100 Greatest of All Time

For similarly-named listings, see 100 greatest.

100 Greatest of All Time was a television series of five one-hour episodes, produced and first aired by Tennis Channel in March 2012. It presented a list of the "100 greatest tennis players of all time", both men and women. The series was hosted by Jack Nicklaus, Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretzky, Lisa Leslie and Carl Lewis. Many retired tennis luminaries provided commentary, including Rod Laver, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Martina Navratilova, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi.

Background

An "international panel of tennis experts" determined this ranking of 62 men and 38 women. The United States was credited with the most great players (38), followed by Australia (17), France (7), Great Britain (6) and Czechoslovakia (5). Forty-three players made the list from the Americas, 39 from Europe and 18 from Oceania.

Major singles titles (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US tournaments) column figures reflect number of wins as of March 2012 when the list was published.

Pro major tournaments were three professional tournaments: U.S. Pro Championships (first held in 1927), French Pro Championship (first held in 1930) and Wembley Championships (started in 1934). Only male tennis players that turned from amateurs to pros were able to participate. The Open Era started in 1968 and all three pro majors tournaments were quickly relegated to lesser events and were all defunct by the 1990s.

Prior to 1924, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) recognized two other events as world championships. The "World Hard Court Championships" (WHCC) and the "World Covered Court Championships" (WCCC). Between 1913 and 1923 Wimbledon was known as the World Grass Court Championships (WGCC), also sanctioned by the ILTF.

In 1924 ILTF designated the Australasian, French, British and American championship tournaments as the new four majors. 1925 was the first season held with all these four major tournaments opened to all amateurs.

Achievements

‡ The Grand Slam, winning all four major tournament singles titles (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US) in one calendar year was achieved six times by five different players: Don Budge in 1938, Maureen Connolly in 1953, Rod Laver in 1962 & 1969, Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988.

◊ The Pro Grand Slam, winning all three professional major singles titles (U.S., French and Wembley) in one calendar year was achieved by Ken Rosewall in 1963 and by Rod Laver in 1967.

† Anthony Wilding is the only Triple World Champion. In 1913, he won all three ILTF major singles titles, the World Covered Court Championships (WCCC), the World Hard Court Championships (WHCC) and Wimbledon Championships (also known as World Grass Court Championships or simply WGCC).

Top 100 ranking

Rank	Name	Gender	Nationality	Major singles titles (March 2012)	Pro Slam Major titles	ILTF Major titles	Total Major titles (Current)
1	Roger Federer		SUI	16			20
2	Rod Laver ‡ ◊ ‡		AUS	11	8		19
3	Steffi Graf ‡		FRG/GER	22			22
4	Martina Navratilova		TCH/USA	18			18
5	Pete Sampras		USA	14			14
6	Rafael Nadal		ESP	10			18
7	Björn Borg		SWE	11			11
8	Margaret Court ‡		AUS	24			24
9	Chris Evert		USA	18			18
10	Billie Jean King		USA	12			12
11	Don Budge ‡		USA	6	4		10
12	Andre Agassi		USA	8			8
13	John McEnroe		USA	7			7
14	Serena Williams		USA	13			23
15	Jimmy Connors		USA	8			8
16	Bill Tilden		USA	10	4	1	15
17	Roy Emerson		AUS	12			12
18	Ivan Lendl		TCH/USA	8			8
19	Monica Seles		YUG/USA	9			9
20	Ken Rosewall ◊		AUS	8	15		23
21	Boris Becker		FRG/GER	6			6
22	Venus Williams		USA	7			7
23	Fred Perry		GBR	8	2		10
24	Suzanne Lenglen		FRA	8		4	12
25	Stefan Edberg		SWE	6			6
26	Justine Henin		BEL	7			7
27	Maureen Connolly ‡		USA	9			9
28	Arthur Ashe		USA	3			3
29	Helen Wills		USA	19			19
30	Martina Hingis		SUI	5			5
31	John Newcombe		AUS	7			7
32	Lew Hoad		AUS	4	1		5
33	Mats Wilander		SWE	7			7
34	Jack Kramer		USA	3	2		5
35	Pancho Gonzalez		USA	2	12		14
36	René Lacoste		FRA	7			7
37	Evonne Goolagong Cawley		AUS	7			7
38	Maria Bueno		BRA	7			7
39	Althea Gibson		USA	5	1		6
40	Novak Djokovic		SCG/SRB	5			15
41	Guillermo Vilas		ARG	4			4
42	Jim Courier		USA	4			4
43	Lindsay Davenport		USA	3			3
44	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario		ESP	4			4
45	Kim Clijsters		BEL	4			4
46	Henri Cochet		FRA	7	1	3	11
47	Jean Borotra		FRA	4			4
48	Frank Sedgman		AUS	5	2		7
49	Ilie Năstase		ROU	2			2
50	Tony Trabert		USA	5	2		7
51	Doris Hart		USA	6			6
52	Jack Crawford		AUS	6			6
53	Tracy Austin		USA	2			2
54	Manuel Santana		ESP	4			4
55	Gustavo Kuerten		BRA	3			3
56	Stan Smith		USA	2			2
57	Jennifer Capriati		USA	3			3
58	Alice Marble		USA	5			5
59	Margaret Osborne duPont		USA	6			6
60	Virginia Wade		GBR	3			3
61	Neale Fraser		AUS	3			3
62	Hana Mandlíková		TCH	4			4
63	Lleyton Hewitt		AUS	2			2
64	Ellsworth Vines		USA	3	5		8
65	Pancho Segura		ECU	0	4		4
66	Bobby Riggs		USA	3	3		6
67	Fred Stolle		AUS	2			2
68	Helen Hull Jacobs		USA	5			5
69	Louise Brough		USA	6			6
70	Patrick Rafter		AUS	2			2
71	Maria Sharapova		RUS	3			5
72	Gottfried Von Cramm		//FRG	2			2
73	Jaroslav Drobný		TCH	3			3
74	Tony Roche		AUS	1			1
75	Pauline Betz Addie		USA	5			5
76	William Renshaw		GBR	7			7
77	Molla Mallory		USA	8			8
78	Ashley Cooper		AUS	4			4
79	Gabriela Sabatini		ARG	1			1
80	Marat Safin		RUS	2			2
81	Vic Seixas		USA	2			2
82	Yevgeny Kafelnikov		RUS	2			2
83	Jan Kodeš		TCH	3			3
84	Norman Brookes		AUS	3			3
85	Yannick Noah		FRA	1			1
86	Anthony Wilding †		NZL	6		3	9
87	Mary Pierce		FRA	2			2
88	Amélie Mauresmo		FRA	2			2
89	Dorothea Lambert Chambers		GBR	7			7
90	Bill Johnston		USA	3		1	4
91	Shirley Fry Irvin		USA	4			4
92	Svetlana Kuznetsova		RUS	2			2
93	Nicola Pietrangeli		ITA	2			2
94	Andy Roddick		USA	1			1
95	Thomas Muster		AUT	1			1
96	Manuel Orantes		ESP	1			1
97	Pat Cash		AUS	1			1
98	Bunny Austin		GBR	0			0
99	Ann Haydon-Jones		GBR	3			3
100	Michael Chang		USA	1			1

Notes:

• Bolded players are still active today.
• Empty spots in the table mean player did not participate in any of those tournaments.

See also

• 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS Era (2005)

External links

• Official site