Competitive tennis has been growing in popularity for more than a century. How many of the tennis greats can you recognize?
1: From the 1960s till the '80s she was the icon of women's tennis and a tireless proponent of gender equality and gay rights.
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Billie Jean King won 12 Major singles, 16 doubles and 11 mixed doubles titles. With 20 combined titles , Billie Jean ruled Wimbledon for almost 20 years. She is considered "the smart one" behind the 9 founders of the WTA. Since retirement from competition, she continues to work on tennis promotion, gender equality and gay rights to this day.
2: The only male tennis great to hold 2 Grand Slams, all 4 Majors won in the same year in 1962 and 1969. The first he won in his amateur and the second in his professional career.
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With unparalleled 200 career titles, including 2 Grand Slams, Rod Laver represents one of the highest achievements of tennis greatness. "The Rocket" was the No1 tennis player in the world for 7 consecutive years, from 1964 till 1970.
3: With 24 singles Major titles, she still holds the record among both the WTA and ATP tours at the end of 2020.
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In addition to 24 singles, Australian great Margaret Court won 19 women's doubles and 19 mixed doubles titles. Court was one of the first tennis players to recognize the value of fitness and weight training to avoid injuries and prolong playing competitively.
4: This Australian great is the only male player who won career Grand Slams in both singles and men's doubles competition.
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Roy Emerson also holds a record of 8 Davis Cup titles. His 6 Australian Open and 12 total Major titles stood for more than 30 years before they were outdone. Roy won 16 Major titles in men's doubles, with the last coming with Rod Laver in 1971 on the hallowed grass of Wimbledon.
5: This American prolific champion still holds a record of playing 34 Major single finals, of which she won 18.
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Chris Evert won 157 career titles and 90 percent of her matches during her domination of tennis courts of the '70s and '80s. With such a consistency, Chris was 7 times year-end the No 1 women's player of the world. Her aggressive baseline tennis was a novelty at the time and was later adopted by many.
6: Adored for his blonde locks and cool demeanor, this tennis great dominated the men's tour until his early retirement at the age of 26.
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Bjorn Borg won 6 French and 5 Wimbledon titles and was runner-up at the US Open 4 times. Bjorn's success increased the popularity of tennis that resulted in much better financial compensation for the players and endorsements from various sponsors. For 4 consecutive years Borg was the year-end No 1 player of the world. The tennis world was in shock when he announced his retirement from competitive tennis in January 1983.
7: Born in Czechoslovakia, this tennis great played most of her career under the US flag, winning 18 singles Major titles.
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Martina Navratilova had a very long career of playing competitively that made it possible to win 18 singles, 31 women's doubles and 10 mixed doubles Major titles. She won her last mixed doubles in 2006 at the age of 50. Martina is the only professional tennis player that was No 1 in both singles and doubles for more than 200 weeks, winning 167 singles and 177 doubles titles.
8: Known for his brash and provocative behavior on the court, this American great held the No 1 position in the world for 268 weeks, 160 of them consecutively.
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Jimmy Connors had a very long and prolific career, winning 109 titles and 1274 wins out of 1557 matches by the time he retired at the age of 43. He was ranked No 1 for 5 years from 1974 to 1978, with 3 of those being on top every week of the year. After retirement he continued being involved with tennis as a commentator and coach, with questionable results.
9: The most dominant WTA player between 1990 and 1992, she won 8 of her 9 Major titles by the age of 20.
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Monika Seles started playing for her native country of Yugoslavia and from 1994 she played for the USA. The career of this tennis prodigy was vastly derailed being stabbed by a spectator obsessed with preventing her from winning more than her main rival. Monika was recognizable by her fierce competitiveness and regarded by her contemporaries as "thoughtful, graceful and dignified" as sports writer Jon Wertheim wrote.
10: Having a good first serve is a big advantage, and this great tennis player had a second serve almost as strong.
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Pete Sampras' 14 Major titles were, at the time of his retirement in 2002, considered unreachable. "Pistol Pete" was the year-end No 1 for 6 consecutive years from 1993 till 1999, a record that still holds. His 286 weeks at No 1 were surpassed only by two other tennis icons since Pete's last hold in November 2000. He was one of the best serve-and-volley players in the history of tennis, though the slow clay surface was not suited well to his game.
11: Since the year 2000, this American great won 4 Gold and 1 Silver Olympic medals and 10 singles Major titles.
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Venus Williams' long and prolific competitive career is not yet over at her age of 40. She won 49 WTA tournaments with 10 singles, 14 doubles and 2 mixed doubles Major titles. Off the court Venus is a successful businesswoman, having her own clothing and footwear line among other businesses.
12: This tennis great was the winner of 94 ATP singles titles and spent a total of 270 weeks ranked No 1 in the world, of which 157 was consecutive.
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Czech born Ivan Lendl played the two last years of his career under the US flag from 1992 till 1994 when he retired. His hard-hitting forehand with a heavy top-spin brought to him a lot of success and nicknames "Ivan the Terrible" and "The Terminator". After his retirement he continued being involved in tennis as a successful coach of high ranking tennis players.
13: Named after her parents sport idol, this tennis prodigy spent 209 weeks at the top of the WTA ranking and retired for the first time at the age of 22.
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Martina Hingis, at only 16 and a half, became the youngest player ever at the top of the WTA ranking. She did not poses great power as some of her contemporaries. Martina's playing style was based on her high tennis IQ, superior movement and excellent anticipation. In 1998, just 17 years old she completed the women's doubles Grand Slam. Martina Hingis finished her career winning 5 singles, 13 women's doubles and 7 mixed doubles Major titles.
14: "You cannot be serious!" is a famous cry of this American great tennis player and prolific commentator born in Wiesbaden, West Germany.
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John McEnroe's hate for losing made him often a "bad boy" of tennis. Aside from all the antics, he remains one of the craftiest players of all times. John won 77 singles and 78 doubles titles in his career, often playing with his younger brother Patrick. He has 7 singles, 9 men's doubles and 1 mixed doubles Major title.
15: A small frame did not prevent this Belgian tennis great from becoming one of the most decorated WTA players in the first decade of the 21st century.
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Justine Henin's deadly single-handed top-spin backhand was an ultimate beauty of efficiency on the tennis court. Justine won 43 WTA titles, including 7 women's singles Majors and an Olympic Gold medal in Athens in 2004. Her success was based on excellent movement and superb mental toughness. Injuries prompted an early retirement in 2011, after which she continued being involved in her tennis academy "Club Justine N1".
16: This tennis great is considered by many as one of the "Big 3" having a realistic chance to be the ultimate "Greatest Of All Time" when he retires.
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Novak Djokovic has been ranked the No 1 tennis player in the world for 301 weeks by Dec 28 2020, and will continue. The year 2020 was not very kind to his efforts notwithstanding his superb win-to-loss ratio. Djokovic is the only player after Rod Laver to hold all 4 Majors at the same time in the Open era. Winning one Big Title every 3.3 tournaments played, Novak has already won a double Golden Master 1000 and has been the Year End No 1 for the record equalizing 6 times. Regarded as the most intelligent of the "Big 3", Novak's outspoken, extroverted personality, earned him the nickname "Djoker".
17: Being ranked the No 1 WTA player for a total of 377 weeks, and winning 22 Major titles make this tennis great one of the best who has ever played the game.
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Steffi Graf is one of the most successful WTA players of all time. She won 107 WTA titles and is the only tennis player who won each of the Majors at least 4 times. In 1988 Steffi won a Grand Slam and added a Gold Medal in the Olympic games in Seoul for a unique Golden Slam. The same 1988 Graf won a Major at Wimbledon and Bronze Olympic Medal in the women's doubles competition.
18: The "King of Clay" is only the second male player to win a singles "Career Golden Slam" and one of only 4 to end ranking as the Year End No 1 at least 5 times.
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Rafael Nadal's unparalleled success on clay courts with 81 consecutive wins resulted in 60 clay titles including 13 French Open Majors before the end of 2020. Rafa was ranked the No 1 ATP player for 209 weeks until now, and holds at least 20 Major titles in addition to Olympic Gold Medal in both singles and men's doubles. His high popularity is marked among other things with naming an asteroid "128036 Rafaelnadal" by International Astronomical Union.
19: 23 Major titles in singles, 14 in doubles and 2 in mixed doubles are a good reason to wish this WTA great more titles to come.
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Serena Williams' unprecedented power and serving precision give her an early advantage in each game. Serena's high-risk playing style with a small margin for error is compensated by her strong forehand and double-handed backhand. She won every Major final played in doubles with her sister Venus. Marred by injuries and health issues in recent years, Serena continues in her quest for the elusive 24th singles Major title and an undisputed place as the "Greatest Of All Times".
20: If tennis is competition only in popularity among the fans, this great ATP player from Switzerland would already be crowned as a G.OA.T.
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Roger Federer has 103 titles including 20 Majors to his name before the end of 2020. His 237 consecutive weeks ranked the No 1 ATP player of the world will not be overcome any time soon. At the ripe young age of 39 Roger is still winning most of the matches he plays. Roger has set high levels that each of the "Big 3" have to achieve in order to dethrone him from the pointless, universal and ever entertaining "Greatest Of All Times" debate.
21: Do you remember who played the longest singles tennis match in the history of the game?
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John Isner and Nicolas Mahut fought 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days at Wimbledon 2011. Isner won with the final score of the match 6-4,3-6,6-7,7-6,70-68. This record will stand for eternity because the rules have been changed since then, introducing a special tie-break in the fifth set.
22: Who has been the most successful pair in men's doubles until the end of 2020?
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Identical twins, Americans Mike and Bob Bryan retired in 2020 as the most decorated and longest serving men's double players in the history of the game. They have 10 doubles team Year End No 1 titles to their name, 39 Master 1000 titles, Gold Olympic medals from London and Bronze from Beijing and won Davis Cup in 2007. Mike has been a bit more successful in his career as Bob has been hampered by injuries in the last couple of years.
23: These two sisters played 14 women's doubles Major finals, and won them all!
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The Williams sisters, Venus and Serena are unparalleled when it comes to playing together at the 4 Major tournaments as they won all 14 finals they played together. With 3 Gold Olympic medals from 2000 Sidney, 2008 Beijing and 2012 London and 8 weeks of holding No 1 position in women's team doubles in 2010, the Americans are the most successful siblings women's doubles team to date.
24: Do you remember who was the most successful women's double team?
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Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver have been the most successful of all women's double teams to date. They won each of the Major titles at least 4 times. During their domination they had a 109 match winning streak!
25: "You cannot be serious" and forget the achievements of this American men's double team.
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John McEnroe and Peter "Flembo" Fleming won 57 men's doubles titles together and were the most successful team until the arrival of Mike and Bob Bryan. In Davis cup they won 14 out of 15 matches playing together.
26: Who were the most successful siblings playing tennis, combined singles, doubles and mixed doubles winnings?
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Andy and Jamie Murray have been quite prolific brothers winning Major titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition. Venus and Serena Williams have no competition when it comes to number of Majors in singles and doubles. They have combined 30 titles in singles and 14 titles in doubles together! By the same talking, Dinara and Marat Safin are the only brother and sister that held Number 1 position in singles ranking until today.
27: Do you know who is the most successful mixed doubles pair of all time?
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Margaret Smith-Court is one of only three women who won Majors in singles, women's doubles and mixed doubles. In mixed doubles she helped her male partner Marty Riessen to achieve career Slam from 1969 to 1975 and Ken Fletcher to win a unique mixed doubles calendar Grand Slam in 1963.
28: He is the only man tennis player who defended his Gold Olympic medal to date.
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Andy Murray is the only male tennis player who won his first Gold medal in 2012 London and defended it in 2016 Rio de Janeiro. Olympic games are played every four years and being on top of the game for such a long time is not a small feat. Notably, there were few players winning Gold in one and Silver medal in the other Olympic game.
29: In which Olympic games all three medals were won by players from the same country since return of competitive tennis in 1988?
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In 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, Russia won all three medals in women's single competition, with Elena Dementieva winning Gold, Dinara Safina silver and Vera Zvonareva bronze. Similar success achieved Great Britain in 1900 Paris in men's and in 1908 London in women's competition.
30: Who is the most decorated tennis player in women's wheelchair competitions?
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Esther Vergeer has been the most decorated wheelchair player of all time with 695 single wins of which 470 were in a consecutive winning streak. She is the proud owner of 148 singles and 136 doubles titles in her 18 years of competitive playing.
31: Who is the greatest male wheelchair player of all time?
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Shingo Kunieda is to date the most decorated men's wheelchair tennis player, with 24 singles and 21 men's doubles wheelchair Major titles. Wimbledon single title remained elusive to Shingo, with Runner-up finish in 2019. He is the only male player who won Paralympic Gold medal in doubles in 2004 Athens and in singles won in 2008 Beijing and defended in 2012 London games.
32: What is the most decorated nation in Davis Cup competition?
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Established in 1900 as a competition of International Tennis Federation member nations, Davis Cup has been won by United States a record 32 times. Australia is second on the list with 28 titles, followed by tied France and Great Britain with 10 titles.
