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A fantastic post and absolutely spot on. There is a further aspect to this. Suppose another weightlifter came along and lifted 800 lbs in three consecutive competitions and was then injured and had to retire. Would this person be considered greater than A B or C. We have numerous examples of...

Broadly yes. There's little doubt in my mind that these four lay well ahead of others with one exception I would add Chris Evert to the list. I believe there is a gap between the standard played by these 5 women at their relative peaks in singles tennis and the rest of the pack. I am not...

Oh I feel a bit riduculed. It's not really my equation it is Professor Arpad Elo's equation and is used extensively in games with two opponents. I wasn't really presenting it as a definitive solution. As stated above it's as valid as an opinion, it just put's a number on it. I didn't say it...

Personally I would rate her at number 6. Above her I would put Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graff, Monica Seles, Margaret Court and Chris Evert. Unfortunately I don't know much about the pre WWII players. Just curious what other people think. Tim

It's just an Elo rating that I use to calculate a players performance with a couple of minor amendments. It doesn't real measure performance it measures results. You can find an explanation on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system. It's not perfect and there are flaws...

Interesting question and there is a lot of discussion about surfaces. I would just like to say I agree with 'droliver' the quality of players also plays a part. With this element in mind I would say the standard in the mens game is so high now amongst the top handful of players that I would...

Based on peak Elo Rating, which I believe is a good measure of performance, I would have to go with Rod Laver. Rod Laver 2776 Pete Sampras 2757 NB The Elo ratings calculated here include an additional weighting to balance era's by the relative strength of players and for ratings to decline due...

Based on peak Elo Rating, which I believe is a good measure of performance, I would have to go with Caroline Wozniacki for both. Caroline Wozniacki 2609 Petra Kvitová 2626 Samantha Stosur 2644 Francesca Schiavone 2651 Anastasia Myskina 2670 Iva Majoli 2689 Tim

My money would be on Federer and Navratilova

The problem with this kind of list is first you must define what greatest means. e.g. highest aggregate achievement, standard at peak playing power, contribution to the game etc. Greatest just as it stands doesn't mean anything at all. As for those who dismiss the validity of a list like this...

I dont rate players on aggregate numbers of titles won or even aggregate numbers of majors won. I do evaluate on peak playing standard. Having disagreed on evaluation methodology I do agree that Serena is still short of the greats of the game. I would put her 6th behind Navratilova, Graf...

I evaluate all tennis players by their peak playing standards so if he adds a few more titles to his tally it is largely irrelevant to me as he is unlikely to surpass the peak rating he achieved of 2797 which he clocked after the australian open of 2010. He is currently clocking 2762.

Hi Those of you that know me will know that I tend not to evaluate players performance by aggregate achievement as i believe this penalises player disproportionately whos’ careers have been cut short for none tennis based reasons. E.g. Maureen Connolly. I suppose you could say that this...

What about Fred Astair?

There was a poll before between Goolagong and Bueno. Got me to thinking who would win if we expanded the selection to incude Henin and Venus Williams. You all know the ratings I calculate which are similar to ELO but with some added value The peak ratings achieved respectively were...

I agree with the current leader of the poll being the 80s but from my own personal point of view I would rate the current crop of men's singles players even more highly. Tim :)

Many thanks Cyborg I agree completely. At best they just give a single point of view that is as objective as I can possibly make it. They can never tell the full story. Thanks Tim :)

Figures updated to include all results up to and including Wimbledon of 2011. Top 10 players posts now show all players achieving a peak rating in excess of 2700 since WWII. Tim

Hi pc1. Yes I stand corrected. However the problem remains that with so few cross over points, i.e. when a player moves from amateur to pros, that there is insufficient data to splice the two populations together. Hence the exclusion of the pro players from this era in my ratings. The...

Thanks Datacipher. Yes I can understand exactly where you are coming from on this. I posted in a lot more depth regarding methodology a couple of years ago and unfortunately it didn’t really help. As the knowledge on this form is more tennis related than maths related it just ended in...

Thanks Moose Appreciated Tim :)

Just to say thanks for all the intersting posts. I do listen to the various points made and as a result I do plan to revisit the ratings calculated for male players during the pre open era. I don't think there is anything wrong with the basic methodology but enough has been said to make...

Hi Bursztyn Yes you are right the function of decay in a player performance overtime is a critical aspect of the algorithms used in the calculations. However I have done my very best to make sure any arbitrary values are kept to an absolute minimum within the calculations. In the case...

Yes absolutely right pc1. As stated in my first post: 3. Players who remove themselves from the main player population cannot have an accurate rating calculated due to a lack of relevant reference points. This most importantly applies to the pre open Pro Circuit. I have never yet found a...

Yes I agree completely. Murray's mental aproach is not all it should be and this is the area where he can possibly make significant progress in his game. Tim

I agree wholeheardedly that Mats Wilander is massively underrated on this forum. For me he stands at 6th in my all time list with a peak rating of 2763 achievd in 1988. I also see Jim Courier as being largely underrated on here with a Peak rating of 2750 achieved in 1993 and standing at 14th...

Yes I agree with this 100%. The calculations I make to try to estimate playing standard show this in practice (see my post 'The Rating of Singles Tennis Players Past and Present'. It is possible to draw a line through the top women's single payers ratings if plotted on a graph and see the...

For my money Men's Singles I would go with Andy Murray. He has achieved three finals when the standard in the men's game is very high. Women's Singles I would go for Helena Suková the standard of her tennis in 1986 was at a level which would have normally have easily won a major singles...

For my money yes. See my post The Rating of Singles Tennis Players Past and Present. I lean towards a complex mathamatical algorithm to measure player performance and while this cannot be said to be better or worse than any individual's opinion it keeps me happy and makes sures my views...

Top 10 Women's Peak Single's Rating Post WWII 1 Martina Navratilova 2809 (1986) 18 14 12 9 2 Steffi Graf 2806 (1989) 22 9 6 5 3 Monica Seles 2805 (1993) 9 4 5 13 4 Margaret Smith Court 2797 (1965) 24 5 7 7 5 Chris Evert 2790 (1983) 18 16 18 2 6 Serena Williams 2785 (2003) 13 3 3 12 7...