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100 Greatest of All Time

{{Short description|Television series about tennis players}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

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100 Greatest of All Time was a sports television series of five one-hour episodes, produced and first aired by the Tennis Channel in March 2012. It presented a list of 100 tennis players to be considered the greatest of all time, both men and women. The series was hosted by Jack Nicklaus, Jerry Rice, Wayne Gretzky, Lisa Leslie and Carl Lewis.{{cite web|url=http://www.tennispanorama.com/archives/tag/100-greatest-of-all-time|title=Tennis Panorama News|work=Tennis Panorama|accessdate=March 23, 2012}} 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.

Grand Slam singles titles (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US tournaments) column figures reflect number of wins as of March 2012 when the list was published. In addition to that, the pre-Open Era Pro major tournaments (three professional events) were included: the 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 in those.{{efn|name=women|except for 1956 & 1960 U.S. Pro Tennis Championships where also women could have participate. Pauline Betz and Althea Gibson won one event each respectively}} 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 Grand Slam 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 slam 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 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 per Tennis Channel in 2012

class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center

! rowspan="2" |Rank

! rowspan="2" |Name

! rowspan="2" |Gender

! rowspan="2" |Nationality

! colspan="4" |Majors

ILTF chps.Pro SlamGrand Slam
(March 2012)		Total
(Current)
1Roger Federer{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|SUI}}1620
2Rod Laver ‡ ◊ ‡{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}81119
3Steffi Graf ‡{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|FRG}}/{{flag|GER}}2222
4Martina Navratilova{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}1818
5Pete Sampras{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}1414
6Rafael Nadal{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ESP}}1022
7Björn Borg{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|SWE}}1111
8Margaret Court ‡{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|AUS}}2424
9Chris Evert{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}1818
10Billie Jean King{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}1212
11Don Budge ‡{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}4610
12Andre Agassi{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}88
13John McEnroe{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}77
14Serena Williams{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}1323
15Jimmy Connors{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}88
16Bill Tilden{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}141015
17Roy Emerson{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}1212
18Ivan Lendl{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|TCH}}/{{flag|USA}}88
19Monica Seles{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|YUG}}/{{flag|USA}}99
20Ken Rosewall ◊{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}15823
21Boris Becker{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|FRG}}/{{flag|GER}}66
22Venus Williams{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}77
23Fred Perry{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|GBR}}2810
24Suzanne Lenglen{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|FRA}}4812
25Stefan Edberg{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|SWE}}66
26Justine Henin{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|BEL}}77
27Maureen Connolly ‡{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}99
28Arthur Ashe{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}33
29Helen Wills{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}1919
30Martina Hingis{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|SUI}}55
31John Newcombe{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}77
32Lew Hoad{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}145
33Mats Wilander{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|SWE}}77
34Jack Kramer{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}235
35Pancho Gonzalez{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}12214
36René Lacoste{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|FRA}}77
37Evonne Goolagong Cawley{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|AUS}}77
38Maria Bueno{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|BRA}}77
39Althea Gibson{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}156
40Novak Djokovic{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|SCG}}/{{flag|SRB}}524
41Guillermo Vilas{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ARG}}44
42Jim Courier{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}44
43Lindsay Davenport{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}33
44Arantxa Sánchez Vicario{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|ESP}}44
45Kim Clijsters{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|BEL}}44
46Henri Cochet{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|FRA}}31711
47Jean Borotra{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|FRA}}44
48Frank Sedgman{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}257
49Ilie Năstase{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ROU|1965}}22
50Tony Trabert{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}257
51Doris Hart{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}66
52Jack Crawford{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}66
53Tracy Austin{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}22
54Manuel Santana{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ESP|1945}}44
55Gustavo Kuerten{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|BRA}}33
56Stan Smith{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}22
57Jennifer Capriati{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}33
58Alice Marble{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}55
59Margaret Osborne duPont{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}66
60Virginia Wade{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|GBR}}33
61Neale Fraser{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}33
62Hana Mandlíková{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|TCH}}44
63Lleyton Hewitt{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}22
64Ellsworth Vines{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}538
65Pancho Segura{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ECU}}404
66Bobby Riggs{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}336
67Fred Stolle{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}22
68Helen Hull Jacobs{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}55
69Louise Brough{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}66
70Patrick Rafter{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}22
71Maria Sharapova{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|RUS}}35
72Gottfried Von Cramm{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flagicon|GER|1933}}/{{flagicon|GER|Nazi}}/{{flag|FRG}}22
73Jaroslav Drobný{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|TCH}}33
74Tony Roche{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}11
75Pauline Betz Addie{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}156
76William Renshaw{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|GBR}}77
77Molla Mallory{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|NOR}}/{{flag|USA}}88
78Ashley Cooper{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}44
79Gabriela Sabatini{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|ARG}}11
80Marat Safin{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|RUS}}22
81Vic Seixas{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}22
82Yevgeny Kafelnikov{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|RUS}}22
83Jan Kodeš{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|TCH}}33
84Norman Brookes{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}33
85Yannick Noah{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|FRA}}11
86Anthony Wilding †{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|NZL}}369
87Mary Pierce{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|FRA}}22
88Amélie Mauresmo{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|FRA}}22
89Dorothea Lambert Chambers{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|GBR}}77
90Bill Johnston{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}134
91Shirley Fry Irvin{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|USA}}44
92Svetlana Kuznetsova{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|RUS}}22
93Nicola Pietrangeli{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ITA}}22
94Andy Roddick{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}11
95Thomas Muster{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUT}}11
96Manuel Orantes{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|ESP|1945}}11
97Pat Cash{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|AUS}}11
98Bunny Austin{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|GBR}}00
99Ann Haydon-Jones{{Hs|Female}}♀{{flag|GBR}}33
100Michael Chang{{Hs|Male}}♂{{flag|USA}}11

Notes:

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

See also

Notes

{{notelist}}

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20120605022801/http://www.tennischannel.com/goat/71.aspx Official site]

Category:2012 American television series debuts

Category:2012 American television series endings

Category:Tennis-related lists

Category:Top sports lists

Category:Cultural depictions of tennis players

Category:2010s American documentary television series

Category:Documentary television series about sports

Category:Tennis mass media