Courts and Love - Greatest Tennis Champions
Tennis is one of the most popular spectator sports in the world. There is always intrigue involved when a sport places two individuals one-on-one against each other. The four major Grand Slam tournaments held each year bring an audience of millions to the courts and to their televisions. The game is also an Olympic sport and appeals to all ages in all corners of the world. Tennis has produced many players who can all be considered champions, it is very difficult to determine the best players ever but we can take a stab at the greatest players ever.
Five of the Greatest Tennis Champions - Men
· Rod Laver – This Australian was the world’s number one player for seven consecutive years. Winning all four Grand Slam tournaments in the same year is extremely rare but Laver managed to achieve this accomplishment twice.
· Bjorn Borg – The country of Sweden produced this champion. He won a total of 11 Grand Slam titles.
· Pete Sampras – The first American on the list, Sampras won 14 Grand Slam titles during his 15 year career.
· Roger Federer – Born in Switzerland, Federer is considered by many to actually be the best male player ever. Roger was the first player to win 14 titles within six years.
· John McEnroe – This fiery tennis great was born in West Germany. He won seven singles titles in his career and would argue every close point with officials.
Five of the Greatest Tennis Champions – Women
· Martina Navratilova – Her 18 Grand Slam titles, 1,442 total wins and a streak of 74 consecutive match wins place her at, or near the top of this list.
· Steffi Graf – She won a total of 22 titles and holds a winning percentage of 88.7%. Steffi is the only player to win all four Grand Slam titles four different times and also has an Olympic gold medal.
· Chris Evert – A winner of 18 Grand Slams, Evert holds the highest winning percentage ever at a whopping 90%.
· Margaret Court – Twenty four Grand Slam wins speaks for itself and puts Margaret into the top five. Doubters claim that her 11 Australian Open wins came at a time when top players weren’t yet playing in that tournament.
· Serena Williams – Serena holds 13 Grand Slam wins and is also an Olympic gold medal winner.
