Greatest Tennis Players of all time- A Numerical Approach

Watching Federer get to grand slam number 13 was inspiring enough to wonder about the greatest tennis players of all time. By popular consensus, the "grand slams" (a term borrowed from bridge) have come to signify the greatest achievement in tennis (and also golf). I can feel the pain, being one short of the grand slam (Australian) of attending the mens semi-finals myself.

So lacking the confidence needed to compare tennis players across time (Laver to Sampras), let alone across surfaces (Nadal to Federer), I resorted to simply rank the players in terms of majors won (win-loss record shown). The result is surprisingly close to the actual list I would have made, at least since the advent of the open era (1968):

1. Pete Sampras 14-4









2. Roger Federer 13-4







3. Roy Emerson 12-3 (career slam)








4. Rod Laver 11-6 (single season slam x2)









5. Bjorn Borg 11-5








6. Ken Rosewall 10-5


7. Bill Tilden 10-5










8. Ivan Lendl 8-11









9. Andre Agassi 8-7 (career slam)








10. Jimmy Connors 8-7








11. Fred Perry 8-2











12. John McEnroe 7-4











13. Matts Wilander 7-4










14. John Newcombe 7-3








15. Steffan Edberg 6-5











16. Boris Becker 6-4










17. Don Budge 6-1 (single season slam)