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Tennis is one of the most popular sports. It started in England in the second half of the 19th century and within a few decades spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
In 1877 the first tennis tournament was held in Wimbledon, England. Ten years later (1887) we had the first women’s tournament in the USA.
In our country, tennis first appeared in 1896, at the Olympic Games in Athens. Initially, the sport was aimed mainly at the upper social strata, but over time it was adopted by all social classes.
The rules of tennis have remained unchanged since the end of the 19th century, with the exception of the tie-break introduced in the 1990s.
In 1926 the first professional tournament was organized, however, whoever became a professional, was not allowed to participate in amateur tournaments.
This was abolished in 1968, when the Open Era was created, which allowed any athlete to take part in any tournament he wanted.
Today, tennis is played in every corner of the earth, while it is one of the highest watched sports in the world, where the four major tournaments (Grand Slam) stand out, namely the Australian Open, the French Open, the Wimbledon, and the US Open.
however, the history of professional tennis has to present several protagonists, each of whom dominated in his era in the sport.
From all of them, we chose today ten players, who in our opinion determined the very course of tennis, through their playing and their successes.
Before proceeding to the text, let us first clarify that the choice of ten is purely subjective, most likely some have their objections – along with different choices -, something completely understandable and respected.
We only included Open Era players in the list, from 1968 onwards, although Emerson, Laver, and Connors started their careers as amateurs and then moved on to the professionals.
The dozen consist of “sacred monsters” of the sport, just think that all together they count 122 titles in Grand Slam tournaments, 969 total titles in tournaments, and 10,345 wins in matches!
Let’s now go to their detailed presentation (in chronological order of the beginning of their professional career).😀
Here Are The Best US Players Of All Time.
1- JIMMY CONNORS (USA)
- Professional: 1972-1996 (amateur 1970-1971)
- Playing style: Left-handed (backhand with both hands)
- Career record: 1256-279 (81.8%)
- Career titles: 109
- Grand Slam: 8 (1 AO, 2 W, 5 USO)
- Stay at No1: 268 weeks
He was a member of the formidable and formidable generation that dominated world tennis in the second half of the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s,
2- JOHN MACENRO (USA)
- Professional: 1978-1994 (amateur 1976-1977)
- Playing style: Left-handed (backhand with one hand)
- Career record: 881-198 (81.65%)
- Career titles: 77
- Grand Slam: 7 (3 W, 4 USO)
- Stay at No1: 170 weeks
John Patrick McEnroe Jr. was born in 1959 in Wiesbaden, West Germany to American parents who moved to New York a year later.
There, little John started playing tennis, at the age of 17 he became an amateur and from 1978, at the age of 18
3- IVAN LENTL (CZECHOSLOVA – USA)
- Professional: 1978-1994
- Playing style: Right-handed (backhand with one hand)
- Career record: 1068-242 (81.5%)
- Career titles: 94
- Grand Slam: 8 (2 AO, 3 FO, 3 USO)
- Stay at No1: 270 weeks
Ivan Lendl was born in 1960 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic), and started playing tennis at a very young age as both of his parents were former professional players. As a junior, he won both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 1978
4- PET SAMPRAS (USA)
- Professional: 1988-2002
- Playing style: Right-handed (backhand with one hand)
- Career record: 762-222 (77.4%)
- Career titles: 64
- Grand Slam: 14 (2 AO, 7 W, 5 USO)
- Stay at No1: 286 weeks
Pete Sampras was born in 1971 in Washington to Greek parents and in 1978 moved with his family to California.
He started playing tennis at a young age and in 1988, at the age of 17, he became a professional
5- Andre Agassi
- Grand Slam results: 8 wins (Australian 4, French 1, British 1, US 2)
- Lifelong Grand Slam: Achieved in 1999 (Career Golden Slam)
- Tour wins: 60 singles win, 1 double win
- ATP Singles 1st place Total reign: 101 weeks
- The final round of the year: 1 win
Illustrious American tennis player. In turn – the second winner of a career Grand Slam in the Open Era.
6- John McEnroe
- TBSH titles Won: 7
- Week # 1: 170
- Vins at Final Tournaments: 3
- Total number of titles: 77
Another American. Brawler and rebel, which, however, did not prevent him from becoming one of the most prominent tennis players in history
7- Rafael Nadal
- TBSH titles Won: 10
- Week # 1: 196
- Winning in Final Tournaments: 0
- Total number of titles: 80
Known as the “ground king“, i.e. the best player in history on this surface. However, this surface is considered the least consistent with the spirit of tennis, which nevertheless did not prevent Raphael from becoming successful (albeit not so much) on fast surfaces.
8- Ivan Lendl
- TBSH titles Won 8
- Week # 1: 270 (3rd result in the Open Era)
- Winning at the Final Tournaments: (divides the 2nd result in the Open Era)
- Total number of titles: 94 (2nd result in the Open Era)
American tennis player of Czechoslovak origin. The so-called “all-around” player, equally effective on all surfaces and in all conditions.
Could have been higher in the ranking, but the relatively small number of won Grand Slam tournaments let down
9- Roger Federer
- Grand Slam results: 20 wins (6 Australian Open, 1 French Opens, 8 British Open, 5 US Open) * As of October 2020
- Lifelong Grand Slam: Achieved in 2009
- Tour wins: 103 singles win, 8 doubles win
- Total number of tour wins: 1242 wins (2nd place in history)
Holder of the largest number of records and achievements in men’s tennis. The flagship of this sport is “zero”.
The Grass King (8 Wimbledons) and the King of All Tennis – the best tennis player in history according to the overwhelming majority of key people from the world of this sport.
10- MONICA SELES
- Grand Slam results: 9 wins
- Lifelong Grand Slam: Achieved “Not”
- Tour wins: 64 singles win, 4 doubles win
- ATP Singles 1st place Total reign: 109 weeks
- The final round of the year: 2 wins
(Novi Sad, 2 December 1973) won a lot in a short career, which was abruptly interrupted in 1993, at the age of 19, during the tournament in Hamburg, where a deranged stabbed her that did not cause irreparable physical damage but undermined her mind.
She returned to competitions, but she was never the same. Until then, the US tennis player had won 9 Grand Slam events: 4 Australian Open, 3 Roland Garros, and 2 US Open.