The Greatest Tennis Players

Some of the greatest players in the times before the Open era are:

Bobby Riggs - his full name is Robert Larimore Riggs; born on 25 February 1918 in Los Angeles, California, died on 10 October 1995. Bobby Riggs won 6 amateur Grand Slam titles, 4 professional Grand Slam titles and was seven times a finalist. He was world's ¹ 1 tennis player in 1946 and 1947. He became very popular years later, with his "Battle of the Sexes" (1973), showed on the national television. He wanted to prove that the male athlete is better than the female no matter the age (he was 55 years old!) and that's why he challenged two of the best female tennis players of those times. He beat N.1 Margaret Smith Court 6-2, 6-1 but was defeated by N.2 Billie Jean King, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.

Jack Kramer - John Albert Kramer was born on 1 August 1921 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He won 10 amateur Grand Slam titles and 2 professional Grand Slam titles. Jack Kramer was world's N. 1 tennis player for a number of years, but his best year was 1947 when he was Wimbledon Singles (at the final he defeated Thomas "Tom" Brown, Jr. 6-1, 6-3, 6-2) and Doubles (with Bob Falkenburg) Champion, U.S. Singles and Doubles (with Ted Schroeder) Champion, Davis Cup Champion.

Pancho Gonzales - Ricardo Alonso Gonzales was born on 9 May 1928 and died on 3 July 1995. He won 4 amateur Grand Slam titles, 12 professional Grand Slam titles and was 6 times a finalist. Pancho Gonzales was World N. 1 tennis player for the still unequalled 9 years during 1950s and 1960s. One of the highlights in the history of tennis is his 5-set match against Charlie Pasarell at the third round of Wimbledon in 1969. The match took 2 days to finish and lasted 5 hours and 12 minutes. In the fifth set Gonzales won all the seven match points that Pasarell had against him, twice coming back from 0-40 deficits. Gonzales won the match and the final result was 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9.

Among the greatest male tennis players during the Open era are:

Pete Sampras - Peter Sampras was born on 12 August 1971 in Washington, DC. He had won the record 14 Grand Slam singles titles (seven times Wimbledon, five times US Open and twice Australian Open; he hadn't won Roland Garros!). The number of all his titles is 64 (including the Grand Slam) - 5 in Tennis Masters Cup, 11 in ATP Masters Series and 34 in ATP Tour. Pete Sampras had an almost perfect playing style - his first serve is one of the best in the whole history of tennis, leading to the nickname "Pistol Pete"; a superb second serve and one-handed backhand; perfect net game.

Rod Laver - Rodney George Laver was born on 6 August 1938 in Rockhampton, Australia. He is the only player in the history of tennis who had won twice all four Grand Slam titles in the same year - in 1962 (as an amateur) and in 1969 (as a professional). Beside these he had won three more times Grand Slam titles - Australian Championships in 1960 and Wimbledon in 1961 and in 1968. Rod Laver was World N. 1 for 6 consecutive years. In honour of his achievements in 2000 the central court of Melbourne Park, which today hosts the Australian Open, was named the Rod Laver Arena.

Andre Agassi - Andre Kirk Agassi was born on 29 April 1970 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He had won 8 Grand Slam titles (four times Australian Open, twice US Open and once Wimbledon and French Open) and he is the one of the five tennis players to have won all four Grand Slam events. Agassi is the only male player during the Open era who had one all the Grand Slam titles, the Masters, the Davis Cup and the Olympic Gold medal.

One of the greatest female tennis players in the years before the Open era is Suzanne Lenglen. Suzanne Rachel Flore Lenglen was born on 24 May 1899 in Compiegne, France, and died on 4 July 1938. She won 25 Grand Slam titles (10 times French Open and 15 times Wimbledon - in singles, doubles and mixed doubles). In 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium, she made a medal record, winning the gold medal in women's singles and in the mixed doubles, and the bronze medal in women's doubles. Suzanne Lenglen was the last French female tennis player to win Wimbledon ladies (in 1925) until Amelie Mauresmo in 2006.

Some of the greatest female players during the Open era are:

Margaret Smith Court - she was born on 16 July 1942 in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. She won a record 64 Grand Slam titles - 24 singles (11 times Australian Open, 5 times French Open, 3 times Wimbledon and 5 times US Open), 19 women's doubles and 19 mixed doubles. Margaret Smith Court is the only tennis player to have won the calendar year Grand Slam in both singles (in 1970) and mixed doubles (in 1963 with the Australian tennis player Ken Fletcher, and in 1965 with three different partners). She retired permanently from tennis in 1977.

Steffi Graf - Stefanie Maria Graf was born on 14 June 1969 in Mannheim, Germany. She won 22 Grand Slam singles titles (4 times Australian Open, 6 times French Open, 7 times Wimbledon and 5 times US Open) and she is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won all the four Grand Slam singles events at least four times each. In 1988 Steffi Graf became the only tennis player to have won the "Golden Slam" - she won the four Grand Slam singles tournaments and the Olympic gold medal (in Seoul) in the same year. Graf retired from tennis in 1999. In 2001 she married Andre Agassi.

Tags: sports history, tennis, sport, players

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