Pav’s Top 5 Tennis Legends

1. The King of Swing – Pete Sampras - Pete Sampras is a retired Lamb Lover (Greek) - American tennis Champion. During his illustrious 15-year career, he won 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles. This is more titles than any other player except Roger Federrer who took over this record at Wimbledon in 2009. He had a 204–37 win-loss record over 52 singles tournaments. He is known as one of the greatest players of all time. An Icon to all tennis lovers. On July 17, 2007, Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He comes into the list at first spot, mostly because of his dominance, because of his legendary Greek – American background.



2. Roger Federer- Like the watch his country are so famous for making, this Swiss star has perfect and impeccable timing. He seems to predict his opponent's every move, arriving in time to smash a forehand winner down the line with pinpoint accuracy. Speed, grace, power, accuracy, and intelligence are all weapons in this players game, and he can play any style of game you care to slot him in. He is as close to unbeatable as any player in sports history, and over the past 5 years has filled his trophy case with 12 grand slam titles. Like Sampras before him, he has been unable, so far, to win the French Open. Even if he never wins it though, he will still be remembered as the best ever. He comes in at second behind legend Sampras.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk9C2SgXH3g

3. Borg - This Swedish star would likely have been ranked higher if he could have added a U.S. Open and/or Australian Open title to his impressive titles list. Still, his 6 French Open, and 5 Wimbledon crowns are nothing to be disappointed about! Surely they are enough by themselves to put him into third on the 5 best tennis players of all time. Connors and McEnroe combined to deny him the prize in the U.S. Open final on 4 separate occasions, but he enjoyed wins over both of them at Wimbledon, so it all evens out in the end I guess. He comes in at an impressive third. A true superstar.


4. Lendl - Though Wimbledon is the holy grail of the tennis world and winning it should be a precondition for addition on the list of the top 5 male tennis players, I will make an exception in Lendl's case. This brooding, mechanical Czech was simply the best player in tennis in the 80s, spending 270 consecutive weeks during that time at the number 1 spot in the rankings (a record at the time). Lendl's power and determination took him to grand slam finals an amazing 19 times in his career. He won 8 of those matches, though Wimbledon, the title he wanted most, would always evade him.



5. Connors – Last but certainly not least, Jimmy Connors. As colourful and excitable as any superstar, but with a more political personality, Jimmy Connors was the perfect definition for a hard-working tennis player. Sure he was skilled, but this court-scrambling specialist never gave up on a ball, delighting the crowd by pumping a fist in the air triumphantly after winning a rally that he had no business winning. This crowd favourite was a force in the 70s and early 80s, capturing 8 grand slam singles titles during that time.

Some Other names that aren’t on the list but deserve a mention are Agassi, McEnroe, Nadal, Edburg.