Countries whose greatest athlete is a tennis player

[mike danny]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

 

[Hardcourter]

How dare you leave Teemu Salanne off this list

Who is Teemu Salanne? I know only Teemu Selänne aka the FinnishFlash And yes he is for sure our greatest hockey player all times from Finland, alongside with Kurri who was like we all know the "dynamic duo" with Gretzky in Edmonton Also Selänne is one of the best scorers all time in NHL, and he made the rookies record as goals in his first season in NHL when he made 76 goals, and that is for sure that no rookie will ever broke that record I mean hardly no one goes over 50 goals these days anymore, expect Ovie and maybe Laine in future.

 

[Phoenix1983]

Man dont tell me things I already know, cause I was totally subjective here because I dont like F1 anymore and especially not Räikkönen Although thouse runners are very respected in Finland, I think still Litmanen is by far our best athlete all times.

No way is Litmanen ahead of such legends, boy.

 

[Phoenix1983]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

Maradona or Fangio are the greatest from Argentina. Messi probably gets into their top 5 with the likes of Di Stefano.

Ronaldo probably is the greatest from Portugal, or maybe Eusebio.

 

[clout]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

Argentina will always be between Messi and Maradona. Funny thing is that most local Argentine's always seem to say Maradona>Messi, but people from other countries usually say Messi>Maradona so idk what to say about this debate anymore. C Ronaldo is probably Portugal's GOAT though. Some could argue Eusebio but most usually go with CR7

 

[Navdeep Srivastava]

Rod Laver for Australia. Rod Laver is a legend.

As for Russian athletes that others mentioned earlier, the best athlete from that country is Aleksandr Karelin. Karelin has a strong case for being the greatest alhlete of all time. The guy won 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals and was undefeated for 13 consecutive years. He had another stint of being unddfeated for 5 years, which means he lost once in an 18 year span. He also went 6 straight years without along a single point! He had a record of 880-2. When he lost to an American and had to settle for a silver medal, he left his belt on the ring and never wrestled again.

Don is greatest from Australia and he is still in his own league, if you change what Don accomplished in form of tennis, it will be like around 35+ slam with second best on 20 .

 

[Gizo]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

For Argentina, I personally rank Maradona over Messi, with his 1986 World Cup heroics and superhuman achievements for Napoli.

Recently I have changed my mind in the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate, and think that Ronaldo is greater for 3 reasons:

1) Ronaldo’s record for Portugal has been greater than Messi’s has been for Argentina. Portugal have clearly been a weaker team in terms of players and depth than Argentina during both their international careers, but Ronaldo has won a major trophy with Portugal while Messi hasn’t won anything at senior level with Argentina. Admittedly Pepe not Ronaldo was Portugal’s best player at Euro 2016, but then again Mascherano not Messi was the main reason why Argentina got to the 2014 World Cup final.

2) Ronaldo now clearly has the greater Champions League record than Messi, with a modern day record of 5 titles in the modern era, smashing the goal record and clearly much better performances than Messi in the big knockout games with hat-tricks and doubles galore. Messi was largely anonymous against Juventus and Roma during the past couple of seasons while Ronaldo has produced incredible performances against the likes of Bayern and Juventus.

3) Ronaldo has proven himself and starred in the both of the 2 best leagues in the world which have drastically different styles, the Premier League in England and La Liga in Spain, winning everything there is to win with both Man Utd and Real Madrid and winning the European golden shoe from both leagues. Admittedly that is harsh on Messi though, as for much of his career Barcelona have been superior to every single Premier League club so a move to England would have been a step down.

For Argentina, Manu Ginobili has to be up there as well, starring for Argentina as they won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics (the only time that the USA hasn't won the basketball gold medal since they starting sending NBA players to the Olympics in 1992), and winning 4 NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs.

 

[fezer]

Nicolas Massu for Chile

 

[Vish13]

Are astronauts athletes?

Make space exploration a sport and astronauts will be athletes.

 

[Sudacafan]

OK then. Which country does Sureshs represent?

 

[Sudacafan]

For Argentina, I personally rank Maradona over Messi, with his 1986 World Cup heroics and superhuman achievements for Napoli.

Recently I have changed my mind in the Messi vs. Ronaldo debate, and think that Ronaldo is greater for 3 reasons:

1) Ronaldo’s record for Portugal has been greater than Messi’s has been for Argentina. Portugal have clearly been a weaker team in terms of players and depth than Argentina during both their international careers, but Ronaldo has won a major trophy with Portugal while Messi hasn’t won anything at senior level with Argentina. Admittedly Pepe not Ronaldo was Portugal’s best player at Euro 2016, but then again Mascherano not Messi was the main reason why Argentina got to the 2014 World Cup final.

2) Ronaldo now clearly has the greater Champions League record than Messi, with a modern day record of 5 titles in the modern era, smashing the goal record and clearly much better performances than Messi in the big knockout games with hat-tricks and doubles galore. Messi was largely anonymous against Juventus and Roma during the past couple of seasons while Ronaldo has produced incredible performances against the likes of Bayern and Juventus.

3) Ronaldo has proven himself and starred in the both of the 2 best leagues in the world which have drastically different styles, the Premier League in England and La Liga in Spain, winning everything there is to win with both Man Utd and Real Madrid and winning the European golden shoe from both leagues. Admittedly that is harsh on Messi though, as for much of his career Barcelona have been superior to every single Premier League club so a move to England would have been a step down.

For Argentina, Manu Ginobili has to be up there as well, starring for Argentina as they won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics (the only time that the USA hasn't won the basketball gold medal since they starting sending NBA players to the Olympics in 1992), and winning 4 NBA titles with the San Antonio Spurs.

Maradona>>>>>>>Messi

 

[Sudacafan]

Argentina will always be between Messi and Maradona. Funny thing is that most local Argentine's always seem to say Maradona>Messi, but people from other countries usually say Messi>Maradona so idk what to say about this debate anymore. C Ronaldo is probably Portugal's GOAT though. Some could argue Eusebio but most usually go with CR7

Maradona>>>>Messi

 

[Sudacafan]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

Messi? Maradona, please.

 

[Sudacafan]

Argentina will always be between Messi and Maradona. Funny thing is that most local Argentine's always seem to say Maradona>Messi, but people from other countries usually say Messi>Maradona so idk what to say about this debate anymore. C Ronaldo is probably Portugal's GOAT though. Some could argue Eusebio but most usually go with CR7

If really so, people from other countries have a reasoning problem.

 

[Poisoned Slice]

Don't know of any. Best has probably got it forever.

Nope.

You like using weak era so much. There's your guy. The absolute pinnacle of weak era.

 

[axlrose]

Is Messi the greatest athlete ftom Argentina? And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

Maradona is greater than Messi. Actually he's the Goat in football.

C Ronaldo may be the best of Portugal.

 

[axlrose]

But Messi is much better than Ronaldo C.

 

[FakeEmpire]

And Ronaldo the greatest from Portugal?

I think most people will say he's the best, especially considering we're a football obsessed country (and most of our best athletes are indeed footballers, like Eusébio or Figo). But we've some fairly important athletes from a historical point of view, even if they didn't amass all of his titles or garner half of his popularity. Carlos Lopes gave us our first Olympic medal in athletics (a silver one in 1976 in the 10.000m, losing only to Lasse Virén) and was our very first Olympic champion beating the Olympic record (he won the marathon gold in 1984). Rosa Mota, Fernanda Ribeiro and Nélson Évora constitute the only remaining 3 Olympic champions we ever produced (all in athletics, with fairly sparse resources). António Livramento is considered the greatest player ever in roller hockey (we've a great tradition on that sport). Ricardinho was the best 5-a-side football player 5 times and is an european champion. I've to mention Joaquim Agostinho too. He finished 3rd in Tour de France 2 times, while spending most of his time shepherding his cows. He was a great climber, having won the mythical Alpe D'Huez in '79. I believe Eddie Merckx said, on their debuts at the Tour, Agostinho was actually the rival he feared the most. Nowadays, we also have Rui Costa, who was the 2013 world road race champion.
Fernando Pimenta may end up as one of our very best athletes as well. He is a 5-time european canoeing champion and won his first world champion last year in K1-5000m, on top of having already won a silver medal alongside Emanuel Silva at the 2012 Olympics in K2-1000m.

 

[Gizo]

Maradona>>>>>>>Messi

Agreed. Even if we just look at club level beyond what they did for Argentina, Maradona had it much tougher. La Liga is set up to favour Barcelona and Real Madrid over the other clubs, with them both hogging the TV money, and benefiting from state aid (some of which has been illegal), dodgy tax breaks and cosy relationships with the local banks. Those advantages have also aided both clubs in the Champions League as Barcelona's former president Laporta admitted.

During Maradona's time at Napoli, it was basically the opposite. As Southerners they were outcasts and enemy of the much more powerful and wealthier North and big Northern clubs. And Serie A was an insanely difficult league back then with genuinely world class players pitching up at at mid-table clubs (Arrigo Sacchi's great Milan team only won the league title once). I don't think any league has been stronger than Serie A was during the late 80s and 90s.

 

[Spencer Gore]

Scotland -Andy Murray (Tennis) -ahead of Kenny Dalglish (football),Jackie Stewart (motor racing), and Jocky Wilson (darts).

 

[Gizo]

As far as the UK goes, in 2016 when Murray was racking up titles and milestones, people were genuinely talking about him being our greatest ever athlete.

However I always thought it was ridiculous to rank him ahead of legendary football players like Kenny Dalglish - regarded by many people as the greatest player in Liverpool's history, with Liverpool in turn one of the greatest clubs in football history, and Ryan Giggs who achieved amazing longevity, assist stats and racked up trophy wins with Man Utd (with him often delivering in big matches).

Murray's achievements in a considerably smaller, more middle class sport like tennis are hugely impressive, but nowhere near as impressive as those of Dalglish or Giggs in by far the biggest sport on the planet. He would need to be at the Connors or Lendl level of greatness for this to be a contest IMO.

 

[boredone3456]

Apart from Switzerland I cannot think of a single country whose greatest Athlete would be a tennis player, and I think of Federer and Hingis because I cannot think of any other athletes from that country. For most countries their greatest Athlete's would probably be a soccer player or a runner. For America who knows but it wouldn't necessarily be a Tennis player either.

 

[octobrina10]

Apart from Switzerland I cannot think of a single country whose greatest Athlete would be a tennis player, and I think of Federer and Hingis because I cannot think of any other athletes from that country. For most countries their greatest Athlete's would probably be a soccer player or a runner. For America who knows but it wouldn't necessarily be a Tennis player either.

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...d-best-spanish-sportsman-of-all-times.483967/

 

[Bike Man]

Who is Teemu Salanne? I know only Teemu Selänne aka the FinnishFlash And yes he is for sure our greatest hockey player all times from Finland, alongside with Kurri who was like we all know the "dynamic duo" with Gretzky in Edmonton Also Selänne is one of the best scorers all time in NHL, and he made the rookies record as goals in his first season in NHL when he made 76 goals, and that is for sure that no rookie will ever broke that record I mean hardly no one goes over 50 goals these days anymore, expect Ovie and maybe Laine in future.

Yeah, sorry man, my keyboard doesn't have a key with the groovy little dots over the 'a' And yeah, Teemu is a massive star in Finland (well, here in the OC too). One of my buddies, who's a senior exec with the Ducks, has traveled with Teemu to Finland and was blown away with his fan reception there. Super cool! We were at the Honda center after he and Paul Kariya were inducted (as Ducks) into the NHL HOF. Great ceremony for them - they're obviously great friends and share huge mutual respect for each other.

 

[toby55555]

Bubka is Ukrainian, though.

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True but of course at the time was competing for the Soviet Union, thus the confusion.

 

[metsman]

Baseball overall definitely requires more athleticism than golf. It's one of my least favorite sports, but I think this is undebatable really.

Hitting a baseball and golf ball are comparable in that you could argue they are more both very hard to learn skills than athletic talents, but the raw power many baseball hitters have trumps most long driving golfers. Golf ball hitting is even more of a "skill" than hitting a baseball, whereas hitting is sort of a mix of a skill but also require incredible athleticism. It has been described as the toughest thing to do in sports, I think because it requires both skill and timing but also a very athletic motion and a strong, tough but fluid upper body. It is harder in principle I think to hit a hard ball traveling up to 100 MPH from over 60 feet away with a wooden bat versus driving a still, small golf ball off the ground.

Pitching as well requires a certain kind of athletic talent, the throwing motion which again requires a ton of upper body strength and angular momentum. Driving the golf ball does as well but not as much IMO---again it's more of a pure skill I think and that's not even getting into iron play and putting, which is totally eye-hand coordination and doesn't require any special sort of athletic specimen.

The real difference is in the field though. Your representation of fielders lack of frequent duties is humorous and somewhat true, but it doesn't change what is required of them physically when they are asked to do their jobs. Pretty much every great fielder is also a phenomenal athlete. They have to "make plays", move as fast as possible to close in on a ball and often make acrobatic catches, and throws from out of position in a literal race against the runner. There is no equivalent in golf.

It is true some baseball players are out of shape--designated hitters can be big, powerful, but fat burly guys or guys who are mainly good hitters and play the bases also aren't necessarily the most chiseled guys---but so are some golfers in not amazing shape equally. The thing is to play certain positions in baseball you must be in pretty good shape, it is very difficult to be a shortstop, CF, LF, or RF and be in bad shape. The same is not true for a golfer---being in good shape might help (see Tiger Woods although some argue he has been too muscular for his own good), but it isn't a clear correlation.

A lot of baseball players were high level football players in high school.

Joe Mauer was the best high school football player in the country. CC Sabathia, who people make fun of for being fat, had a scholarship to UCLA to play tight end. So did Stanton. Jeff Samardzija was a star tight end for Notre Dame. Todd Helton was ahead of Peyton on the Tennessee depth chart. A-Rod was recruited to Miami. Adam Dunn, another guy people make fun of for being unathletic had an offer from Texas to play QB/tight end

 

[Deleted member 751575]

Any Japanese athletes more famous than Nishikori?

I think Yuzuru Hanyu deserves a mention. Not only is he an extremely popular athlete in Japan (more than 100,000 people went to a parade in his honor after he won his second Olympic gold), but he has the strongest argument to be considered the best figure skater in the history of that sport. He's a phenomenon over there.

 

[buscemi]

Jaroslav Drobný for Egypt (assuming he counts as Egyptian):

-Won the gold medal with the Czech hockey team at the 1947 World Championships, scoring 15 goals, including a hat trick in the gold medal game;
-Won the silver medal with the Czech hockey team at the 1948 Olympics, scoring 9 goals;
-Defected to Egypt and won two French Open titles and 1 Wimbledon title (beating Rosewall in the final);
-5 other Major singles finals;
-French Open doubles and mixed doubles titles;
-ranked in the top 10 from 1946-1955;
-over 130 singles titles, including a record 90+ on clay; and
-37-6 in Davis Cup
​

This site has him as the second greatest Egyptian athlete behind cricket player John Tracois.

​

 

[Bike Man]

Any Japanese athletes more famous than Nishikori?

I'd say in the US, Hideki Matsui is likely more famous. Not so much on a world stage though.

 

[clout]

Each Countries greatest athlete would probably be:

USA- Michael Jordan (could be countless others though)
Canada- Wayne Gretzky
Australia- Rod Laver
France- Zinedine Zidane
Brazil- Pele (or "Fat Ronaldo")
Japan- Ichiro Suzuki
Czech Republic- Jaromir Jagr or Martina Navratilova
Argentina- Messi or Maradona (can't go wrong with either)
Switzerland- Fedr
Spain- Rafa Nadal
Serbia- Djoker
Portugal- C Ronaldo
Germany- Franz Beckenbauer
Russia/Soviet Union- Lev Yashin
Netherlands- Johan Cruyff
South Korea- Yuna Kim or Inbee Park
Sweden- Bjorn Borg
Poland- Adam Małysz
Croatia- Luka Modric
China- Yao Ming (tbh other than Li Na, he's the only athlete ik from China)
South Africa- Gary Player or AB de Villiers
Italy- Gigi Buffon (could be a few others though)
Ireland- Connor McGregor
Philippines- Manny Pacquiao
Northern Ireland- George Best or Rory McIlroy
Scotland- Mury GOAT
England- Mo Farah

 

[Tshooter]

... and I think of Federer and Hingis because I cannot think of any other athletes from that country. ..

 

[Rolandout]

Uzbekistan Istomin

 

[buscemi]

Apart from Switzerland I cannot think of a single country whose greatest Athlete would be a tennis player, and I think of Federer and Hingis because I cannot think of any other athletes from that country. For most countries their greatest Athlete's would probably be a soccer player or a runner. For America who knows but it wouldn't necessarily be a Tennis player either.

The funny thing is that it's arguable that Federer isn't event the greatest Swiss athlete born in the summer of 1981. Simon Ammann was born on June 25, 1981 and is quite possibly the greatest ski jumper of all time. He's the only ski jumper who achieved the gold double–double at the Winter Olympics, winning the gold medal in both the individual large and normal hill events at the 2002 and 2010 Olympics.

 

[BlueB]

Croatia- Luka Modric

Maybe currently, but there were more acomplished sports people from Croatia, in the days of Yugoslavia. Dražen Petrović, Mate Parlov, come to mind instantly. I personally think that less known Veljko Rogošić was even grater...

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[onyxrose81]

Apart from Switzerland I cannot think of a single country whose greatest Athlete would be a tennis player, and I think of Federer and Hingis because I cannot think of any other athletes from that country. For most countries their greatest Athlete's would probably be a soccer player or a runner. For America who knows but it wouldn't necessarily be a Tennis player either.

US--Michael Jordan (not just for accomplishments but man is still making bank on the apparel).

Japan--Its Kohei Uchimura. He's won 6 World titles and was two-time Olympic all-around winner. He won every major title in an Olympic cycle-twice plus other titles on the World Cup circuit. Dominating his sport is putting it lightly. He gets forgotten because its gymnastics but in terms of accomplishments, it's by far him.

 

[mika1979]

I can understand why they went crazy for Ivanisevic. First Croatian to win a major and it wasn't that long after they gained independence. But the likes of Boban (damn he was a classy player), Prosinecki and Modric nowadays are always going to be more popular as football is a way more popular sport than tennis.

Wasn’t Iva majoli the first?

 

[Purplemonster]

Wasn’t Iva majoli the first?

Correct, pardon me.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Each Countries greatest athlete would probably be:

USA- Michael Jordan (could be countless others though)
Canada- Wayne Gretzky
Australia- Rod Laver
France- Zinedine Zidane
Brazil- Pele (or "Fat Ronaldo")
Japan- Ichiro Suzuki
Czech Republic- Jaromir Jagr or Martina Navratilova
Argentina- Messi or Maradona (can't go wrong with either)
Switzerland- Fedr
Spain- Rafa Nadal
Serbia- Djoker
Portugal- C Ronaldo
Germany- Franz Beckenbauer
Russia/Soviet Union- Lev Yashin
Netherlands- Johan Cruyff
South Korea- Yuna Kim or Inbee Park
Sweden- Bjorn Borg
Poland- Adam Małysz
Croatia- Luka Modric
China- Yao Ming (tbh other than Li Na, he's the only athlete ik from China)
South Africa- Gary Player or AB de Villiers
Italy- Gigi Buffon (could be a few others though)
Ireland- Connor McGregor
Philippines- Manny Pacquiao
Northern Ireland- George Best or Rory McIlroy
Scotland- Mury GOAT
England- Mo Farah

Lol at France, Germany, China, Netherlands and Russia.

Italy and Argentina are very questionable too.

 

[Deleted member 716271]

Lol at France, Germany, China, Netherlands and Russia.

Italy and Argentina are very questionable too.

Zidane is almost certainly the best French athlete of all time

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Zidane is almost certainly the best French athlete of all time

Lol

I love Zizu, but he ain't the best.

 

[BlueB]

Northern Ireland- George Best or Rory McIlroy
Scotland- Mury GOAT
England- Mo Farah

Why UK isn't listed as unified country?
Btw, I believe their greatest sportsmsn would be Sir Ben Ainsley. Medals in 5 consecutive Olympic Games (4 gold), 8 times World Champion, America's Cup winner and participated in Volvo round the world ocean race...

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[Im(moral) Winner]

Lol

I love Zizu, but he ain't the best.

You should name better sportsmen instead of just lol no-ing.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

You should name better sportsmen instead of just lol no-ing.

Why?

 

[Im(moral) Winner]

Why?

Pretty pointless otherwise.

 

[Tennis_Hands]

Pretty pointless otherwise.

No, it is not.

How many names do you need?

 

[Deleted member 716271]

No, it is not.

How many names do you need?

1 would be a good start

 

[Rolandout]

Why UK isn't listed as unified country?

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Because there are 4 countries within it? Redgrave is probably the greatest anyway

 

[Tennis_Hands]

1 would be a good start

I will give you three.

Sébastien Loeb (WRC).
Stéphane Peterhansel (off-road endurance rally)
Nicolas Vouilloz (MTB)

 

[Otacon]

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Borg are the greatest sportsmen of their respective countries, because what matters is the opinion of their compatriots, and these lads are well ahead in all the polls that I could see.

 

[BlueB]

Because there are 4 countries within it? Redgrave is probably the greatest anyway

Well, in all sports but soccer they play under unified flag... If the union splited, then listings should be separate, even for previous achievements.

You are probably right about Redgrave. His medal haul is bigger and maybe trumps Ansley's extra achievements in big boats... Although, AC is the oldest and most prestigious trophy in all sports... Tough one.

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