Great Players
Many great players played in the days before tennis's Open era, many of whom are unknown by modern sports fans. Among them are:
- "Big Bill" Tilden
- Ellsworth Vines
- Fred Perry
- Don Budge
- Bobby Riggs
- Jack Kramer
- Pancho Segura
- Frank Sedgman
- Pancho Gonzales
- Ken Rosewall
- Lew Hoad
Any one of these eleven would probably be competitive in today's game. Other fine players of the pre-Open era include:
- Maurice McLoughlin
- "Little Bill" Johnston
- the "Four Musketeers" (Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste)
- Vinnie Richards
- Jack Crawford
- Vic Seixas
- Tony Trabert
Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills Moody are generally considered to be the the top pre-Open era women players.
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 Whoever
said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
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| Martina Navratilova, Tennis Player |
Among the greatest male players of the Open era are Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Goran Ivanisevic, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. Among the women are Margaret Smith Court, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Justine Henin-Hardenne.
Until the mid-1950s, Bill Tilden was generally considered the greatest player ever, his only rivals being Vines, Budge, and Kramer. In the later 1950s many thought Pancho Gonzales had claimed that title. Since then, champions of the Open era, first Laver, then Borg and McEnroe, followed by Sampras and now Roger Federer, have been considered the best ever. Even among experts, no consensus exists. Among the women, Lenglen and Wills-Moody vie with several modern players for the same distinction.
