Who is the most important male player ever.

[JAY1]

This is connected to the other poll recently posted and they both stem from the thread 'Is Jimmy Connors underrated'.

[JoelDali]

Ernie Gulbis...mark my words.

[8F93W5]

I've never heard that question about tennis players before.
Important in what way? I don't know if there are any important people in tennis right now among current pro players.
Ever?
I guess Billie Jean King would be the best and only answer. Some might say Arthur Ashe. Maybe any of the several who have started charities/foundations such as Agassi and his school.
Maybe Ilie Nastase for having sex with 2500 women (he said so in his book). Maybe he was important to all of them. Maybe he gave them something to remember for the rest of their lives? Is that important?
Wingfield? Howard Head? Walter Clopton Wingfield?
With the exception of Billie Jean King, I don't know if the world would be any different today if any certain player had never been born.

Edited later:
Oh! opps! You said "male" player.
Ashe I guess.

[JAY1]

Originally Posted by 8F93W5

I've never heard that question about tennis players before.
Important in what way? I don't know if there are any important people in tennis right now among current pro players.
Ever?
I guess Billie Jean King would be the best and only answer. Some might say Arthur Ashe. Maybe any of the several who have started charities/foundations such as Agassi and his school.
Maybe Ilie Nastase for having sex with 2500 women (he said so in his book). Maybe he was important to all of them. Maybe he gave them something to remember for the rest of their lives? Is that important?
Wingfield? Howard Head? Walter Clopton Wingfield?
With the exception of Billie Jean King, I don't know if the world would be any different today if any certain player had never been born.

Edited later:
Oh! opps! You said "male" player.
Ashe I guess.

Who's been the most important male player in regard to bringing tennis to the masses and for a time transcending tennis itself!

[Nadal_Power]

Borg maybe

[Q&M son]

Laurie Doherty, Tilden, Budge & Pancho Gonzalez should get into that list

[Sentinel]

Vijay Amritraj, of course.

[JoelDali]

This is the most important thread ever.

[kiki]

major Clopton Wingfield.He invented tennis...

[robow7]

Jack Kramer, without a doubt. Great player that changed the game with the s&v dominating for decades but then really changed the game after he quit playing and began administrating the shamateurism to pro play.

[kiki]

Kramer was very influential, and possibly tennis greatest ever politician.

Tilden gave tennis a big boost and was considered the first tennis intelectual.

Other guys that were responsible for the growth of tennis were promotors Lamar Hunt and George Mc Call.

[pc1]

Originally Posted by kiki

Kramer was very influential, and possibly tennis greatest ever politician.

Tilden gave tennis a big boost and was considered the first tennis intelectual.

Other guys that were responsible for the growth of tennis were promotors Lamar Hunt and George Mc Call.

They (Kramer and Tilden) are definitely candidates for most important player. I suppose most influential might be a better term.

Laver and Rosewall helped keep the popularity of tennis alive in the 1960's so they were influential also. Borg created almost the rock star image of tennis in the 1970's with some other players I suppose.

Pancho Segura was very influential in his own way as a player and a coach.

[Xavier G]

It's hard to pin down one name, but I have a few names. From what I read, Kramer and Tilden seem to be important figures. Laver did the Grand Slam twice. Connors and Borg did much to give tennis a boost in the 70's media and television boom. Arthur Ashe, rest his soul. Overall, I have a lot of time for Billie Jean King too, fair play to the women. Wasn't Suzanne Langlen a massive star in her day?

[8F93W5]

Originally Posted by kiki

major Clopton Wingfield.He invented tennis...

He patented a game that was already being played.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Xavier G

It's hard to pin down one name, but I have a few names. From what I read, Kramer and Tilden seem to be important figures. Laver did the Grand Slam twice. Connors and Borg did much to give tennis a boost in the 70's media and television boom. Arthur Ashe, rest his soul. Overall, I have a lot of time for Billie Jean King too, fair play to the women. Wasn't Suzanne Langlen a massive star in her day?

You are right.Gonzales was also important during the pro days of the 50´s.Borg is considered by many the father of modernt ennis, not just from a stroke point of view only.But I agree, BJK must be the most influential person associated with this sport.Lenglen was the women´s equivalent to Tilden, the first really household name.

[kiki]

Originally Posted by 8F93W5

He patented a game that was already being played.

like brittons use to do in anything....

[Winners or Errors]

Where's Lendl? Seriously, we wouldn't have the slow surface grindfests we have today without him. If this period of slow surfaces and hard-hitting baseliners obsessed with fitness continues for another decade, the father of that kind of tennis should certainly be considered the most important ever.

None of the guys on your list are repeatable. They're all one of a kind. How does that make them important? What did the contribute to the sport but popularity, fleeting popularity...

[kiki]

Originally Posted by Winners or Errors

Where's Lendl? Seriously, we wouldn't have the slow surface grindfests we have today without him. If this period of slow surfaces and hard-hitting baseliners obsessed with fitness continues for another decade, the father of that kind of tennis should certainly be considered the most important ever.

None of the guys on your list are repeatable. They're all one of a kind. How does that make them important? What did the contribute to the sport but popularity, fleeting popularity...

That is very true.Even more than Laver and Borg, Lendl´s way of playing turned to be the most imitated, 20 years after his retirement...

[pc1]

Originally Posted by kiki

That is very true.Even more than Laver and Borg, Lendl´s way of playing turned to be the most imitated, 20 years after his retirement...

Just thought of another big name, Rene Lacoste, inventor of the first non wood racquet made out of steel, great great tennis player and of course we have his clothing line.

He may be the number one guy.

Who knows, without him we may be playing with tiny wood racquets. That's big.

I think he may have invented the tennis ball machine but I'm not sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEaL7Euh_mI

[power level 800]

Lendl! Everytime I see Berdych or Del Potro crushing a flat forehand, I just say to myself 'that's Lendl's mark on the game'.