The first question that comes to mind may be; man or woman? In my view it could be either gender, because this is about tennis the sport as an all inclusive theme:
-Race
-Sex
-Charisma
-Personality
-Popularity
-Shot-making
-Grace
-Toughness
-Grit
-Guts
-Coolness
-Charm
-Image
-Power
-Athleticism
-Spirit of sacrifice
-Fairness
-Bully-ness
-Competitiveness
-Respect
-Record
-and more.
If one was to limit this analysis to plain cold numbers and to one gender or the other it would be simple, Bjorn Borg or Rod Laver – men, Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graff – women.
Tennis is a lot more than that, take for example charisma and popularity:
– For example, in 1974 Illie Nastase was playing on court Nr. 6 in Barcelona against Roger Taylor and Manolo Orantes (the super popular local matador) was playing Jos Moreno on central court at the same time. Which court do you think was full and which was empty?
Illie Nastases court was full! The Spanish, are great lovers of great tennis and showmanship – Nasty gave it all to them. I would say he had to be the most charismatic tennis player of all time!
About race and respect:
– Take Arthur Ashe an African-American man living in the USA in an era where he, a world class tennis player, was not even allowed into the changing rooms of certain tennis clubs in his own country. This man overcame all sporting challenges, all racial abuse, all social inequalities and became a beloved son of his country and the world! The all-time most respected gentleman tennis player in tennis history.
Tennis and shot-making:
– We all know Rod Laver because he is the only player to ever win 4 Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year twice – in 1962 as an amateur and 1969 as a professional and he is the only male player during the open era to have won a calendar year Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open).
His opponents knew something that the regular public could hardly come to grasp. They all came out of the court baffled with his shot-making under pressure. Rod Laver, time and time again, got out of the most daring situations many of them at match points, by producing the most incredible and least expected shots his opponents could ever imagine he would go for! Indeed the best shot-maker ever!
The Guts and Athleticism:
– Two women come clearly to mind Margret Court and Martina Navratilova, to appreciate these two incredible women athletes, you have to look at todays mens tennis and see how the great majority of the ATP professionals cower behind the baseline. These two women embarrass those men players with their courageous, relentless, top level athleticism by having served and volleyed and attacked the net with giant hearts and incredible guts! No question the very best ever and I must have Billy Jean King join them.
And how about Grace:
– You can go around the tennis court and beat the hell out of your opponents and nobody will ever give a hoot about you. That was not the case of Maria Ester Bueno from Brasil, she charmed the public with the beauty of her movement, fluidness of her game and some very sharp volleying. The most graceful of all time and I must add two others in this department Evonne Goolagong and Roger Federer.
The power juggernaut:
– You may start to think about a,b or c player from today, but you have to go back many decades to a man called Lew Hoad. If there is any one player that could obliterate unceremoniously any player of any given era with a very short score, Lew Hoad is such player. Hands down, the hardest hitter of all time!
The heart of tennis – competitiveness and bully-ness:
– There is no player in the history of tennis that is regarded by his peers with so much respect as fear and loath. Pancho Gonzales was a natural born winner with a big W. If he lost (which he seldom did), his hand shake at the net often came with a warning: I will beat you the next time! The most competitive bully of all time. Here I must join two lesser heavy weights in this department, nevertheless ferocious competitors, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Between meeting any one of these three on a tennis court and sitting in a tub full of rattle snakes, I would choose the latter.
The fairness in professional sport:
– Defeat for a champion is the most difficult part to accept and giving credit to your opponent is even more challenging. Steffi Graf was the exception, even when injured and debilitated, she never mentioned it as an excuse for defeat and she would rather compliment her opponents. Indeed a great championess and the fairest player of all time. No wonder she married Andre Agassi he was special in that department too.
There is plenty more but, I hope I gave you a sense of how great the game of tennis is with all of these facets that so much form a mosaic of where winning is important, but the record alone cannot cover the whole sport.