Top 10 ATP Players (Singles) of the Open Era based on Accomplishments

[SonicSpeed]

Who would you put for your top ten men's tennis players for the Open Era? Based on only singles achievements, please.

For me:

1.) Sampras (record 14 slams, 6 years ending #1, 5 YEC)
2.) Laver (11 slams, 2 Grand Slams, but most were on grass at the time...)
3.) Borg (11 slams, 5 consectitve Wimbledons, and 3 back to back FO's and Wims)
4.) Lendl (8 slams, record 19 slam finals, many titles, 4 years ending #1)
5.) Connors (8 slams, leads in titles, played at latter ages competitively)
6.) Agassi (8 slams, Career Grand Slam, most TMS titles)
7.) McEnroe (7 slams, had the great '84 year, great Davis Cup record)
8.) Wilander (7 slams, won 3 slams in one year in '88 )
9.) Edberg (6 slams, year ending #1)
10.) Becker (6 slams)

Federer should make my top ten easily by the end of his career.

Laver also played before the Open Era but I put all of his career in retrospect for the purpose of this list.

 

[AndrewD]

Ah, another list.

1) Laver.(in retrospect or othewise one grand slam gets you top spot, 2 makes it a safe bet, missing 5 years due to the pros being suspended but still nabbing 11 majors makes it a certainty)
2) Sampras (volume of wins means it takes a grand slam winner to beat him)
3) Borg (a winner is a winner regardless of the opposition)
4) Connors (almost won the lot and longevity pips Mac)
5) McEnroe
6) Lendl (won all but Wimbledon, did it tougher than Mac or Connors but his best wasn't as good as theirs)
7) Agassi (won them all but not as many as he should have done if he hadn't wasted a number of his earlier years)
8) Edberg
8) Becker (just dont feel they should be separated)
10 Wilander (great major record and the Aus Open owes him a lot more than most people know)

 

[BERDI4]

Agassi is the only one in the new era that one all 4 grand slams. Laver did it but at that time it wasn´t so competitive and there were less players.

 

[AndrewD]

BERDI4, have to disagree with you there. Perhaps there wasn't the glut of average players we see today but look at the guys Laver had to beat - Smith, Ashe, Newcombe, Emerson, Roche, Olmedo, Fraser, Ralston, Rosewall. Mate, those guys are all out and out champions.

As to the suggestion that it wasn't as competitive I'd say that's a load of rubbish. Those blokes were playing for bugger all money so they had to win to put food on the table. No-one could afford to just coast along like they can today and make a good living by being third-rate or just by playing doubles (the top guys 'had' to play doubles as well for the extra money). They played all the way through the year, as many weeks as was possible, plus they all played Davis Cup (unlike a lot these days), had to do a hell of a lot more travel than they do today and, at the end of the day, still had to win just as many matches as the current players but without the time saving convenience of a tie break here or there.

 

[wildbill88AA]

1. sampras
2. connors
3. lendl
4. mac
5. borg

the record books read:

CAREER TITLES:* TITLES
1. Jimmy Connors 109
2. Ivan Lendl 94
3. John McEnroe 77
4. Pete Sampras 64
5. Bjorn Borg/Guillermo Vilas 62


YEARS AT NO. 1:* YEARS
1, pete Sampras 6
2. Jimmy Connors 5
3. Ivan Lendl/John McEnroe 4
5. Three tied with 2

WEEKS AT NO. 1:* No.
1. Pete Sampras 286
2. Ivan Lendl 270
3. Jimmy Connors 268
4. John McEnroe 170
5. Bjorn Borg 106

YEARS IN TOP 10:* YEARS
1. Jimmy Connors 16
2T. Andre Agassi 13
2T. Ivan Lendl 13
4. Pete Sampras 12
5. Boris Becker 11

CAREER GRAND SLAM TITLES:# TITLES
1. Pete Sampras 14
2. Roy Emerson 12
3. Bjorn Borg 11
3. Rod Laver 11
5. Bill Tilden 10