the prestigious major tournaments (Australian, French, Wimbledon, US Championships) for five years. Laver played in the powerful Pro Tour in those years, winning eight Pro Majors in those years including the Pro Grand Slam in 1967 which consisted of the French Pro, Wembley Pro and the US Professional Championships. If you included the Pro Majors, Laver has won a total of 19 total majors in his unparalleled career.

Boris Franz Becker was born on November 22, 1967 in Leimen, West Germany, the only son in the family of an architect. His father built the tennis center (Blau-Weiss Tennisklub), where young Becker was usually playing against young Steffi Graf in training matches. In 1984 he became a professional tennis player.

Becker was an unknown 17-year-old unseeded outsider at the Wimbledon tennis tournament in 1985, when he shot to fame by setting the record for Wimbledon, becoming the youngest player ever to win the men's final. He was also the first unseeded player ever and the first German to win the men's single title at Wimbledon. He was nicknamed "Boom Boom" for his huge serve. Becker reached the Wimbledon final 7 times in 10 years and won 3 men's single titles, among the total of 49 singles and 15 doubles victories over the course of his career. Becker became the second youngest player, after Björn Borg, to be introduced into the tennis' Hall of Fame in 2003. He ranks third in sport career earnings with $25,080,956. But pressures and demands on him brought too much stress into his life.

At the age of 31 Becker retired from professional tennis. In 1993, he married Barbara Feltus, who was the daughter of an African-American serviceman and a white German lady. The celebrity couple appeared naked on the cover of "Stern" magazine before their marriage (the photo was made by her father). They married on December 17, 1993, and had their first son, Noah, born on January 18, 1994, and their second son Elias, born on September 4, 1999. Becker gained respect for his stance against racism. But in 2000, his wife took both sons to Florida and filed a petition in Miami court, ignoring their prenuptial agreement, that entitled her to a single payoff of $2,500,000. She got 14,400,000 and the custody of both sons, and her lawyer was paid for by Becker.

His high-profile marriage and an equally high-profile divorce from model Barbara Feltus was paralleled by the story of him impregnating a Russian-African model Angela Ermakova at an upscale London restaurant in the summer of 1999, and having an illegitimate child (Anna, born on March 22, 2000). After having positive DNA test results, Becker recognized his fatherhood of a daughter Anna and payed a generous $5,000,000 settlement in 2001. This came on top of his tax problems, for which he was fined $500,000. He also suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, which complicated matters in his turbulent life.

Boris Becker was able to overcome the mistakes of his past and moved on with his life, by first moving from Monaco to Mallorca and to Zug, Switzerland. His sincere and open autobiography, titled "Boris Becker - The Player: The Autobiography" was published in 2004. He works with a British TV sports-show and has a regular gig as a BBC commentator at Wimbledon. Becker also plays exhibitions on the Senior ATP Tour and on the Billie Jean King's World Team Tennis tour. Outside of his sports career Boris Becker has been a successful businessman. He owns half of the tennis racquet company Völkl, collaborates with watchmakers, owns several Mercedes dealerships and also does promotions for Mercedes-Benz.

Stefan Edberg is a Swedish former world No. 1 professional tennis player (in both singles and doubles).

He won six Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam men's doubles titles between 1985 and 1996. He also won the Masters Grand Prix and was a part of the Swedish Davis Cup-winning-team four times. In addition he won four Masters Series titles, four Championship Series titles and the unofficial Olympic tournament 1984, was ranked in the singles top 10 for ten successive years, and ranked 9 years in the top 5. Edberg began coaching Roger Federer in January 2014, with this partnership ending in December 2015.

Edberg was most comfortable playing tennis on fast-playing surfaces. Of his six Grand Slam singles titles, four were won on grass courts at the Australian Open (1985 and 1987) and Wimbledon (1988 and 1990) and two were won on hardcourts at the US Open (1991 and 1992).

Andy Murray is a British professional tennis player from Scotland.

Murray represents Great Britain in his sporting activities and is a three-time Grand Slam tournament winner, two-time Olympic champion, Davis Cup champion, winner of the 2016 ATP World Tour Finals, and former world No. 1.

Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in the 2012 US Open final, becoming the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament. Murray is also the first British man to win multiple Wimbledon singles titles since Fred Perry in 1936, winning the tournament in 2013 and 2016.

Murray is the men's singles 2012 and 2016 Olympic gold medalist, making him the only tennis player, male or female, to have won two Olympic singles titles. He featured in Great Britain's Davis Cup-winning team in 2015, going 11-0 in his matches (8 singles and 3 doubles) as they secured their first Davis Cup title since 1936.