Tennis: Best Tennis Players Of All Time

Could we have some views on who people think are the best players of all time in both divisions? Preferably not concluded through WTA results and rankings, but through personal merit?

It would be so hard to pick one outright as there has been so many different players over the years that have made a big impact on the sport.

One i remember when i was a kid was Borg, he was so athletic around the court and could really cover the ground. His baseline play was one of the best i have seen aswell. He has one of the best win percentages in tennis, about 90% i think over a 8 year span. Some of the greatest matchers ever was Borg against Jimmy Conners and John McEnroeand he was definatly one or the best matchplayers of his generation. One thing that was sad was his early retirement at the age of just 26, with 11 Grand Slam titles to his name.

welcome mountainman, i'm not a tennis fan but two names that come to mind are bilie jean king and martina navratalova, they were pretty much unbeatable in their primes, of course billie jean did a lot to make tennis popular with the masses with her win against boby riggs in that huge tv match that they had long ago

I might not follow tennis enough to give an accurate answer for the best ever, but Macenrow was alwas a favorite of mine growing up. Graf proved her worth, too, but navratalova may very well be the best woman ever, unless you count that woman from the early days, Babe something or other?

zacharias? or was it diedreckson?

Originally posted by toejam
diedreckson?

That's the one. Wasn't she great in like 500 sports or something?

Thats a very interesting list of players.
Personally I would have agreed with Gibbs that Navratalova was really the greatest female at least. Although Steffi Graf came very close, Navratalova dominated throughout two generations of players. And at that sort of level, the staying power in the sport becomes a skill all of its own.

Its funny how it doesnt seem to be so cut and dry for the males. I mean McEnroe, Agassi and Borg are probably my favourite to watch, but then you get people like Sampras and Becker, even Edberg and Lendl, who when they were on form, they were absolutely unstoppable.

What really gets me is that tennis is one of those sports where the ranking doesnt really affect the sponsorship deals. I guess this really must be a spectators sport.

Thanks for your opinions.

Thanks, Mountain man!

You wanna give us an introduction in the intor forum? Love to know where you're at.

Best Player of all time I would not know
Best player since i followed tennis is either Borg or Sampras
Fave player since i followed tennis is Borg & Mcenroe

2Gibbs,

I would love to give an introduction on the intor forum, only I don't quite know how its done(!)

Originally posted by MountainMan

2Gibbs,

I would love to give an introduction on the intor forum, only I don't quite know how its done(!)

Just make a post telling us a little about yourself in teh introductions forum, as much as you want or as little if your a private sort of person... There is others in there take a peek at a few...


Going back on subject i would say before this new crop of players Roddick, Fed, Hewitt ect.. Sampras definatly has to rank very high on anyones list. Although not alot of people liked the man he was one of the best tennis players i have seen.

for me. i dont know alot about tennis but the 1 guy who has always stood out was sampras,

when it really mattered he always managed to win and was a great player all round.

Originally posted by MountainMan
I would love to give an introduction on the intor forum, only I don't quite know how its done(!)

Cool man, just click here and post a new thread -

www.sportztawk.com...

Sampras was great, but I think he wasn't as good as Bjorg or Mac.

Ahh but there we have it Gibbs, Sampras was a great tennis player and had a awesome record. He won 762 matches, losing 222 around the 77.5% mark, plus his haul of major titles. But he was boring as hell to be honest. And if you look at the competition at the time he was playing there wasn't that much about except for Agassi.

I said he had to rank high on a list, not the no1 choice. Which takes me to the greatest player off all time..... John McEnroe..

McEnroe had around a winning percentage of more than 81% and 60+ doubles titles to his name. He was a serve and volleyer, his shotmaking artistry was second to none aswell as his mouth. He was better than Conners, Lendl and Borg without a doubt. And the era he played in produced most of the greatest tennis players ever...

Originally posted by TRD
the greatest player off all time..... John McEnroe..

Hey, we agree on something :party-smiley-018:
:sport-smiley-019:

Thanks guys, I will be entering my introduction shortly.

Sampras was a brilliant player, no question. Although it is true that he only really started to stand out once the old generation were aging, I think he still could have given most of the greats a run for their money. He had the ability to play with such levelheadedness, that sometimes it is easy to overlook him as a passionate player.

I remember when I first saw him play; I really didn't think he was up to much, because of this fact really. Another example of when I have been totally wrong about sport!

look forward to hearing your introduction Mountain Man,

who do you guys think is the best female tennis player?

the serena sisters?

Currently? Yeah, probably the Williams's, but I don't think that they are nearly as dominate now as they were just a couple of years ago. I don't know that there is a dominate woman right now, there are several really good players. That makes it that much more interesting to me.

yer, that is true Gibbs, a few years back they were just unbeatable, now they do have their slip ups.

Absolutely.

To be fair I think that their slight decline may have been due to the fact that they were so good.
I know it sounds funny, but other female players realized how much they would have to up their game in order to compete with the Williams sisters.

They are very driven by both themselves and their father, so doubt they will have a few tricks up their sleeves. I for one am looking forward to see how this one pans out..