Tennis Photos

Federer named greatest player by Tennis channel

March 24, 2012 19:59

People may have started questioning Roger Federer's form now but his achievements are unlikely to ever be questioned or may be even surpassed. The 16-time Grand Slam champion, the most for a male player, has been named the greatest player of all time by America's Tennis Channel in their "100 Greatest of All Time" list. A look at the top 10.

Zoom

People may have started questioning Roger Federer's form but his achievements are unlikely to ever be questioned or may be even surpassed. The 16-time Grand Slam champion, the most for a male player, has been named the greatest player of all time by America's Tennis Channel in their "100 Greatest of All Time" list. A look at the top 10.
Zoom

At No. 2 is Rod Laver was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970. He is the only tennis player to have twice won the Grand Slam (all four major singles titles in the same year). In all he won 11 major titles.
Zoom

The list also includes female players, with Steffi Graf as the top woman and third overall. The German won 22 Grand Slam singles titles. In 1988, she became the first and only tennis player (male or female) to achieve the Calendar Year Golden Slam by winning all four Grand Slam singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year.
Zoom

At No. 4 is Martina Navratilova who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. In addition, she won the season ending WTA Tour Championships a record 8 times and won the doubles title a record 11 times. Navratilova is the only player of either sex to have won eight different tournaments at least seven times.
Zoom

At No. 5 is the player who held most of the tennis records before Roger Federer re-wrote history. Pete Sampras won 14 major titles and was the year-end world no. 1 for six consecutive years (1993–1998), a record for the Open Era. His seven Wimbledon singles championships are also an Open Era record.
Zoom

At No. 6 is the athlete who has proved to be the nemesis of Roger Federer and probably the only player to have had an upper hand over the Swiss great. Had Rafael Nadal not played in the same era one can only imagine how many Grand Slams would have been in Federer's kitty. A winner of 10 major titles, Nadal is also only the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after only Andre Agassi.
Zoom

At No. 7 is Swedish great Bjorn Borg who between 1974 and '81 won 11 Grand Slam singles titles. He won five consecutive Wimbledon (a record shared with Roger Federer)[3] and six French Open trophies (a record shared with Rafael Nadal).
Zoom

At No. 8 is Australian great Margaret Court who won a record 24 Grand Slam singles titles during her career. She also won 19 women's doubles and 19 mixed doubles titles, giving her a record 62 major titles overall. In 1970, she became the first woman during the Open Era and the second in history to win all four Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year.
Zoom

American Chris Evert occupies the ninth spot. She won 18 Grand Slam singles championships, including a record seven at the French Open and a record six at the US Open. Evert's career win–loss record of 1,309–146 (89.96%) in singles matches is the best of any professional player, man or woman, in the Open Era.
Zoom

The top 10 list is rounded off by American Billie Jean King. She won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, 16 Grand Slam women's doubles titles, and 11 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. King is also the founder of the Women's Tennis Association, the Women's Sports Foundation, and owner of World Team Tennis.

Back to Tennis photos