BEST TEENAGE PLAYERS OF ALL TIME

BeatlesFan said:
I thought it was implicit in the thread we were talking about the Open era? Mentioning her is like comparing Don Budge to Laver. It's like mentioning Renshaw as co-equal to Pete at Wimbledon since both have 7 titles.
Click to expand...

I assumed 'All Time' meant......All Time:)
 
Phoenix1983 said:
That poster is also wrong - Seles won 8 slams (just one fewer than Connolly) as a teenager. So, remarkable though Little Mo was, it's not true to say "no one was close".
Click to expand...

In numbers, yes 8 is close. 9 consecutive is different league though IMO.
 
daggerman said:
I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but..

Men: Becker, Borg, Nadal, Wilander
Women: Seles, Graf, Evert, Austin, Hingis
Click to expand...
Andrea Jaeger was pretty damn good before retiring at the old age of 19.

aj_magazine_cover.jpg

Arthur Ashe: are two hands better than one?
 
Last edited:
Stunned nobody has mentioned her in detail but Martina Hingis.

In 1997 at the ripe old age of 16 she won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open as well as making the final of the French Open. She became number 1.

The following year at 17 she defended her Australian Open title and made the US Open Final. Oh and she won the calendar year grand slam in ladies doubles becoming #1 in the world in doubles as well as being #1 in singles.

As a teenager she won 5 slams in singles, 8 in ladies doubles. Insane.
 
Phoenix1983 said:
@vive le beau jeu !

Someone is missing from your list, no?

I'm not sure of the exact date of the FO 2006 quarter-final. It may have been after his 20th birthday
Click to expand...
Wanted to comment on this as well. Not sure either when the quarter was played, but Final was 11th of June while Nadals bday is 3rd of June, so vive should be correct. Then again we would actually need to know the date of the R16 against Hewitt because on this day it was clear that Nadal had reached the quarterfinal. Anyways I think even this would be after Nadals 20th bday.
 
BorgTheGOAT said:
Wanted to comment on this as well. Not sure either when the quarter was played, but Final was 11th of June while Nadals bday is 3rd of June, so vive should be correct. Then again we would actually need to know the date of the R16 against Hewitt because on this day it was clear that Nadal had reached the quarterfinal. Anyways I think even this would be after Nadals 20th bday.
Click to expand...

From online searches, the date of Nadal-Hewitt was 5th June 2006.

Thus vive is saved from writing the name of the Nadal by 3 days.
 
Youngest Slam winners (OE)

male
1. Chang (17 years, 110 days)
2. Becker (17 years, 228 days)
3. Wilander (17 years, 293 days)
4. Borg (18 years, 10 days)
5. Nadal (19 years, 3 days)

female
1. Hingis (16 years and 117 days)
2. Seles (16 years and 189 days)
3. Austin (16 years and 270 days)
4. Sharapova (17 years and 75 days)
5. Sanchez Vicario (17 years and 174 days)
6. S. Williams (17 years and 350 days)
7. Graf (17 years and 357 days)

Overall for me, male and female, Becker and Seles
 
glenWs said:
Who would you say were the best teenage tennis players of all time, men or women?

How close to #1 would you put Rafa?
Click to expand...
No one comes closer to the level of sheer talent on display by nadal at his teenage.
With massive respect to other players, but Nadal is nadal.
 
Aussie Darcy said:
Stunned nobody has mentioned her in detail but Martina Hingis.

In 1997 at the ripe old age of 16 she won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open as well as making the final of the French Open. She became number 1.

The following year at 17 she defended her Australian Open title and made the US Open Final. Oh and she won the calendar year grand slam in ladies doubles becoming #1 in the world in doubles as well as being #1 in singles.

As a teenager she won 5 slams in singles, 8 in ladies doubles. Insane.
Click to expand...

That is absolutely ridiculous. How do you have both the physical maturity at 16 to hang with the greats, and the tennis mentality/point construction to go with it o_O
 
Rafa4LifeEver said:
No one comes closer to the level of sheer talent on display by nadal at his teenage.
With massive respect to other players, but Nadal is nadal.
Click to expand...
Then why did Borg, Boris and Wilander all win 2+ slams as teens, when Nadal won one? You have "massive respect" for other players, did you ever bother watching them so you have a basis of comparison? Admit it-- were you even alive when Borg, Boris and Wilander played?

If Nadal was the most superlatively talented teenage player in the OE, then why do his slam results trail other ATG's by a significant margin?
 
BeatlesFan said:
Then why did Borg, Boris and Wilander all win 2+ slams as teens, when Nadal won one? You have "massive respect" for other players, did you ever bother watching them so you have a basis of comparison? Admit it-- were you even alive when Borg, Boris and Wilander played?

If Nadal was the most superlatively talented teenage player in the OE, then why do his slam results trail other ATG's by a significant margin?
Click to expand...
No ma'am, I am just 26 and surely didn't watch those legends play. I have watched their highlights though.

But what I meant to say was, that Nadal had produced the highest of tennis levels compared with all other Teenager ATGs.. He was already defeating and going toe-to-toe with peak roger Federer. His fighting spirit, stamina, ballstriking, retrieval abilities, defense etc were so great.

I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings though, and I want to apologize for that. I'm sorry.
 
MichaelNadal said:
That is absolutely ridiculous. How do you have both the physical maturity at 16 to hang with the greats, and the tennis mentality/point construction to go with it o_O
Click to expand...
The crazier thing was that her doubles triumph was with similarly young women. The 1998 Australian Open doubles she won was with fellow 16 year old Mirjana Lucic Baroni, the following year she won it with 18 year old Kournikova. Her 1997 RG final loss was to 19 year old Iva Majoli, the same year her USO singles title win was against 17 year old Venus Williams.
 
glenWs said:
Who would you say were the best teenage tennis players of all time, men or women?

How close to #1 would you put Rafa?
Click to expand...
Hingis maybe? She kinda took the world by storm at 16 and was pretty much everyone could talk about in her teenage years in an era of ATGs
 
BeatlesFan said:
Then why did Borg, Boris and Wilander all win 2+ slams as teens, when Nadal won one? You have "massive respect" for other players, did you ever bother watching them so you have a basis of comparison? Admit it-- were you even alive when Borg, Boris and Wilander played?

If Nadal was the most superlatively talented teenage player in the OE, then why do his slam results trail other ATG's by a significant margin?
Click to expand...

Like you said, gotta give it to Wilander, Becker and Borg winning 2 or more majors in their teens. Rafa is up there too. Pete as well.
 
You jokers are wrong as always. No teen dead or alive played better than this one:


In fact forget vs. fellow teens. No player in history would've beaten Pistol at this USO, and yes I'm including his more mature versions. Not necessarily 'cause '90 Pete reached the highest peak ever (though it'd be up there), but 'cause his opponents would be so floored and intimidated by the all-court genius of this lanky 19-year-old kid they'd struggle to respond with their own best game.

Now if we're talking the best youngest players, it's hard to imagine a more well-rounded 17-year-old than Boris at '85 Wimbledon:


So my two all-time faves were the bestest teens ever, which means I've got better taste than all of you mugs combined.

And yet I still don't hesitate to share my wisdom free of charge. You're welcome.
 
For men it's Wilander, Borg, Becker, Nadal and Chang.

For women there's too many to name, but I'd say Little Mo, Seles, Graf, Hingis and Evert are probably the top 5.
 
NonP said:
You jokers are wrong as always. No teen dead or alive played better than this one:


In fact forget vs. fellow teens. No player in history would've beaten Pistol at this USO, and yes I'm including his more mature versions. Not necessarily 'cause '90 Pete reached the highest peak ever (though it'd be up there), but 'cause his opponents would be so floored and intimidated by the all-court genius of this lanky 19-year-old kid they'd struggle to respond with their own best game.

Now if we're talking the best youngest players, it's hard to imagine a more well-rounded 17-year-old than Boris at '85 Wimbledon:


So my two all-time faves were the bestest teens ever, which means I've got better taste than all of you mugs combined.

And yet I still don't hesitate to share my wisdom free of charge. You're welcome.
Click to expand...
Nah, the best ever teen was the Youngest World No. 1, who gained that honour by beating his top competitors in Australia in 1953.

Youngest tennis player to be ranked world No.1

Thirteen-time Grand Slam winner Lew Hoad (Australia, b. 23 November 1934) was 19 years 38 days old when he topped the year-end Tennis de France magazine rankings for 1953. Long before reliable points-based ATP and WTA rankings were introduced for professionals, the only contemporary full-season...
www.guinnessworldrecords.com www.guinnessworldrecords.com
 
Dan Lobb said:
Nah, the best ever teen was the Youngest World No. 1, who gained that honour by beating his top competitors in Australia in 1953.

Youngest tennis player to be ranked world No.1

Thirteen-time Grand Slam winner Lew Hoad (Australia, b. 23 November 1934) was 19 years 38 days old when he topped the year-end Tennis de France magazine rankings for 1953. Long before reliable points-based ATP and WTA rankings were introduced for professionals, the only contemporary full-season...
www.guinnessworldrecords.com www.guinnessworldrecords.com
Click to expand...
The field wasn't so wide in those days. The tour consisted of British, American and Australian players. There was little or no prize money, and because of the time difference and cost, the players didn't travel to other countries so much.
 
BeatlesFan said:
I thought it was implicit in the thread we were talking about the Open era? Mentioning her is like comparing Don Budge to Laver. It's like mentioning Renshaw as co-equal to Pete at Wimbledon since both have 7 titles.
Click to expand...
WRONG! There was NO women's pro tour the years Connolly won her slams. Open Era only applies to men's tennis.
 
clayqueen said:
The field wasn't so wide in those days. The tour consisted of British, American and Australian players. There was little or no prize money, and because of the time difference and cost, the players didn't travel to other countries so much.
Click to expand...
No, there were many outstanding European players in the 1950s and 1960s, more strength then than today on clay.
 
Dan Lobb said:
Nah, the best ever teen was the Youngest World No. 1, who gained that honour by beating his top competitors in Australia in 1953.

Youngest tennis player to be ranked world No.1

Thirteen-time Grand Slam winner Lew Hoad (Australia, b. 23 November 1934) was 19 years 38 days old when he topped the year-end Tennis de France magazine rankings for 1953. Long before reliable points-based ATP and WTA rankings were introduced for professionals, the only contemporary full-season...
www.guinnessworldrecords.com www.guinnessworldrecords.com
Click to expand...
You're lying again. No serious tennis buff gives a crap about amateur rankings back then and the top pro that year was either Gonzales or Kramer. Stop lying.

Also it's obvious to anyone paying attention that I was judging individual performances, so you aren't even talking about the same thing!

clayqueen said:
The field wasn't so wide in those days. The tour consisted of British, American and Australian players. There was little or no prize money, and because of the time difference and cost, the players didn't travel to other countries so much.
Click to expand...
So Pancho Segura was chopped liver?

Razer said:
Boris Becker in the 20th century and Rafael Nadal in the 21th century get my vote.

If you include women then it is Monica Seles by far. 8 Slams at 19 when she was stabbed, she is the leader if we mix ATP and WTA.
Click to expand...
Good call!
 
NonP said:
You're lying again. No serious tennis buff gives a crap about amateur rankings back then and the top pro that year was either Gonzales or Kramer. Stop lying.

Also it's obvious to anyone paying attention that I was judging individual performances, so you aren't even talking about the same thing!


So Pancho Segura was chopped liver?


Good call!
Click to expand...
No, the rankings of the time were carefully considered. Tennis "buffs" usually get it wrong.
Hoad was regarded as world No. 1, "greatest player in the world" for 1953 by Art Larsen, ahead of Sedgman. Larsen claimed that Hoad's first serve was too fast to see.
I regard the contemporary rankings as the only worthwhile ones, trying to judge from a distance of many decades later is just fantasy indulgence.
And yes, Hoad still holds the world record for youngest world No. 1. That is official. That answers our question as to the greatest teen player.

Becker was a lesser player, slower in movement and with fewer strokes than Hoad. The level of play which Hoad achieved against Trabert in that 1953 Davis Cup classic was higher than Becker in the 1985 or 1986 Wimbledon finals. Neither Curren nor Lendl were anywhere near the level of Trabert on grass.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

8
Alcaraz and Swiatek similarity?
Replies
26
Views
2K
mehdimike
mehdimike
JackSockIsTheBest
Anyone know who you would rank as the best american tennis players of the 2010's?
Replies
25
Views
2K
Deleted member 769694
D
R
Nucknames of Tennis Players
Replies
46
Views
5K
Grant Morgan
G
N
Best players of the year by surface
Replies
16
Views
2K
P_Agony
P_Agony
T
Best player of all time from each continent(Men and Women)
Replies
12
Views
1K
Manus Domini
M
Back
Top