The 16 top tennis players of all time
Fans will forever be ready to debate any GOAT list, and tennis is no exception. From number of titles, to expert opinion and cultural impact, there is no shortage of ways to crown the best of the best.
Dominant on the hard court, current men's number one Daniil Medvedev has 13 tour-level titles. Still, he is a self-admitted struggler on clay, and has just one major title to his name.
Medvedev's fiercest rival Novak Djokovic was virtually unbeatable in his prime year in 2021. Often named the greatest ever, Djokovic was in the running for a calendar Grand Slam before Medvedev beat him at the 2021 US Open.
No GOAT list is complete without Serena Williams, the reigning major title record-holder of the Open Era. On top of almost 40 major titles, Williams's cultural impact is massive, with an Oscar-winning movie about her family released last year. Still, she isn't the richest female player in the sport; that title is claimed by Naomi Osaka.
With so many ways to measure it, we've had the pleasure of narrowing it down. Here, we name the 15 best tennis players of all time, ranked by the number of major titles to their names.
16. Andre Agassi (USA) — 8 major titles
Former number one tennis player, Agassi, starts the list off strong as an eight-time Grand Slam champion, Olympic gold medalist, and seven-time major-title runner up. Among these accolades, Agassi holds the ‘career Grand Slam’ for his victories in each of the four major tournaments—Wimbledon, the Australian Open, the French Open, and the U.S Open—at least once.
15. Bill Tilden (USA) — 10 major titles
Tilden was the first American player to win the men's championship at Wimbledon in 1920, and held the title for the next two years. Rumoured to be clocked at 263 km/h, his serve is the second fastest of all time.
14. Bjorn Borg (Sweden) — 11 major titles
Borg won Wimbledon five times in a row in the late 1970s, making him the first player of the modern era to top 10 majors. The last of his Wimbledon championships, a five-set win against John McEnroe, is considered one of the greatest tennis matches in history.
13. Rod Laver (Australia) — 11 major titles
With a staggering 200 titles to his name, Laver is one of the most successful players of all time. The first in a long list of Australian tennis greats, Laver later had the centre court at the Australian Open named for him. He was world number one for seven years running, holding the position until 1970.
12. Billie Jean King (USA) — 12 major titles
King made history in 1971 as the first female athlete to top $100,000 in prize money in a single year. A champion of the game, she convinced her colleagues to form a players' union, becoming the first president of the Women's Tennis Association, officialising the women's league.
11. Roy Emerson (Australia) — 12 major titles
Emerson was the first male player to win 12 singles majors, holding the record for 30 years before he was overtaken by Pete Sampras in 2000. His six-time win record at the Australian Open was unbeaten for more than 50 years, until Novak Djokovic's win in 2017.
10. Pete Sampras (USA) — 14 major titles
Despite making the top 10, Sampras never completed a Grand Slam set, surprisingly unable to hack the clay courts of the French Open. Nonetheless, he dominated on hard and grass, topping the world rankings for six years.
9. Martina Navratilova (USA) — 18 major titles
Title record-holder of the Open Era, Navratilova holds 167 career titles across singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She also holds the record for career Wimbledon titles, winning the tournament nine times.
8. Chris Evert (USA) — 18 major titles
Evert proved a safe bet with a career winning percentage of more than 90 per cent. She was the year-ending number one player for seven years, and holds the record for reaching the most Grand Slam titles, winning 18 of the 34 times she made it to the final round.
7. Helen Wills (USA) — 19 major titles
Wills was women's number one for eight years in the 1920s and 30s, managing to win every singles set she played between 1926 and 1932. She collected two gold medals at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and was a seven-time US Open champion and eight-time Wimbledon winner.
6. Roger Federer (Switzerland) — 20 major titles
Now in his 40s, Federer enjoyed decades being named the greatest of all time. Though hampered by a few injuries in recent years, 20 grand slam titles is nothing to sniff at.
3 (tie). Steffi Graf (Germany) — 22 major titles
Graf's model was consistency, holding her place at number one for a record 377 weeks—the longest of any player. She could win on all surfaces, and in 1988 became the first player to achieve a calendar Golden Slam, winning all four majors and Olympic Gold in the same year.
3 (tie). Rafael Nadal (Spain) — 22 major titles
The King of Clay has the most Grand Slams in men's history at 22. More than half of those are a credit to his dominance on clay, with a tally of 14 at Roland Garros. A pro for more than two decades, Nadal has amassed 92 titles so far.
2. Serena Williams (USA) — 23 major titles
Williams has won more than 20 Grand Slam singles titles, on top of 14 Grand Slam doubles with sister Venus, and two mixed doubles, making her the major title record-holder of the Open Era. Those 23 majors were spread out over an impressive 18 years as Williams continues to dominate the court.
1 (tie). Margaret Court (Australia) — 24 major titles
Crowned by experts the best player of all time, Court collected 24 Grand Slam titles over her career—the most of any player. Add in 19 doubles and 19 mixed doubles, and Court has a record 62 major titles to her name.
1 (tie). Novak Djokovic (Serbia) — 24 major titles
Djokovic's latest win at the US Open places him at joint first on the list, and first in men's history, after a long-running tie with Federer. Virtually unbeatable in his prime, he has collected 87 titles in almost two decades on the court and anyone would be bet that he will stand alone at the top of this list before long
