15 greatest players of all time

[capriatifanatic]

Who would you rate the 15 greatest women and men players in history at this point?

Women-1)Navratilova, 2)Court, 3)Evert, 4)Lenglen, 5)Wills Moody, 6)Graf, 7)
Connoly, 8 )King, 9)Seles, 10)Serena Williams, 11)Goolagong, 12)Bueno, 13)Hard, 14)DuPont, 15)Capriati

That is how I would rate the women from 1st to 15th best.

Men-1)Laver, 2)Borg, 3)Gonzalez, 4)Sampras, 5)Rosewall, 6)Tilden, 7)Federer, 8 )Budge, 9)Perry 10)Lendl, 11)McEnroe, 12)Agassi, 13)Connors,
14)Kramer, 15)Wilander

That is how I would rate the men from 1st to 15th best.

I can already bet some of you wont like that I have Capriati in the top 15 but I really feel she belongs there.

[The tennis guy]

Originally Posted by capriatifanatic

I can already bet some of you wont like that I have Capriati in the top 15 but I really feel she belongs there.

You lost all of your credibility by putting Capriati as No. 15. She got 3 slam titles, and never even finished the year as No. 1.

[TacoBellBorderBowl1946]

lol, putting Pete at 4 and Connors at 13 lost your credibility as well.

[quest01]

What has Capriati the player been up to lately, has she retired or what?

[justineheninhoogenbandfan]

Women-

1)Evert
2)Navratilova
3)Graf
4)Court
5)Lenglen
6)Wills Moody
7)King
8. Connoly
9)Seles
10)Goolagong
11)Serena Williams
12)Hart
13)DuPont
14)Bueno
15)Venus Williams
16)Gibson
17)Fry
18. Henin Hardenne
19)Douglas Chambers
20)Molla Mallorey

Men-
1)Gonzalez,
2)Laver
3)Sampras
4)Borg
5)Tilden
6)Federer
7)Budge
8. Perry
9)Rosewall
10)Lendl
11)Agassi
12)Connors
13)McEnroe
14)Kramer
15)Cochet
16)LaCoste
17)Newcombe
18. Edberg
19)Crawford
20)Hoad

[BigboyDan]

Capriati is recovering/rehabbing from shoulder surgery - whether she can come back from that, who knows?

[justineheninhoogenbandfan]

Why I put Evert at #1-

1)Winning atleast 1 Slam title every year for 13 years, longest streak by far of any women.

2)Reaching the semis of 36 consecutive grand slam events, another record

3)Her reaching the finals of 34 grand slam events, a record

3)Her 125 match winning streak on clay, longest streak on any surface

Normaly I would hold not winning more then 2 slams in any one year against her, but she did not play the Australia Open from 1975 to 1980 or the French Open from 1976 to 1978. It is unlikely she would have ever won the Grand Slam since the only year she did not lose in atleast one Grand Slam event was 1976 and beating Goolagong in two grass court finals in the same year(Wimbledon she did 8-6 in the 3rd, Australian Open was played on grass which Goolagong won and Evert did not play)would be unlikely, but she likely would have multiple 3 slam years.

[TacoBellBorderBowl1946]

Steffi and Navraltiova are better than Chrissie

[justineheninhoogenbandfan]

Maybe it is unfair to say but I feel the Seles stabbing taints Grafs career. Winning 10 out of 15 slams in a period directly after you won 2 of 9, after that rival who won 7 of 9 was stabbed in the back, I just have a hard time evaluating her the same way.
That is why I would put Evert over here.

Navratilova may be greater then Evert, I know most feel that way. Even though I rate Chris over, I know I am in the minority, and I would not tell the ones who rate Martina on top that they are wrong. My reasoning though is that I just like Evert's longevity and consistency over so many years alot. Not that Navratilova did not have that as well, heck she is playing high level doubles close to 50, and reached the Wimbledon singles final at 37. However even Navratilova was not one of the clearly two best female players in the World for 13 straight years like Evert was.

[Mick]

jack krammer once said "the best offensive player will always beat the best defensive player."

A lot of the players on these lists are not "the best offensive players"

[Haasquet]

Yeah, well Tony Trabert once said "show me a pusher, and I'll show you a room full of trophies."

...at least, I think he did. I seem to recall reading that in a Tennis magazine sometime during the nineties. Maybe I'm wrong.

[WayneCM]

Originally Posted by capriatifanatic

Who would you rate the 15 greatest women and men players in history at this point?

Women-1)Navratilova, 2)Court, 3)Evert, 4)Lenglen, 5)Wills Moody, 6)Graf, 7)
Connoly, 8 )King, 9)Seles, 10)Serena Williams, 11)Goolagong, 12)Bueno, 13)Hard, 14)DuPont, 15)Capriati

That is how I would rate the women from 1st to 15th best.

Men-1)Laver, 2)Borg, 3)Gonzalez, 4)Sampras, 5)Rosewall, 6)Tilden, 7)Federer, 8 )Budge, 9)Perry 10)Lendl, 11)McEnroe, 12)Agassi, 13)Connors,
14)Kramer, 15)Wilander

That is how I would rate the men from 1st to 15th best.

I can already bet some of you wont like that I have Capriati in the top 15 but I really feel she belongs there.

Man havn't laughed this much in a while... Capriati, Serena Williams... Yet no Hingis...???

[Lleytian3]

i beg to differ. quite. they are numerous defensive players/counter punchers that can be a lot of offensive players. hewitt is a prime example of that, some people say that nadal is an offensive but i think he is a counter puncher as well. i guess im a lil bias because i am a counter puncher, and i can beat numerous players that have the andy roddick, james blake style. the go for broke kind.

as for my top 15 players on all time, i think you got federer way too high. but i cant list them in order, here is my top 15, again not in order

sampras, becker, agassi, borg, connors, lendl, ivanevic, federer, courier, mcenroe, wilander, laver, newcombe, perry, hewitt

__________________
"winning isnt everything...it is the only thing"

"i HATE losing more than i LOVE winning"

[dh003i]

Originally Posted by Lleytian3

here is my top 15, again not in order

sampras, becker, agassi, borg, connors, lendl, ivanevic, federer, courier, mcenroe, wilander, laver, newcombe, perry, hewitt

Hahahhahahaha, Hewitt in the top 15 of all time? That's a laugh. By no stretch of the imagination is he one of the greatest ever. Likewise with Ivanevic. LOL.

[BluBarry]

Originally Posted by capriatifanatic

Who would you rate the 15 greatest women and men players in history at this point?

Women-1)Navratilova, 2)Court, 3)Evert, 4)Lenglen, 5)Wills Moody, 6)Graf, 7)
Connoly, 8 )King, 9)Seles, 10)Serena Williams, 11)Goolagong, 12)Bueno, 13)Hard, 14)DuPont, 15)Capriati

That is how I would rate the women from 1st to 15th best.

Men-1)Laver, 2)Borg, 3)Gonzalez, 4)Sampras, 5)Rosewall, 6)Tilden, 7)Federer, 8 )Budge, 9)Perry 10)Lendl, 11)McEnroe, 12)Agassi, 13)Connors,
14)Kramer, 15)Wilander

That is how I would rate the men from 1st to 15th best.

I can already bet some of you wont like that I have Capriati in the top 15 but I really feel she belongs there.

You also lost credibility in placing Graf at #7 where I firmly believe she belongs at #1 or #2 depending on if you want to include Doubles Titles.
I'm curiious as what others have suggested but your list (and I don't mean to insult you) is constructed simply to instill argument. You are a JenCap fan granted but that doesn't justify her being in a conversation of the best ever.

You should maybe instead ask the question, Top 15 Most Popular Players. Then I could accept what you've written. And to see Monica Seles at #9 is insane. Monica is clearly a solid #3 or #4 but certainly no lower than that.

So when asking the question GOAT .. you need to establish a criteria for conclusion or this is just going to go on & on like always. Not like we haven't seen these questions on Forums before. They weren't agreed upon then and they certainly won't be agreed upon now.

[justineheninhoogenbandfan]

Originally Posted by BluBarry

You should maybe instead ask the question, Top 15 Most Popular Players. Then I could accept what you've written. And to see Monica Seles at #9 is insane. Monica is clearly a solid #3 or #4 but certainly no lower than that.

Why should Seles be as high as #3 or #4 on anyones list? She has 9 Grand Slam titles, tied for 8th all time. Granted she suffered the tragic stabbing, but if you were rating her so much higher then her wins merit based on "what would have been", you would not have Graf at #1 or #2 as you claim you would have. So I dont understand your logic at rating Seles #3 or #4 under any basis that would still have Graf at #1 or #2.

[BluBarry]

Originally Posted by justineheninhoogenbandfan

Why should Seles be as high as #3 or #4 on anyones list? She has 9 Grand Slam titles, tied for 8th all time. Granted she suffered the tragic stabbing, but if you were rating her so much higher then her wins merit based on "what would have been", you would not have Graf at #1 or #2 as you claim you would have. So I dont understand your logic at rating Seles #3 or #4 under any basis that would still have Graf at #1 or #2.

All you have done is reiterated my question & concerns about this question that can not be answered. First & Foremost a criteria needs to be established as to what constitutes GOAT. Once everyone agrees on that, then we can have this discussion. I have never nor will I ever talk about what Monica may have done if this or that. I can only judge by what was presented to me (The Facts).

However, if you're talking about Greatest Player of All Times .. I would think that discussion has nothing to do with accomplishments but more so technical achievement and application. Or in other words, who played the best game.

I place Steffi Graf high on the list because she dominated through three generations of Players starting with the Navratilova/Evert era onto Her generation of Sabatini/Seles/Sanchez then concluding into the Davenport/Hingis era before she hung it up winning her last Major in 1999 against Hingis and reaching the Finals against Davenport the same year.

Once Graf got her feet firmly planted in this Sport, Navratilova was unable to beat her again. And Evert long before that lost her ability to control Graf's power being the victim of Graf's first title.

[urban]

If i remember right, Martina was tied with Graf in head to head, and many matches Steffi won, were very close with Martina taking a set. That said, Steffi's best match ever probably was the 88 Wimbledon win over Martina, when Steffi broke clear in the 2nd and 3rd sets, even for once playing a rolled backhand.

[flying24]

Martina is easily over Steffi. Look at their head to head at the U.S Open to tell this. From 1986 onwards they played 4 times at the U.S Open and Navratilova went 3-1 vs Graf. Considering that Graf was 17 or older in all of these matches, and Navratilova was 29 or older for all of them, it makes it extremely clear Navratilova would have dominated Graf with both in their primes.

[Warriorroger]

Originally Posted by justineheninhoogenbandfan

Maybe it is unfair to say but I feel the Seles stabbing taints Grafs career. Winning 10 out of 15 slams in a period directly after you won 2 of 9, after that rival who won 7 of 9 was stabbed in the back, I just have a hard time evaluating her the same way.
That is why I would put Evert over here.

Navratilova may be greater then Evert, I know most feel that way. Even though I rate Chris over, I know I am in the minority, and I would not tell the ones who rate Martina on top that they are wrong. My reasoning though is that I just like Evert's longevity and consistency over so many years alot. Not that Navratilova did not have that as well, heck she is playing high level doubles close to 50, and reached the Wimbledon singles final at 37. However even Navratilova was not one of the clearly two best female players in the World for 13 straight years like Evert was.

Graf already had won the Grand slam and the Olympics before Seles arrived, so please stop that debate, because you (on purpose?) start that same old song again. No one is arguing that Graf's 1993 slam were hollow, but she won almost every slam in 1995 and 1996 and her last grand slam at the age of a couple of days shy of 30, there she proved that she wouod have gained up on Seles any way, please, stop, Seles is a great player, so is Graf.