Click for Greatest Tennis Players of all time "GOATs"
Click for Criteria determining "GOATs"
Click for Greatest Tennis Players of each decade : 1920s .. 2000s
Click for Misc Stats and Records of some of the contenders ...
Click for discussion of Amateur vs Professional issues ...
Click for References...

Greatest Tennis Players of all time GOAT:
NOTE1: This is really the greatest tennis players of all time, the top guys on the list are contenders for GOAT IMO.
NOTE2: This is just my ranking based on research and comments from many other knowledgeable tennis historians. Will consider and appreciate any comments for changes or additions to these evolving lists.

• Laver - Only player to win 2 grand slams with 180+ overall titles.
  1st Grand Slam in a depleted amateur field, another in 1969 in a field packed with great players, the only 'true' Grand Slam in history. He turned pro in 1963. Was Number#1 from 1964 to 1969, 5 straight years. He never played well at a Slam anymore after 1969, but was arguably still the best player around in 1970-1971, as he won plenty of big tournaments, was the prize money leader by far, and regularly trounced the slam winners, Newcombe, Rosewall, Ashe, in other tournaments.
  Was at his best on grass and indoor, but showed he could be an all-court player by winning the French Pro agains Newcombe in 1968, RG against Rosewall in 1969, and Rome in 1971 against Kodes (who would win RG later). Won around 20 'True Grand Slam', around 40 big 'Super 9-like' tournaments (by my count), and at least 180 events over all !!!!
• Tilden - Longevity and titles make Bill a strong GOAT choice, top player dominated for 6 years almost without losing. Bill dominated the 1920's and was still a factor till almost 1940.
  Bills amazing 10 amateur Slams with 6 Davis Cup: 1920-1925 winning streak was finally broke in 1926 losing a match.
• Gonzales - Longevity and titles make Pancho a strong GOAT choice. Eight straight years as world pro champ.
  Great amateur years in '48-'49, wining back-to-back Forest Hills, plus many big tournaments (PSW Los Angeles, US Indoors, Newport,...). One of the main pros right from his debut year in 1950, winning Wembley and and the US Pro indoors. Arguably the Number#1 in 1952 when Kramer semi-retired (though Sedgman came up very strong too). Maybe the best again in 1953, but we'll never know since Kramer didn't allow him to compete in his tour. A clear Number#1 from 1954 to 1959, six straight years. He retired several times in the 60s, but incredibly had each time amazing come-backs, winning the US Pro Indoors in 1964 over Laver, the BBC2 Wembley event over Rosewall and Laver in 1966, the Las Vegas Open in 1969, and the PSW Los Angeles in 1969 and 1971!!! In terms of will-power, probably the greatest ever. Only drawback: his main achievements were on very fast surfaces, and he never did as well outside of the US than inside.
• Budge - Only other player to win the grand slam. Don maybe the GOAT if you consider he was the only player to achieved the incredible feat of winning the Wimbledon triple (singles, doubles, mixed) in back-to-back years.
  Don had major bad luck (bad injuries, and WW2). First Grand Slammer, but in quite a depleted field for this time (he would never have won the French, on his weakest surface, had former champs Perry and Von Cramm been around). Totally dominated the pros in 1939 and 1940. Was injured in '41, went on to dominate again in '42 but in a very small pro tour because of the war. Probably the best player in the world in 1937-1940 and 1942, and could have been the best ever if he hadn't had his best years during WW2.
• Vines - Did not win a slam like Budge but pretty dominate over the same era and even Budge himself considered Vines the true champion of the 1930s decade
• Kramer - Number one and dominated for half a decade against some of the best pre-open players ever
• Sampras - Failure to win the French Open limit Pete's GOAT considerations. Pete's outstanding record at Wimbledon is tops against all GOAT contenders and is only equaled by Lawn Tennis Great Willie Renshaw's who won under the Challenge Round era. Both Tilden and Gonzales were ranked No. 1 longer than Pete and Kramer was number 1 approx. the same duration.
  14 Grand Slam titles, 5 Masters. A Renshaw-tying 7 Wimbledon. 6 straight years as N°1.
• Perry - One of only 4 players to win all 4 slam finals and also won double titles for each slam. Fred won eight slam singles titles and was also a table tennis and golf champion.
• Rosewall - Played and won past 40 years of age wiht approx. 23 major titles (amateur and pro) 4 Slams
  Youngest ever to win the Australian or French Prevented a Grand Slam by Trabert in 1955 and stopped Hoad’s in 1956 Did not win Wimbledon (but made two finals there in the 1950s) 6 doubles titles in Slams Helped Australia win 3 Davis Cups
  Won the Davis Cup, the Australian and Roland Garros when he was 19! He turned pro in 1957 and quickly showed he was second only to Gonzales. In 1960, with Pancho semi-retired, he became the Number#1. 1962 and 1963 were extremely dominant, "Grand Slam-like" years. Became n°2 to Laver from 1964 on. Had a great come-back during Open tennis, beating Laver in RG 1968, winning the US in 1970 and 2 more Australian Open. Reached Wimbledon and Forest Hills finals in 1974, aged 40! Probably won around 120 tournaments. Will be forever the best player never to have won Wimbledon. He's the best all-court player of all-time, being able to beat all-time greats such as Hoad or Laver on wood or grass, and being the clear-cut Number#1 on clay throughout the 60s.
• Federer - Dominated 2000s very much like Sampras even yet to win the French. Rogers is still on a record assaulting pace especially since he dominates the modern baseline orientated game. If not for Rafael Nadal, Roger may have won a career or grand slam by 2007. If Roger wins the French and surpasses the Sampras total, he will move under Budge ...
  still playing. If he retires today, he doesn't make the list, but I assume he keeps his current pace for a few years. 6 or 7 more Slam titles, 10 or 12 more Masters series definitely put him high on the list. 1 or 2 RG titles and 3 or 4 more years as N°1 would make him the GOAT and pretty much close the debate.
• McEnroe - Dominated in both singles and doubles and Davis Cup which is rare for open players
• Borg - Short career and failures at the US Open drop Bjorn considerations even though his slam accomplishments and winning percentage over 82% were probably tops for years played
  The best clay-courter ever (maybe tied with Rosewall). Won 6 RG, losing to only 1 player in all his career. After passing in 1977, came back in 1978, and destroyed the whole field, losing only 32 games and 0 sets, embarassing defending champ Vilas in the final. He was able to adapt his game to grass, and won 5 straight Wimbledon, including 3 RG-Wim doubles. Lost 4 US finals. Was N°1 for 3 or 4 years. He retired at 26. Some more years on the tour and a US victory, and he could be THE G.o.a.t..
• Hoad - Short career and consistency failures dropped Lew but was almost the 3rd grand slam winner if not for Rosewalls comeback win in the US Open final 4 Slams Won 3 Slams in one year Never won the U.S. 6 doubles titles in Slams Helped Australia win 3 Davis Cups Defeated Trabert in a classic Cup match in 1953 Often tipped as the best ever on his best day
• Cochet - Lacoste and Cochet were Tilden's toughest rivals, and they would be more-or-less tied at No. 2 for the 1920s.
• Lacoste - See Cochet above.
• Connors - Number one and only player to win US Open on grass, clay and hard courts. Longevity and titles get Jimmy added to this list.
• Agassi - Career slam and number one ranking in the open era get Andre added to the list
• Lendl - Number one and dominated for half a decade against some of the best open players ever

Criteria for Greatest Tennis Players of all time GOAT:

• List considers world champions and championships rather than just open slam titles
• Players who have no weaknesses are favored thus greatly helps to have championships on all surfaces
• The competition; number of mutiple number #1 and championship players that the player faced in career
• Greater longevity is favored over shorter careers

Greatest Tennis Players by Decade:

• 1880's
  1880s W. Renshaw / Sears___ Bingley Hillyard
• 1890's
  1890s R. Doherty (really NO dominant player) / Wrenn___ Dod / Atkinson
• 1900's
  1900s H.L. Doherty / Larned___ Douglass Chambers
• 1910's
  1910s Brookes / Wilding (tie) ___ Douglass Chambers / Mallory
• 1920's
  Bill Tilden - 7 US and 3 Wimbledon titles
• 1930's
  Don Budge - 1938 Grand Slam and winner of record 6 consecutive GS's Note that Budge himself considered Vines the true champion of this decade.
• 1940's
  Jack Kramer - The best professional for most of the decade. Riggs was a tough 2nd and if not for the war, Budge probably would have dominated as even stated by Jack Kramer
• 1950's
  Pancho Gonzales - 7 or 8 years as World No.1 (7 straight US Pro & 4 Wembly Pro)
  Competed against many alltime greats including Kramer, Segura, Sedgman, Laver, Rosewall, and Hoad.
  Best amateur of the 50s is debatable between Sedgman, Trabert and Hoad. Sedge had great Davis Cup (DC) victories against the US teams, won two clear Forest Hills titles 51/52, the last without losing a set i think. In 52 he won DC, Wim and US, in Wim all 3 titles (singles, doubles, mixed).
  Trabert was great at French (RG) and US, won RG 54/55, the last American before Chang. After his loss to Rosewall in sf Australia, he won the last 3 of the Grand Slam. Then he turned pro, losing a bitter hth series clearly to Gonzales, however on indoor wood and carpet, not on hard and clay, where he had grown up. Had to deal with Hoad and Rosewall.Won DC 54 in Sydney among the biggest crowds ever.
  Hoad wasn't that successful until 56, had his best matches at DC, at the majors, he lost some tight and some clear big matches to Patty and Drobny. Had his best year in 56, winning big in all surfaces. Did the Paris-Rome-Hamburg clay triple, which was emulated only by Laver. Dominated Rosewall, but lost the very last match of the Grand Slam, under heavy wind at Forest Hills to Rosewall in four sets. In 57 he played inconsistenly, but had his best performace in his demolition of Cooper at Wimbledon.
• 1960's
  Rod Laver - World No.1 1964-70. Double Grand Slam 1962(am) & 1969(open era), and Pro Grand Slam in 1967 (US Pro, French Pro, Wimbledon Pro, Wembly Pro) Rosewall a formidable No. 2 for this decade
• 1970's
  Jimmy Connors & Bjorn Borg (tie) (Connors: 5 straight years as YE No.1 and consecutive weeks as No.1 record holder) (Borg: 5 straight Wimbledon's and 6 French Open's. 1978-80 French/Wimbledon double) The 1970s go to Borg over Connors based on Bjorns winning percentage and greater number of slams
• 1980's
  John McEnroe & Ivan Lendl (tie) (McEnroe: World No.1 1980-84) (Lendl: World No.1 1985-88 & 8 straight US open finals) I prefer Mac based on his allcourt play and dominance in doubles
• 1990's
  Pete Sampras - 6 straight years as YE World No.1 & Grand Slam record holder in singles. Record 7 Wimbledon's
• 2000's
  Roger Federer - 10 Grand Slams. 4 straight Wimbledon's. World No.1 for record 173 straight weeks and counting Roger has the 2000s already locked up but the king of clay is Rafael Nadal

Misc statistics and records of many great players

• Laver:
  
• 
  Austrailian Singles Champion 1960,62,69
  Austrailian Doubles Champion 1959-61,69
  Wimbledon Singles Champion 1961,62,68,69
  Wimbledon Doubles Champion 1971
  US Open Singles Champion 1962, 69
  US Open Doubles Champion 1960, 70, 73
  French Open Singles Champion 1962, 69
  French Open Doubles Champion 1961
• Tilden:
  
• 
  GRAND SLAM RECORD
  Wimbledon Singles 1920-21, 30
  Doubles 1927
  
  
  U.S. Singles 1920-25, 29
  Singles finalist 1918, 19, 27, 29
  Doubles 1918, 21-23, 27
  Doubles finalist 1919, 26
  Mixed 1913-14, 22-23
  Mixed finalist 1916, 17, 19, 21, 24
  
  
  French Singles finalist 1927, 30
  Mixed 1930
  Newport '1919 (just after WW1, there were very few european tournaments, so my fourth slam apart from Forest Hills, Wimbledon and Davis Cup had to be American. As the US champ's had just moved from Newport, the tournament there had still very much prestige...). Paris World Championships on clay 1921 His 10 amateur Slams 6 Davis Cup: 1920-1925 (in 1926 he lost one match for the first time, and thus doesn't qualify as a 'winner' of the Cup. Johnston deserves that honor as he managed to beat Lacoste.) That's 18 titles. It doesn't include any pro title, as Tilden was prominent in a time when the pro tour was not at the same level as the amateur slams...
• Gonzales:
  
• 
  U.S. Singles 1948-49
  French Doubles 1949
  Wimbledon Doubles 1949
  Forest Hills 48, 49
  US Pro Indoors 50, 52, 64
  Wembley 50, 51, 52, 56
  Berlin World Pro 52
  US Pro 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 61 (the '58 US Pro was too depleted, and there were too much other big tournaments that year, so it didn't make it on my list)
  US Pro Hard Courts 54, 55
  New York MSG Pro 54
  Scarborough Pro 55
  Forest Hills Tourn. of Champions 56, 57, 58
  Los Angeles Masters Pro Round Robin 57
  Geneva Gold Trophy 61
• Budge:
  
• 
  Australian Singles 1938
  French Singles 1938
  Doubles finalist 1938
  Wimbledon Singles 1937-38
  Doubles 1937-38
  Mixed 1937-38
  Mixed finalist 1936
  U.S. Singles 1937-38
  Singles finalist 1936
  Doubles 1936, 1938
  Doubles finalist 1935, 37
  Mixed 1937-38
  Mixed finalist 1936
• Vines:
  
• 
  Australian Singles 1938
  French Singles 1938
  Doubles finalist 1938
  Wimbledon Singles 1937-38
  Doubles 1937-38
  Mixed 1937-38
  Mixed finalist 1936
  U.S. Singles 1937-38
  Singles finalist 1936
  Doubles 1936, 1938
  Doubles finalist 1935, 37
  Mixed 1937-38
  Mixed finalist 1936
• Rosewall:
  
• 
  GRAND SLAM RECORD
  Australian Singles 1953, 55, 71-72
  Singles finalist 1956
  Doubles 1953, 56, 72
  Doubles finalist 1955, 69
  French Singles 1953, 68
  Singles finalist 1969
  Doubles 1953, 68
  Doubles finalist 1954
  Wimbledon Singles finalist 1954,56, 70, 74
  Doubles 1953, 56
  Doubles finalist 1955, 68, 70
  Mixed finalist 1954
  U.S. Singles 1956, 70
  Singles finalist 1955, 74
  Doubles 1956, 69
  Doubles finalist 1954, 73
  Mixed 1956
  Mixed finalist 1954
  Davis Cup '55 (in 1955 there were very few pro events...I currently count US Pro, US Pro Hard Courts, and Scarborough Pro as 'pro majors' (though the last two are debatable, I admit. The fourth major is then the biggest amateur major, that usually was, before the Open era, the Davis Cup)
  Wembley '57, '60, '61, '62 '63 '65
  French Pro '58, '60, '61, '62 '63 '64 '65 '66
  US Pro '63 '65
  Los Angeles Pro (not sure if it was a Masters Pro Round Robin or not though?) '60, Geneva Gold Trophy '62, Rome Italian Pro '63
  French Open '68, US Open '70, Australian Open '71, Dallas WCT Finals '72
• Kramer:
  
• 
  Wimbledon Singles Champion 1947
  Wimbledon Doubles Champion 1946-47
  US Open Singles Champion 1946-47
  US Open Singles Finalist 1943
  US Open Doubles Champion 1940-41,43 & 47
  US Open Mixed Champion 1941
  US Open Mixed Finalist 1940
• Sampras:
  
• 
  Pete Sampras holds the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles: 14
  Australian Open
  Singles Champion - 1994, 1997
  Singles Finalist - 1995
  Singles Semifinalist - 1993, 2000
  Win-loss record at the Australian Open: 45-9
  Roland Garros
  Singles Semifinalist - 1996
  Singles Quarterfinalist - 1993, 1994
  Win-loss record at Roland Garros: 24-13
  Wimbledon
  Singles Champion - 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000
  Singles Semifinalist - 1992
  Singles Quarterfinalist - 1996
  Win-loss record at Wimbledon: 63-7
  US Open
  Singles Champion - 1990, 1993, 1995, 1996, 2002
  Singles Finalist - 1992, 2000, 2001
  Singles Semifinalist - 1998
  Singles Quarterfinalist - 1991
  Win-loss record at the US Open: 71-9
• Perry:
  
• 
  Australian Singles 1934
  Singles finalist 1935
  Doubles 1934
  Doubles finalist 1935
  Wimbledon Singles 1934-36
  Doubles finalist 1932
  Mixed 1935, 36
  U.S. Singles 1933, 34, 36
  Mixed 1932
  French Singles 1935
  Singles finalist 1936
  Doubles 1936
  Mixed 1932
  Mixed finalist 1933
• Hoad:
  
• 
  Australian Singles 1956
  Singles finalist 1955
  Doubles 1953, 56-57
  Doubles finalist 1955
  French Singles 1956
  Doubles 1953
  Doubles finalist 1954,56
  Mixed 1954
  Wimbledon Singles 1956-57
  Doubles 1953, 55-56
  Doubles finalist 1957
  U.S. Singles finalist 1965
  Doubles 1956
  Doubles finalist 1954
  Mixed finalist 1952, 56
• XXX
  
• More stats for these GOAT contenders will be added as available ...

Amateur vs Professional issues

The amateur-pro rankings are difficult and speculative, and can change from period to period. We had often discussion on this board about the status of Emerson, and i tried always to hold a middle ground here. In his prime, in the mid 60s, he would probably have won some majors, regardless the pro competition, especially given his fitness in the context of the big draws. Sedgman in 1952 was maybe co Nr.1 overall, in 1953 as a pro, he had a positive record vs. Gonzales, and lost a tight head to head tour on canvas vs. Kramer, who didn't play much in 52.Trabert in 55 had Rosewall and Hoad in the field, not Gonzales, Sedgman and Segura. Hoad played great tennis in 56, and Laver in 1962 would have to fear Rosewall and to a lesser degree Gimeno the most over the long term. Hoad would be still dangerous, but probably not on a day to day basis and under big draw conditions. Gonzales didn't play in 62. I would rank amateurs Emerson and Santana quite on par with Gimeno, so the six best players for 62 would be Rosewall or/and Laver, Emerson, Gimeno, Hoad and Santana. The problem would be under the conditions of big tournaments with 128 draws - as i said above - the ranking of Hoad. All these rankings are speculative and open to discussion.

The most prominent amateur events from the late 40s and early 50s as majors, but none after that. It's a cruel sitution for us tennis fans, because we are accustomed to consider Sedgman's, Trabert's, Hoad's, Laver's accomplishments in such prestigious venues as Wimbledon as historical exploits, but sadly a realistic look at the draws can't let us call these events majors. The very best amateurs (Sedgman in '52, Hoad in '56, Trabert in '55, Laver in '62) were probably already top 5 in a pro-am combined ranking, but their foes in the amateur Slams were too much below them to be called actual competition. Of course you know this, but the Open Era record of Emerson, 12-times Slam titlist, speaks volumes....

References ...

Much of this information is not recorded well and somewhat unclear in many tennis history books. Alot also comes from knowledgable tennis historians and discussions on discussion boards like the TW website. Some of the alias authors include urban, SgtJohn, and chaognosis.

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