Ten Greatest US Tennis Players of All Time

Tennis has now world wide popularity. However, this passionate sports event has a special appeal in United Sates. US Open has got the prestige of being one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in the tennis world. Successes of the US players both men and women in the major tennis tournaments are inevitable in the tennis history. Many great players have been emerged form US. Moreover, for both men and women, US players are much more successful than the players of any other countries. I found some of those great tennis players of US who dominated the tennis world in their time.

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Pete Sampras

This US tennis legend is considered as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He is currently the highest Grand Slam winner for men’s tennis. In his career he won 14 Grand Slam tournaments. He could hold trophy in all of the four Grand Slam tournaments except French open. This American tennis great is the highest World no. 1 holder in the ranking for consecutive six years in open era which is third for all time. After being professional at the age of 17, he took two years to win his first Grand Slam title in US Open in 1990 defeating Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, two legendary figures in the tennis world. After this magnificent success he just went on straight forward in making an epic in the tennis history. His number of career title is 64. In his 15 year-long career he could make a fabulous amount of $43,280,489 as prize money.

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Bill Tilden

William Tatem Tilden II was another great player in the tennis history. He won 10 Grand Slams in his long career. He could be very influential in his time in tennis. His overhead and backhand shots were very popular in that time. In his time, he had some great rivalries including Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, and Don Budge who were very famous in that time. He wrote two books on tennis named “The Art of Lawn Tennis” and “Match Play and the Spin of the Ball.” He also wrote some short stories and novels hoping to be as tar on Broadway and in Hollywood.

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John McEnroe

John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is another legendary American tennis player of all time. In his career he won 78 career titles including 7 Grand Slams. He was very attacking-styled player. His skillful and artistic performance made him very popular in his time. He was very famous for his deft volleys. At the beginning of the 1980s, he had a famous rivalry with Björn Borg including the Wimbledon final of 1980 which is considered as the greatest ever Wimbledon final. He became the world no. 1 in 1983. His career prize money is $12,547,797.

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Jimmy Connors

This great tennis star holds the record of winning the highest number of career title with his 105 titles. This former world no. 1 American tennis talent could prove his skill form the beginning of his career. After being professional in 1972, he just took two years to be the world no. 1 in the ranking. He told that “"I want to bring the crowd into the match: in short, turn it into a football game.” He always tried to prove this idea attracting people in the court throughout his career. In his career he had 1222 wins against just 269 looses. This legendary figure in tennis could earn a fabulous $8,641,040 as prize money in his career.

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Andre Agassi

Agassi is the legend of man’s tennis. Agassi was born in 1970 in USA. He won all of the Grand Slam tournaments in his career. He is the fifth player in the men’s tennis to win all of the four Grand Slams in his career. His total Grand Slam success is 8 and he won 60 career titles in his career. He has some distinct styles in his playing. He is also very fashionable with his hair. Many tennis analysts think that Agassi is one of the greatest players of all time. He is the former no.1 player in world tennis. He married another legend tennis player Steffi Graff after being divorced with his first wife actress Brook Shield.

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Martina Navratilova

Navratilova is considered as one of the greatest Women tennis players of all time. She is the former world no. one tennis player in the women’s Singles WTA ranking. She won 18 Grand Slam titles in her career which is second highest Grand Slam success in tennis history.. In Doubles, she is also a legendary figure as she won 31 Women’s Doubles and 10 Mixed Doubles in her golden career. She started playing in the professional tennis in 1973 when she was just 16. She could hold domination over the women’s tennis in her golden time. She holds the record of highest Wimbledon winner with her 9 Wimbledon titles and 6 of which are consecutive, another world record for Wimbledon. She won her final Grand Slam in 1990 after winning in Wimbledon. She declared retirement from Singles tennis tournaments in 1994. She is the oldest winner of Grand Slam tournaments and the only third player in tennis to have a “boxed set” of Grand Slam title including all of the four Grand Slam tournaments in all of the three sections including Singles, Doubles and Mixed Doubles. She won 167 Singles and 173 Doubles tournaments in her career and both of are world record for men and women. She also became world number one in Doubles. She ended her colorful career with her last Mixed Double title in the US Open of this year.

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Helen Wills

This legendary and greatest tennis player of women’s tennis has a varied range of success in her career. She won 19 Grand Slams in her career. She was the queen of the court in the 1920s and 1930s. She also won two gold medals in the 1924 Paris Olympic where one on singles and another in doubles. In her 17 year-long career, she won 31 Grand Slams titles including singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. In 1959 she became a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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Chris Evert

God gave this great tennis star both talent and beauty. This 18 Grand Slam winner could attract people by her unique appearance in and also out of court. Evert won her first Grand Slam when she was 19 and she became world no. 1 in the ranking in 1975. This 5 feet 6 inched tall glamour girl. She is of the pioneers of the modern tennis who added various dimensions in women tennis. Her fashion conscious dress up and design was very popular in her time. She also attended as model in some of the promotional programs of different products. She is a member of Tennis Hall of Fame and Tennis Magazine elected her as one of the 40 greatest tennis players of all time.

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Billie Jean King

This former American tennis star is thought to be one of the greatest women tennis players of all time. Her match against Bobby Riggs, former world number one for men’s tennis, known as the ‘Battle of the Sexes’, is very famous in the tennis history where she could win the match. This 12 Grand Slam winner also got success in the double’s and mixed double’s tournaments. She won 14 Grand Slam women’s doubles tournaments and 11 mixed doubles tournaments in her career. She was aggressive styled player in the court and was very famous for her hard hitting and speed which helped her to win over many great players of her time. She is the first tennis player in the history to be selected as the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1972. She is also a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. In 1990, she became one of the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century” by life magazine.

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Monica Seles

This great women tennis player was in a dominant position in the tennis world in her time. Though she had a toughest one of the toughest rivalries in the tennis history against Steffi Graf, another legendary figure in tennis, she could prove her talent to the world in the way of winning 53 career titles including 9 Grand Slams. Within two years of being professional she held the world no. 1 position in the world ranking. Except Wimbledon she won all of the other three Grand Slams in her career. Seles started playing tennis when she was just 6 and won her first tournaments at the age of 9. Her potentiality was first seen in the bigger stage of tennis while she defeated the then world no. 1 Steffi Graf in her way of winning first Grand Slam titles in the French Open in 1990. She is deemed to be the first player in the women’s tennis to be known as ‘Power Player’.

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