100 Greatest of All Time

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.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.

Notes: Bolded players are still active today.

Major singles titles^[2] (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^[a]. The Open Era started in 1968 and all 3 pro majors tournaments are defunct since then.

Prior to 1924, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) recognized two other events as major 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.

Empty spots in the table mean player did not participate in any of those tournaments.

Major achievements

‡ The Grand Slam^[3], 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 major tournament singles titles (U.S., French and Wembley in one calendar year was achieved two times by two different players: Ken Rosewall in 1963 and Rod Laver in 1967.

† Anthony Wilding is the only Triple World Champion. In 1913, he won all three ILTF major tournament 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).

Experts' ranking

Rank	Name	Nationality	Major titles (March 2012)	Pro 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