The GOAT of each country

[vbranis]

Algeria - Ouahab
Argentina - Vilas
Armenia - Sargsian
Australia - Laver
Austria - Muster
Bahamas - Knowles
Belarus - Mirnyi
Belgium - Malisse
Bolivia - M. Martinez
Brazil - Kuerten
Bulgaria - Dimitrov
Canada - Michibata
Chile - Rios
China - Pan
Chinese Taipei - Lu
Colombia - Molina
Costa Rica - Marin
Croatia - Ivanisevic
Cuba - Garrido
Cyprus - Baghdatis
Czech Rep./Slovakia - Lendl
Denmark - Nielsen
Dominican Rep. - Estrella
Ecuador - Segura
Egypt - El Shafei / Drobny (only briefly an Egyptian citizen)
El Salvador - Arevalo
Estonia - Zopp
Finland - Nieminen
France - Lacoste
Georgia - Metreveli
Germany - Becker / Von Cramm
Greece - Economidis (sorry Greece, no Sampras, Philippoussis, or Baghdatis )
Haiti - Agenor
India - V. Amritraj
Indonesia - Suwandi
Iran - Bahrami
Ireland - Pim
Israel - Mansdorf / Ram / Glickstein
Italy - Panatta / Pietrangeli
Ivory Coast - N'Goran
Jamaica - Brown
Japan - Matsuoka
Kazakhstan - Korolev
Kuwait - Ghareeb
Latvia - Gulbis
Lithuania - Berankis (already!)
Luxembourg - Muller
Macedonia - Rusevski
Mexico - Osuna
Monaco - Balleret / Lisnard (played intermittently for France)
Morocco - El Aynaoui
Netherlands - Krajicek
Netherlands Antilles - Rojer
New Zealand - Wilding
Nigeria - Odizur
Norway - Ruud (cross-country skiing >>> tennis :???: )
Pakistan - Rahim
Paraguay - Pecci
Peru - Olmedo
Philippines - Ampon
Poland - Fibak
Portugal - Gil (surprising, considering proximity to Spain)
Romania - Nastase
Russia - Kafelnikov / Safin
Senegal - Doumbia
Serbia - Djokovic
Slovenia - Kavcic
South Africa - Curren / Kriek
South Korea - H.T. Lee
Spain - Nadal
Sweden - Borg
Switzerland - Federer
Thailand - Srichaphan
Togo - Loglo
Turkey - Ilhan
Ukraine - Medvedev
United Kingdom - Perry
Uruguay - Filippini
USA - Sampras
Uzbekistan - Istomin
Venezuela - Pereira
Zimbabwe - B. Black

Let's keep adding.

 

[BTURNER]

I 'd put Baron Von Cramm in contention with Becker. His career could not have had worse luck, complete with extraordinary depth in the men's field ( he lost to Perry twice and Budge once in slam finals, **** Germany micromanaging his career and conviction of a morals charge ( homosexuality) to kill years of his peak tennis and thwart any comeback.) but the man was a top notch tennis great.

 

[lucasschneider]

I'll start:
Argentina - Vilas
Australia - Laver
Austria - Muster
Brazil - Kuerten
Czech Rep./Slovakia - Lendl
Finland - Nieminen
France - Lacoste
Germany - Becker
India - Amritraj
Italy - Panatta
Mexico - Osuna
Morocco - El Aynaoui
Netherlands - Krajicek
Poland - Fibak
Romania - Nastase
Russia - Kafelnikov
Spain - Nadal
Sweden - Borg
Switzerland - Federer
United Kingdom - Perry
USA - Sampras

Feel free to add more.

There is only one GOAT- Roger be thy name

 

[slice bh compliment]

Cool thread vbranis! Off the top of my head, here are a few honorable mentions, preferences, contenders and additions.....


Italy's all-time great Davis Cupper: Nicola Pietrangeli

Croatia: toss-up. Nikki Pilic and Goran Ivanisevic. Pilic as a member of the handsome 8 and as a coach/mentor. Goran gets my vote, though.

Ecuador: Andres Gomez, the 1990 Roland Garros Champion.

Mexico, honorable mention: Raul Ramirez

New Zealand: Chris Lewis, once a Wimbledon finalist in men's singles

Bulgaria: The Maleeva sisters

USA: I'm with you on Sampras, but we'd have to at least mention Budge, Tilden, Kramer and Gonzales

Canada: Carling Bassett wins the cute girl player award. In men's dubs... Glenn Michibata

Indonesia: Yayuk Basuki and Peter Handoyo (played for Univ. of Tennessee in the late 90s)

Georgia (Caucasus Mtns, not Bulldogs): Nino Louarsabishvili, though Alex Metreveli and Teimuraz Gabashvili have represented Russia well.

Madagascar: Dally Randriantefy

Japan: Zenzo Shimizu, Shuzo Matsuoka, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Ai Sugiyama, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

Chile: Marcelo Rios

Serbia: Nole, NoleNoleNole....NOLE, No-Le. Well, my vote is for Slobodan Zivojinovic, actually, 'cause Nole's second serve is such a liability. So is his character. Little twit.

Prussia: Kathy Jordan, who hails from the town of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

The Phillippine Islands: Cecil Mamiit. The Junio brothers? Mid 90's college tennis, yeah.

Brazil: as much as I love Guga, I've got to go with Maria Bueno

South Africa: Gavin Forbes, 'cause he wrote that book, A Handful of Summers. Oh, yeah, and Johan Kriek. And that skinny guy who beat Mac and Connors at Wimbledon, then lost to a 17 yr old kid in the final. He's the one who wanted to blow up the USTA NTC in Flushing. Cliffy Drysdale would have won this if he just hadn't worn that prissy little golf glove.

India: Ramanathan Krishnan, the father of Ramesh Krishnan, affectionately known the world over as 'Krish'.

Pakistan: Mahboob Khan, for his notoriety here at the TW and his famous last name, both in history and in squash, the other-other racquet sport.

Scotland: Mike Myers as Scotland Yard's very own 'Fat B@stard' slipped Andy Murray a mickey and made off with the trophy.

Holland: Tom Okker, partially because Krajicek sounds so Czech, but also because Okker's nickname is the Flying Dutchman....and not everyone can play dubs with Ilie Nastase.

Belguim: Filip DeWulf or Xavier Malisse? Justine Henin or Aussie Kim? My vote is for Juiced-teen.

Louisiana: Donni Leaycraft.

Nigeria: Nduka Odizor

Cameroun: Yannick Noah, only because there are a couple of guys ahead of him on the France list.

Egypt: Ismael El Shafei anyone? Anyone?

Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis

Lebanon: Marcos Baghdatis

Uruguay: Marcelo Filipini

Paraguay: Hugo Chapacu

Bahamas: Mark Knowles. Kidding, everyone knows the Bahamian GOAT is Roger Smith.

Bermuda: One-time resident, Patrick Rafter.

Monte Carlo: Boris Becker

Luxembourg: Gilles Muller

Moldova: Ion Moldovan, who is actually a Romanian, but, come on, that last name screams GOAT of Moldova.

Kazakhstan: Elena Likhovtseva. Borat like. Eh very niice.

Dutch Antilles: Jean Julien Roger. ANd, HOW exactly did you miss this one?

Appalachia: Roscoe Tanner

Zimbabwe: The good money is on Byron Black, but I'm voting for former NCAA no. 1, Genius Chidzikwe. There's no denying a man named Genius. The son of a man named Clever.

Belarus: The Minx from Misk - Natalia (Natasha) Zvereva. Max Mirnyi, too. They must really GET dubs strategy in that country.

Brooklyn, New York: Max Mirnyi

Armenia: Sargis the Sarge Sargsian

Vermont: Bode Miller. Okay, now I'm rambling. Vermont isn't its own country. Yet.

 

[urban]

Great list, Slice. What about the Irish? Maybe Pim, Parke or our old friend St. Leger Goold? Certainly not Georgie Best. And for our Bravehearts from Scotland: Murray.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

some more !

Senegal : Yahiya Doumbia
Thailand: Paradorn Srichaphan
Haiti: Ronald Agenor
Costa Rica: Juan Antonio Marin ?
Jamaica: Dustin Brown

 

[obsessedtennisfandisorder]

South africa: kevin curren

by the way..lewis is a fine choice for NZ, but actually many believe onny parun career is a greater piece of work.
Just remember Anthony Wilding(4 time winby chanp) is NZer, but thats going a long way back.

 

[pc1]

Cool thread vbranis! Off the top of my head, here are a few honorable mentions, preferences, contenders and additions.....


Italy's all-time great Davis Cupper: Nicola Pietrangeli

Croatia: toss-up. Nikki Pilic and Goran Ivanisevic. Pilic as a member of the handsome 8 and as a coach/mentor. Goran gets my vote, though.

Ecuador: Andres Gomez, the 1990 Roland Garros Champion.

Mexico, honorable mention: Raul Ramirez

New Zealand: Chris Lewis, once a Wimbledon finalist in men's singles

Bulgaria: The Maleeva sisters

USA: I'm with you on Sampras, but we'd have to at least mention Budge, Tilden, Kramer and Gonzales

Canada: Carling Bassett wins the cute girl player award. In men's dubs... Glenn Michibata

Indonesia: Yayuk Basuki and Peter Handoyo (played for Univ. of Tennessee in the late 90s)

Georgia (Caucasus Mtns, not Bulldogs): Nino Louarsabishvili, though Alex Metreveli and Teimuraz Gabashvili have represented Russia well.

Madagascar: Dally Randriantefy

Japan: Zenzo Shimizu, Shuzo Matsuoka, Kimiko Date-Krumm, Ai Sugiyama, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

Chile: Marcelo Rios

Serbia: Nole, NoleNoleNole....NOLE, No-Le. Well, my vote is for Slobodan Zivojinovic, actually, 'cause Nole's second serve is such a liability. So is his character. Little twit.

Prussia: Kathy Jordan, who hails from the town of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

The Phillippine Islands: Cecil Mamiit. The Junio brothers? Mid 90's college tennis, yeah.

Brazil: as much as I love Guga, I've got to go with Maria Bueno

South Africa: Gavin Forbes, 'cause he wrote that book, A Handful of Summers. Oh, yeah, and Johan Kriek. And that skinny guy who beat Mac and Connors at Wimbledon, then lost to a 17 yr old kid in the final. He's the one who wanted to blow up the USTA NTC in Flushing. Cliffy Drysdale would have won this if he just hadn't worn that prissy little golf glove.

India: Ramanathan Krishnan, the father of Ramesh Krishnan, affectionately known the world over as 'Krish'.

Pakistan: Mahboob Khan, for his notoriety here at the TW and his famous last name, both in history and in squash, the other-other racquet sport.

Scotland: Mike Myers as Scotland Yard's very own 'Fat B@stard' slipped Andy Murray a mickey and made off with the trophy.

Holland: Tom Okker, partially because Krajicek sounds so Czech, but also because Okker's nickname is the Flying Dutchman....and not everyone can play dubs with Ilie Nastase.

Belguim: Filip DeWulf or Xavier Malisse? Justine Henin or Aussie Kim? My vote is for Juiced-teen.

Louisiana: Donni Leaycraft.

Nigeria: Nduka Odizor

Cameroun: Yannick Noah, only because there are a couple of guys ahead of him on the France list.

Egypt: Ismael El Shafei anyone? Anyone?

Cyprus: Marcos Baghdatis

Lebanon: Marcos Baghdatis

Uruguay: Marcelo Filipini

Paraguay: Hugo Chapacu

Bahamas: Mark Knowles. Kidding, everyone knows the Bahamian GOAT is Roger Smith.

Bermuda: One-time resident, Patrick Rafter.

Monte Carlo: Boris Becker

Luxembourg: Gilles Muller

Moldova: Ion Moldovan, who is actually a Romanian, but, come on, that last name screams GOAT of Moldova.

Kazakhstan: Elena Likhovtseva. Borat like. Eh very niice.

Dutch Antilles: Jean Julien Roger. ANd, HOW exactly did you miss this one?

Appalachia: Roscoe Tanner

Zimbabwe: The good money is on Byron Black, but I'm voting for former NCAA no. 1, Genius Chidzikwe. There's no denying a man named Genius. The son of a man named Clever.

Belarus: The Minx from Misk - Natalia (Natasha) Zvereva. Max Mirnyi, too. They must really GET dubs strategy in that country.

Brooklyn, New York: Max Mirnyi

Armenia: Sargis the Sarge Sargsian

Vermont: Bode Miller. Okay, now I'm rambling. Vermont isn't its own country. Yet.

Great list Slice. How about Pancho Segura for Ecuador and Andres Gimeno for Spain?

Yannick Noah for Greenwich Village in New York since he lived there in the 1980's.

Rod Laver for California.

 

[vbranis]

Nice lists everyone, I'm gonna keep updating my original post until we get ALL countries.

 

[Carsomyr]

Jaroslav Drobný for Egypt. Best player that almost no one has ever heard of.

 

[OKUSA]

Russia: Marat Safin. Identical slam wins 5 masters titles for Safin, 0 for Kafelnikov. Safin also had SF or better at all the slams

 

[orangettecoleman]

I'd probably have Pancho Segura as Ecuador's GOAT, unless we are restricting ourselves to open-era...

 

[vbranis]

I'd probably have Pancho Segura as Ecuador's GOAT, unless we are restricting ourselves to open-era...

Right, forgot about him, now added to the list.

Russia: Marat Safin. Identical slam wins 5 masters titles for Safin, 0 for Kafelnikov. Safin also had SF or better at all the slams

Hard to say, Kafelnikov arguably had tougher competition, but Safin at his best was a better player...Also, Kafelnikov was a lot more consistent, he won 26 titles to Safin's 15.

 

[OKUSA]

Safin was injured a lot. I think the competition was equal, Safin had to go through prime time Federer to get his Aussie win. Kafelnikov's hardest opponent of either of his slams wins was Sampras on clay

 

[pc1]

I'd probably have Pancho Segura as Ecuador's GOAT, unless we are restricting ourselves to open-era...

Totally agree with you. Segura was awesome. Maybe the best shot in tennis history with his two handed forehand.

 

[urban]

Kurt Nielsen for Denmark. Or one of the Ulrich family.

 

[Gizo]

Surely Victor Pecci is Paraguay's greatest tennis player. He was the runner-up to Borg at the French Open in 1979, won 10 titles and reached no. 9 in the rankings.

For Peru it is Alex Olmedo. For Colombia it is Ivan Molina.

 

[slice bh compliment]

^Yeah, I picked Hugo Chapacu beacuse of his heriocs against the US Davis Cup team that one time.....but Pecci is the more accomplished player for sure.

urban....what, no Freddie Fetterlein? No love for Kenneth Carlsen?
Kidding. I'm for Torben Ulrich (artist, cool beard, cool guy, raised a tennis playing son who did pretty well in rock-n-roll, too).

Drobny being Czech....and Egyptian only by technicality. What about the mighty Tamer Al Sawy (I once played him in a satellite in the early 90s).

Anyway....haha, great lists, guys. About a hundred more countries to go?

Fun thread. TONS of room for interpretation, debate/discussion and humor.

Well, maybe we can all consult our parents, friends, teaching pro buddies, the Davis Cup website, etc to fill this thread out. This has got me thinking about the tennis history of the 'Stans, the Baltics, various archipelagi, etc....while taking a moment to reflect on what a historic and storied international game we've got here. Right up there with football/calcio/soccer.

 

[EKnee08]

India - Amritraj.

Which one?

and by the way, which one is the best director?

 

[EKnee08]

South africa: kevin curren

by the way..lewis is a fine choice for NZ, but actually many believe onny parun career is a greater piece of work.
Just remember Anthony Wilding(4 time winby chanp) is NZer, but thats going a long way back.

S.A.: Wayne Ferreria?

Too bad Rudeski left Canada for G.B.

 

[EKnee08]

Safin was injured a lot. I think the competition was equal, Safin had to go through prime time Federer to get his Aussie win. Kafelnikov's hardest opponent of either of his slams wins was Sampras on clay

Safin also smoked Pistol Pete in the US Open final.

 

[statto]

McEnroe is US GOAT.

7 singles slams, 9 doubles slams, 1 mixed doubles slams - total: 17.
77 singles titles, 71 doubles titles, 1 mixed doubles titles - total: 149.
Owned at Davis Cup (59 wins, 10 losses).

Compared to Sampras:

14 singles slams - total: 14.
64 singles titles, 2 doubles titles - total: 66.
Mediocre at Davis Cup (19 wins, 9 losses).

At the very least he should be in the equation (Connors and Agassi too probably).

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Portugal - Frederico Gil

 

[Gizo]

Algeria – Lamine Ouahab
Canada – Glenn Mitchibata
Georgia – Alex Metreveli
Greece – Konstantinos Economidis
Japan – Shuzo Matsuoka
Latvia – Ernests Gulbis
Lithuania – Ricardas Berankis
Pakistan – Haroon Rahim
Slovakia – Miloslav Mecir (if you want to treat it separately to the Czech Republic)
Slovenia – Blaz Kavcic
Turkey – Marsel Ilhan
Ukraine – Andriy Medvedev

 

[Gizo]

South Korea - Hyung-Taik Lee

 

[Gizo]

Venezuela - Nicolas Pereira

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Marroco - Hicham Arazi (not sure?)
Iran - Mansour Barhami

 

[hoodjem]

There is only one GOAT- Roger be thy name

Oh, biblically anointed by the innocenti. (These people had never heard of a GOAT nor thought about a GOAT, until 2008 when McEnroe mentioned it on television. )

Spain - Nadal
Sweden - Borg
United Kingdom - Perry
USA - Sampras
Newbieland - Federer

 

[Gizo]

With Israel, it's Amos Mansdorf if we're just looking at singles alone. However in doubles Andy Ram has won a slam title in men's doubles (with his compatriot Jonathan Erlich) and 2 more in mixed doubles.

 

[vbranis]

India - Amritraj.

Which one?

and by the way, which one is the best director?

The answer to both is Vijay, of course.

 

[vbranis]

Just remembered Christian Ruud...Norway GOAT?

 

[timnz]

New Zealand

Its not Chris Lewis - its Tony Wilding - 4 times wimbledon winner, twice winner of the World Hard Court Championships (on Clay) + winner of the most clay court titles of anyone in history.

 

[vbranis]

Its not Chris Lewis - its Tony Wilding - 4 times wimbledon winner, twice winner of the World Hard Court Championships (on Clay) + winner of the most clay court titles of anyone in history.

Added.

Also added Yen-Hsun Lu for Chinese Taipei and Louk Sorensen for Ireland.

 

[timnz]

Ireland - Joshua Pim

Added.

Also added Yen-Hsun Lu for Chinese Taipei and Louk Sorensen for Ireland.

Ireland - wouldn't that be Joshua Pim? - he was world number 1 or co-world number 1 for 5 years.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Pim

And also scroll to the bottom of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_number_one_male_tennis_player_rankings

to see the years that Pim was world number 1.

 

[pc1]

The answer to both is Vijay, of course.

He also was the best in a James Bond movie plus a Star Trek movie.

 

[vbranis]

Ireland - wouldn't that be Joshua Pim? - he was world number 1 or co-world number 1 for 5 years.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Pim

And also scroll to the bottom of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_number_one_male_tennis_player_rankings

to see the years that Pim was world number 1.

Interesting, thanks, I had never heard of him, it was the 19th century after all.

 

[timnz]

Pim

Interesting, thanks, I had never heard of him, it was the 19th century after all.

Sure - it was still tennis though

 

[t-bird]

Tahiti - Santoro

 

[slice bh compliment]

With Israel, it's Amos Mansdorf if we're just looking at singles alone. However in doubles Andy Ram has won a slam title in men's doubles (with his compatriot Jonathan Erlich) and 2 more in mixed doubles.

Great ones, guys.

Gorecki,
great call on Mansour Bahrami from Iran....that guy is just awesome, even though most of us have only seen him in exos.

Gizo,
Maybe it's just me, but, I prefer Shlomo Glickstein for Israel....for his Davis Cup heroics, his cool name and the time he pushed Johnny Mac to a 5th set breaker at Armstrong. Also, my opinion of Mansdorf is tainted by his generally toolish behavior that time against Yannick Noah.

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Portugal - Gil (surprising, considering proximity to Spain)

we never had much of a tradition of tennis... plus, we never had a Manolo Santana to get a kickstart...

and Gil only recently broke Nuno Marques Records...

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Great ones, guys.

Gorecki,
great call on Mansour Bahrami from Iran....that guy is just awesome, even though most of us have only seen him in exos.

Gizo,
Maybe it's just me, but, I prefer Shlomo Glickstein for Israel....for his Davis Cup heroics, his cool name and the time he pushed Johnny Mac to a 5th set breaker at Armstrong. Also, my opinion of Mansdorf is tainted by his generally toolish behavior that time against Yannick Noah.

The Jester's story of life is most inspiring...

i actually strongly believehe should be a HOFer for his lifetime personal contribuition to Tennis..

 

[slice bh compliment]

we never had much of a tradition of tennis... plus, we never had a Manolo Santana to get a kickstart...

and Gil only recently broke Nuno Marques Records...

Gil and Marques. Does Joao Cunha Silva rate anywhere in there? I bet Guga was an influence in Portugal....speaking your language and also playing so well that week in Lisbon.

 

[Deleted member 21996]

Gil and Marques. Does Joao Cunha Silva rate anywhere in there? I bet Guga was an influence in Portugal....speaking your language and also playing so well that week in Lisbon.

i would say Silva is third in our goap list... though he could have achieved more, since he was more gifted than Marques.

we have some hopes on Gastão Elias and Miguel Almeida to become good players...

Guga obviously will always be a major reference for us, since he was the best Portuguese speaking player all time... and hoe he graced us with that victory...

Man.. that Lisbon Masters cup is still today one of the most memorable...

 

[Gizo]

I echo people's sentiments that this is a really fun thread. It will be interesting to see how many countries we can cover here.

Cuba - Reynaldo Garrido - He won the Canadian Open in 1959, beating his brother.

Dominican Republic - Victor Estrella - He qualified for Cincinnati in 2008.

El Salvador - Rafael Arevalo - He was invited to the Olympics in 2008, beating HT Lee and losing to Federer.

Puerto Rico - Charlie Passarell is clearly the greatest male player to be born there. Of course he is well know for playing in the longest match in Wimbledon history against Pancho Gonzales in 1969. He represented the USA during his career, and I think Puerto Rico didn't have their own tennis federation or Davis Cup team until the 90s I think. Since players have been able to play under the Puerto Rican flag, Juan Rios has been the most successful player.

 

[Gizo]

Bolivia - Mario Martinez - Won a handful of singles titles and broke into the top 40 during the 80s.

 

[newmark401]

Ireland - wouldn't that be Joshua Pim? - he was world number 1 or co-world number 1 for 5 years.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Pim

And also scroll to the bottom of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_number_one_male_tennis_player_rankings

to see the years that Pim was world number 1.

Here's a short biography I wrote and posted here last year on Joshua Pim, Ireland's most successful male tennis player:

http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?p=4006688

 

[vbranis]

The Jester's story of life is most inspiring...

i actually strongly believehe should be a HOFer for his lifetime personal contribuition to Tennis..

I agree 100%... He is just amazing person and incredibly fun to watch.

 

[pc1]

I would also like to throw Nusslein in the field as perhaps the best for Germany. Bill Tilden (before Budge became Pro) said he was the best of highest average level of play and Tilden was in the Pros with Vines and Perry. He also knew about von Cramm. Nusslein won five Pro Majors, two French Pro, two Wembleys, and one US Pro. He was perhaps the best clay court player in the world.

One of the Dohertys may be a choice for England besides Fred Perry.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Marroco - Hicham Arazi (not sure?)
Iran - Mansour Barhami

great ones, M. !
how could i forget mansour ?!...

arazi is my favorite morocan player... but it's debatable, between him and al aynaoui, isn't it ?...

for uzbekistan, i suppose itsomin is already GOAT ?

 

[vbranis]

great ones, M. !
how could i forget mansour ?!...

arazi is my favorite morocan player... but it's debatable, between him and al aynaoui, isn't it ?...

for uzbekistan, i suppose itsomin is already GOAT ?

Yeah, Arazi is probably one of my top 10 favorite players of all time, really fun to watch. But El Aynaoui had the better career, 5 ATP titles to Arazi's 1, and career high ranking of #14 compared to #22 for Hicham.

And Istomin is clearly the Uzbek GOAT.

What about Hungary? I'm pretty sure Balazs Taroczy was at least top 20 back in the early 80s. Don't remember anyone else that's notable...