Editing Tennis (section)

== Players ==
=== Professional players ===
Professional tennis players enjoy the same relative perks as most top sports personalities: clothing, equipment and endorsements. Like players of other individual sports such as [[golf]], they are not salaried, but must play and finish highly in tournaments to obtain prize money.

In recent years,{{when|date=October 2023}} professional tennis players have been mocked by tabloids and fans for the involuntary or deliberate noise caused by players' [[Grunting (tennis)|grunting]]. This controversy has spurred the Grand Slam Committee, the International Tennis Association, and the Women's Tennis Association to teach players techniques to avoid grunting.<ref>"[https://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/8103913/women-tennis-plans-eliminate-excessive-grunting-next-generation-players Women's tennis battles 'grunt work']". ''ESPN.com.'' 27 June 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2021.</ref>

====Singles and doubles professional careers====
[[File:Fleming & McEnroe Wimbledon 1980s.jpg|thumb|180px|[[John McEnroe|McEnroe]] with [[Peter Fleming (tennis)|Fleming]] playing as a doubles team at Wimbledon in the 1980s.]]
While players are gradually less competitive in singles by their late 20s and early 30s, they can still continue competitively in doubles (as instanced by [[Martina Navratilova]] and [[John McEnroe]], who won doubles titles in their 40s).

In the Open Era, several female players such as [[Martina Navratilova]], [[Margaret Court]], [[Martina Hingis]], [[Serena Williams]], and [[Venus Williams]] (the latter two sisters playing together) have been prolific at both singles and doubles events throughout their careers. [[John McEnroe]] is one of the very few professional male players to be top ranked in both singles and doubles at the same time,<ref name="nyt20000130">{{cite magazine |url=http://www.julianrubinstein.com/john.html |first=Julian |last=Rubinstein |title=Being John McEnroe |magazine=[[The New York Times Magazine]] |date=30 January 2000 |access-date=9 February 2018 |archive-date=6 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706053125/http://www.julianrubinstein.com/john.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/john-mcenroe |title=John McEnroe |website=[[International Tennis Hall of Fame]] |access-date=28 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029220802/http://www.tennisfame.com/hall-of-famers/john-mcenroe |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J6M0AEe3xA0C&q=mcenroe+%22greatest+doubles%22&pg=PA144 |last=Cronin |first=Matthew |title=Epic: John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and the Greatest Tennis Season Ever |date=10 March 2011 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-118-01595-7 |page=144}}</ref> and [[Yevgeny Kafelnikov]] is the most recent male player to win multiple Grand Slams in both singles and doubles during the same period of his career.

In terms of public attention and earnings (see below), singles champions have far surpassed their doubles counterparts. The Open Era, particularly the men's side, has seen many top-ranked singles players that only sparingly compete in doubles, while having "doubles specialists" who are typically being eliminated early in the singles draw but do well in the doubles portion of a tournament. Notable doubles pairings include [[The Woodies]] ([[Todd Woodbridge]] and [[Mark Woodforde]]) and the [[Bryan brothers]] (identical twin brothers [[Bob Bryan|Robert Charles "Bob" Bryan]] and [[Mike Bryan|Michael Carl "Mike" Bryan]]). Woodbridge has disliked the term "doubles 'specialists'", saying that he and Woodforde "set a singles schedule and doubles fitted in around that", although later in Woodbridge's career he focused exclusively on doubles as his singles ranking fell too low that it was no longer financially viable to recover at that age. Woodbridge noted that while top singles players earn enough that they do not need to nor want to play doubles, he suggested that lower-ranked singles players outside the Top Ten should play doubles to earn more playing time and money.<ref name="tennis.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2016/04/doubles-specialists-face-unusual-pressure-atmosphere-in-olympic-tennis/58267/|title=Doubles specialists face unusual pressure, atmosphere in Olympic tennis|website=Tennis.com}}</ref><ref name="tennismash.com">{{cite web|url=https://tennismash.com/2017/03/14/woodbridge-doubles-specialists-tennis-players/|title=Woodbridge: Doubles 'specialists' or tennis players?|date=14 March 2017|website=Tennismash}}</ref>

====Olympics====
The Olympics doubles tennis tournament necessitates that both members of a doubles pairing be from the same country, hence several top professional pairs such as [[Jamie Murray]] and [[Bruno Soares]] cannot compete in the Olympics. Top-ranked singles players that are usually rivals on the professional circuit, such as [[Boris Becker]] and [[Michael Stich]], and [[Roger Federer]] and [[Stan Wawrinka]] have formed a rare doubles partnership for the Olympics. Unlike professional tennis tournaments (see below) where singles players receive much more prize money than doubles players, an Olympic medal for both singles and doubles has similar prestige. The Olympics is more of a priority for doubles champions while singles champions often skip the tournament.<ref name="tennis.com"/><ref name="tennismash.com"/> While the ATP has voted for Olympic results to count towards player ranking points, WTA players voted against it.<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-aug-06-sp-65453-story.html|title=Raymond Is Taking Issue With a Doubles Standard|date=6 August 2000|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

For the [[2000 Olympics]], [[Lisa Raymond]] was passed over for Team USA in favour of [[Serena Williams]] by captain [[Billie Jean King]], even though Raymond was the top-ranked doubles player in the world at the time, and Raymond unsuccessfully challenged the selection.<ref name="Los Angeles Times"/>

====Prize money====
In professional tennis tournaments such as [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]], the singles competition receives the most prize money and coverage, followed by doubles, and then mixed doubles usually receive the lowest monetary awards.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wimbledon Prize Money|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/news?slug=ap-wimbledonprizemoneylist|agency=Associated Press|access-date=29 June 2011}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> For instance in the [[US Open (tennis)#Prize money|US Open]] as of 2018, the men's and women's singles prize money (US$40,912,000) accounts for 80.9 percent of total player base compensation, while men's and women's doubles (US$6,140,840), men's and women's singles qualifying (US$3,008,000), and mixed doubles (US$505,000) account for 12.1 percent, 5.9 percent, and 1.0 percent, respectively. The singles winner receives US$3,800,000, while the doubles winning pair receives $700,000 and the mixed doubles winning pair receives US$155,000.<ref name="Prize money">{{cite web | url=https://www.usopen.org/en_US/visit/prize_money.html | title=2018 US Open Prize Money | publisher=[[United States Tennis Association]] | access-date=29 August 2018}}</ref>

=== Grand Slam tournament winners ===
{{See also|Lists of tennis records and statistics}}
The following players have won at least five singles titles at [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam tournaments]] (active players in '''bold'''):

{{col-begin}}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! width=190|[[Association of Tennis Professionals|Men]]
! Titles
|-
|{{flagicon|SRB}} '''[[Novak Djokovic]]'''||style="text-align:center;|24
|-
|{{flagicon|ESP}} '''[[Rafael Nadal]]'''||style="text-align:center;|22
|-
|{{flagicon|SUI}} [[Roger Federer]]||style="text-align:center;|20
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Pete Sampras]]||style="text-align:center;"|14
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Roy Emerson]]||style="text-align:center;"|12
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Rod Laver]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 2|11
|-
|{{flagicon|SWE}} [[Björn Borg]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Bill Tilden]]||style="text-align:center;"|10
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Fred Perry]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 5|8
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Ken Rosewall]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Jimmy Connors]]
|-
|{{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}} [[Ivan Lendl]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Andre Agassi]]
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[William Renshaw]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 8|7
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Richard Sears (tennis)|Richard Sears]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[William Larned]]
|-
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Henri Cochet]]
|-
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[René Lacoste]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[John Newcombe]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[John McEnroe]]
|-
|{{flagicon|SWE}} [[Mats Wilander]]
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Laurence Doherty]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 6|6
|-
|{{flagicon|NZ}} [[Anthony Wilding]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Donald Budge]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Jack Crawford (tennis)|Jack Crawford]]
|-
|{{flagicon|GER}} [[Boris Becker]]
|-
|{{flagicon|SWE}} [[Stefan Edberg]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Frank Sedgman]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 2|5
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Tony Trabert]]
|}
{{col-break}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Women's Tennis Association|Women]]
! Titles
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Margaret Court]]||style="text-align:center;"|24
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Serena Williams]]||style="text-align:center;"|23
|-
|{{flagicon|GER}} [[Steffi Graf]]||style="text-align:center;"|22
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Helen Wills Moody]]||style="text-align:center;"|19
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Chris Evert]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 2|18
|-
|{{flagicon|Czechoslovakia}}/{{flagicon|USA}} [[Martina Navratilova]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Billie Jean King]]||style="text-align:center;"|12
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Maureen Connolly Brinker]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 2|9
|-
|{{flagicon|Yugoslavia}}/{{flagicon|USA}} [[Monica Seles]]
|-
|{{flagicon|NOR}}/{{flagicon|USA}} [[Molla Bjurstedt Mallory]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 2|8
|-
|{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Suzanne Lenglen]]
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Dorothea Lambert Chambers]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 5|7
|-
|{{flagicon|BRA}} [[Maria Bueno]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Evonne Goolagong Cawley]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} '''[[Venus Williams]]'''
|-
|{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Justine Henin]]
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Blanche Bingley Hillyard]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 5|6
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Doris Hart]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Margaret Osborne duPont]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Nancye Wynne Bolton]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Louise Brough Clapp]]
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Lottie Dod]]||style="text-align:center;" rowspan = 10|5
|-
|{{flagicon|UK}} [[Charlotte Cooper Sterry]]
|-
|{{flagicon|AUS}} [[Daphne Akhurst Cozens]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Helen Jacobs]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Alice Marble]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Pauline Betz Addie]]
|-
|{{flagicon|USA}} [[Althea Gibson]]
|-
|{{flagicon|SUI}} [[Martina Hingis]]
|-
|{{flagicon|RUS}} [[Maria Sharapova]]
|-
|{{flagicon|SUI}} '''[[Iga Świątek]]'''
|}
{{col-end}}

=== Greatest male players ===
{{further|Tennis male players statistics|World number one male tennis player rankings}}

A frequent topic of discussion among tennis fans and commentators is who was the greatest male singles player of all time. By a large margin, an [[Associated Press]] poll in 1950 named [[Bill Tilden]] as the greatest player of the first half of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/sportscentury/features/00016509.html|title=ESPN.com: Tilden brought theatrics to tennis|website=www.espn.com}}</ref> From 1920 to 1930, Tilden won singles titles at [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] three times and the [[US Open (tennis)|US Championships]] seven times. In 1938, however, [[Donald Budge]] became the first person to win all four major singles titles during the same calendar year, the [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slam]], and won six consecutive major titles in 1937 and 1938. Tilden called Budge "the finest player 365 days a year that ever lived."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.authentichistory.com/1930s/sports/1937_Don_Budge_on_Davis_Cup_SF_Win_Over_Von_Cramm.html | title=Don Budge's Comments After 1937 Davis Cup Semi-final Match Against Baron Gottfried von Cramm (1:07) | access-date=29 May 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426051252/http://www.authentichistory.com/1930s/sports/1937_Don_Budge_on_Davis_Cup_SF_Win_Over_Von_Cramm.html | archive-date=26 April 2007 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref> In his 1979 autobiography, [[Jack Kramer]] said that, based on consistent play, Budge was the greatest player ever.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis|year=1979|last1=Kramer|first1=Jack|last2=Deford|first2=Frank|publisher=Putnam |isbn=0-399-12336-9}}</ref> Some observers, however, also felt that Kramer deserved consideration for the title. Kramer was among the few who dominated amateur and professional tennis during the late 1940s and early 1950s. [[Tony Trabert]] has said that of the players he saw before the start of the [[Open Era]], Kramer was the best male champion.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.sportsmediainc.net/tennisweek/index.cfm?func=showarticle&newsid=10503&bannerregion | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024737/http://www.sportsmediainc.net/tennisweek/index.cfm?func=showarticle&newsid=10503&bannerregion | archive-date=27 September 2007 | title=The Tennis Week Interview: Tony Trabert Part II | author=Richard Pagliaro | date=26 February 2004 | access-date=29 May 2007 | url-status=dead | df=dmy-all }}</ref>

By the 1960s, Budge and others had added [[Pancho Gonzales]] and [[Lew Hoad]] to the list of contenders. Budge reportedly believed that Gonzales was the greatest player ever.<ref>Will Grimsley, ''Tennis: Its History, People, and Events'' (1971)</ref> Gonzales said about Hoad, "When Lew's game was at its peak nobody could touch him.&nbsp;... I think his game was the best game ever. Better than mine. He was capable of making more shots than anybody. His two volleys were great. His overhead was enormous. He had the most natural tennis mind with the most natural tennis physique."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jamesbuddell.com/files/hoad.pdf|title=Hoad|publisher=Jame Buddell|access-date=28 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625042034/http://www.jamesbuddell.com/files/hoad.pdf|archive-date=25 June 2008|url-status=usurped}}</ref>

Before and during the Open Era, [[Rod Laver]] remains the only male player in history to have won the calendar year Grand Slam twice in 1962 and 1969 <ref>{{cite web |last1=Sclink |first1=Leo |title=Rod Laver's priceless Grand Slam |url=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/rod-lavers-priceless-grand-slam/story-fn794248-1226248836465 |work=Herald Sun |location=Australia |date=20 January 2012 |access-date=5 September 2018}}</ref> and also the calendar year Professional Grand Slam in 1967.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bercow |first1=John |title=Tennis Maestros: The Twenty Greatest Male Tennis Players of All Time |date=2014 |publisher=Biteback Publishing |location=London, England |isbn=978-1-84954-765-9 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tTSzAwAAQBAJ&q=The+French+pro+tennis+championships+men%27s+event+only&pg=PT100 |chapter=Chapter 9: Rod Laver}}</ref>

[[Jimmy Connors]], [[Björn Borg]], and [[John McEnroe]] had a fierce rivalry in the late 1970s and early 1980s that propelled "the men's game to new heights of popularity".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2017/09/wimbledon-summer-1977-bjorn-borg-john-mcenroe-jimmy-connors/67816/|title=How Borg, Connors, Gerulaitis & McEnroe stirred masses and moved poets}}</ref> Connors had a long and prolific career and holds the [[Open Era tennis records – men's singles#All tournaments|Open Era men's singles records]] of 109 titles<!-- don't add "ATP" here; that tour didn't exist until 1990. In Connor's time it was the ITF, WCT, and other events --> including eight Grand Slams, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. Borg was regarded by his contemporaries as among the greatest ever, having a calm court demeanor and unrivalled physical conditioning, winning six French Opens and five straight Wimbledon titles, retiring at age 26 when he was still in his prime. McEnroe attained the No. 1 ranking in both [[List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players|singles]] and [[List of ATP number 1 ranked doubles tennis players|doubles]], finishing his career with 77 singles and 78 doubles titles; this remains the [[Tennis players with most titles in the Open Era#Men|highest men's combined total]] of the [[Open Era]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/3844431.stm|title = Street-fighter recalls battles of old|date = 27 June 2004}}</ref>

The [[Agassi–Sampras rivalry]] showcased the two best players in the 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |last=Dwyre |first=Bill |date=14 March 1995 |title=Sampras, Agassi Have Just Begun to Fight |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-14-sp-42741-story.html |access-date=15 May 2010}}</ref> Sampras had a precise and powerful serve while Agassi was considered to be one of the best service returners in the history of the game.<ref name="cba">{{cite news |last=Molinaro |first=John |title=CBC Sports: "Tennis's love affair with Agassi comes to an end" |publisher=Cbc.ca |url=http://www.cbc.ca/sports/columns/newsmakers/andre-agassi.html |url-status=dead |access-date=15 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130308123815/http://www.cbc.ca/sports/columns/newsmakers/andre-agassi.html |archive-date=8 March 2013}}</ref><ref>[http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/tennis/simon-reed/article/1176/ "Reed's shotmakers: Men's return of serve"]. [[Yahoo! Sports]]. Retrieved 15 May 2010.</ref><ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/sports/tennis/13tv.html "Adjectives Tangled in the Net"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 15 May 2010.</ref> By the early 2000s, [[Pete Sampras]] had won a then-record of 14 Grand Slam titles which was by far the most among his contemporaries. Sampras also held the record for most weeks at No. 1 with 286 until it was broken a decade later by Federer and Djokovic after that. [[Andre Agassi]], was the first player to complete the [[Grand Slam (tennis)#Career Grand Slam|Career Grand Slam]] on all modern three surfaces (hard, grass, and clay courts) as previous winners of Grand Slam tournaments played in an era of grass and clay only (Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall also won major [[Major professional tennis tournaments before the Open Era|Pro tournaments]] on the three surfaces). Agassi also is the only player to win all four Grand Slam titles along with the [[ATP Finals|year-end championships]] and the [[Tennis at the Summer Olympics|olympics]]. Both Sampras and Agassi are regarded to be among the greatest players of all time.<ref name="cba" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Parsons |first=John |date=26 June 2002 |title=Grand-slammed |work=The Daily Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/3030108/Grand-slammed.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=6 May 2012 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/wimbledon/3030108/Grand-slammed.html |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=4 September 2006 |title=Stars pay tribute to Agassi |publisher=BBC Sport |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/5113548.stm |access-date=6 May 2012}}</ref>

By the early twenty-first century, the '[[Big Three (tennis)|Big Three]]' of [[Roger Federer]], [[Rafael Nadal]] and [[Novak Djokovic]] have dominated men's singles tennis for two decades,<ref>{{cite news |last=Eccleshare |first=Charlie |date=27 August 2018 |title=Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic head to US Open with 'Big Three' more dominant than ever |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2018/08/27/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-head-us-open-big-three/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 February 2020 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2018/08/27/roger-federer-rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-head-us-open-big-three/ |archive-date=11 January 2022}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Chase |first=Chris |date=21 August 2018 |title=Federer, Nadal and Djokovic: Ranking the Big Three rivalries |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/08/federer-djokovic-nadal-ranking-big-three-four-rivalry-history-grand-slam |access-date=19 February 2020}}</ref> collectively winning 66 [[Grand Slam (tennis)#Tournaments|major]] singles tournaments; Djokovic with an all-time record 24 titles, Nadal with 22 and Federer with 20. They have been ranked as [[List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players|world No. 1]]s in singles for a total 947 weeks (equivalent to 18 years); Djokovic for a record 428 weeks, Federer for 310, and Nadal for 209.

=== Greatest female players ===
{{further|World number 1 women tennis players|List of WTA number 1 ranked players}}

As with the men there are frequent discussions about who is the greatest female singles player of all time with [[Steffi Graf]], [[Martina Navratilova]] and [[Serena Williams]] being the three players most often nominated.

In March 2012 the Tennis Channel published a combined list of the 100 greatest men and women tennis players of all time.<ref>{{cite web|title=100 Greatest of All Time|url=http://www.tennischannel.com/goat/71.aspx|publisher=The Tennis Channel|access-date=3 May 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605022801/http://www.tennischannel.com/goat/71.aspx|archive-date=5 June 2012}}</ref> It ranked Steffi Graf as the greatest female player (in 3rd place overall), followed by [[Martina Navratilova]] (4th place) and [[Margaret Court]] (8th place). The rankings were determined by an international panel.

Sportswriter John Wertheim of [[Sports Illustrated]] stated in an article in July 2010 that [[Serena Williams]] is the greatest female tennis player ever with the argument that "Head-to-head, on a neutral surface (i.e. hard courts), everyone at their best, I can't help feeling that she crushes the other legends.".<ref>{{cite news |title=I said it: Serena Williams is game's greatest ever. |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_wertheim/07/07/serena.mailbag/index.html |publisher=SI.com |access-date=3 May 2012 |first=John |last=Wertheim |date=7 July 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824035739/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jon_wertheim/07/07/serena.mailbag/index.html |archive-date=24 August 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In a reaction to this article Yahoo sports blog Busted Racket published a list of the top-10 women's tennis players of all time placing Martina Navratilova in first spot.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ranking the top-10 women's tennis players of all time|newspaper=Yahoo Sports|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Ranking-the-top-10-women-s-tennis-players-of-all?urn=ten,256242|publisher=Yahoo|access-date=3 May 2012}}{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> This top-10 list was similar to the one published in June 2008 by the Bleacher Report who also ranked Martina Navratilova as the top female player of all time.<ref>{{cite web|title=Greatest Ever: Tennis: The Top Ten Female Players of All Time|url=http://bleacherreport.com/articles/29251-greatest-ever-tennis-the-top-ten-female-players-of-all-time|website=Bleacher Report|access-date=3 May 2012}}</ref>

Steffi Graf is considered by some to be the greatest female player. [[Billie Jean King]] said in 1999, "Steffi is definitely the greatest women's tennis player of all time."<ref name=NYT>{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D02E1D71F39F93BA2575BC0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 |title=On Tennis; Graf Is Best, Right? Just Don't Ask Her |newspaper= The New York Times |date=18 August 1999 |access-date=3 May 2012 |first=Robin |last=Finn}}</ref> [[Martina Navratilova]] has included Graf on her list of great players.<ref name=NYT/> In December 1999, Graf was named the greatest female tennis player of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by the [[Associated Press]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/tennis-players-of-the-century-741940.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220527/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/tennis-players-of-the-century-741940.html |archive-date=27 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Tennis Players of the Century |work=The Independent |location=London |access-date=3 May 2012 |first=Steve |last=Wilstein |date=7 December 1999}}</ref> Tennis writer Steve Flink, in his book ''The Greatest Tennis Matches of the Twentieth Century'', named her as the best female player of the 20th century, directly followed by Martina Navratilova.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chrisevert.net/flink.html |title=Exclusive Interview with Steve Flink about the career of Chris Evert |access-date=3 May 2012}}</ref>

''[[Tennis (magazine)|Tennis]]'' magazine selected Martina Navratilova as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tennis.com/features/40greatest/index.aspx |work=[[Tennis (magazine)|Tennis]] |title=40 Greatest Players of the Tennis Era |access-date=4 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226164217/http://www.tennis.com/features/40greatest/index.aspx |archive-date=26 February 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Redemption Has to Start Somewhere|url=http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2005/10/redemption_has_.html|publisher=Tennis.com|access-date=3 May 2012|archive-date=2 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302132657/http://blogs.tennis.com/thewrap/2005/10/redemption_has_.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Tennis historian and journalist [[Bud Collins]] has called Navratilova "arguably, the greatest player of all time."<ref>{{cite book |author=Collins, Bud |title=The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book |publisher=New Chapter Press |location=New York, N.Y. |year=2008 |page=600 |isbn=978-0-942257-41-0 }}</ref> [[Billie Jean King]] said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."<ref>{{cite news | author = Bonnie DeSimone | date = 11 September 2006 |url=https://www.espn.com/sports/tennis/usopen06/news/story?id=2578105 |publisher=[[ESPN]] |title=Act II of Navratilova's career ends with a win |access-date=4 May 2012}}</ref>

In 2018, a [[Tennis (magazine)|Tennis.com]] panel selected Serena Williams as the [[Tennis (magazine)#"The 50 Greatest Players of the Open Era" (2018)|greatest female tennis player in the Open Era.]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Tignor|first=Steve|date=2 March 2018|title=The 50 Greatest Players of the Open Era (W): No. 1, Serena Williams|url=https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/the-50-greatest-players-of-the-open-era-w-no-1-serena-williams|access-date=17 June 2021|website=Tennis.com}}</ref> In May 2020, the Tennis Channel ranked Williams as the greatest female tennis player of all time.<ref>{{cite web|last=Prakash|date=18 May 2020|title=Serena Williams Ranked as the Greatest of All Time|url=https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/Serena_Williams/87651/serena-williams-ranked-as-the-greatest-of-all-time/|access-date=17 June 2021|website=Tennis World USA}}</ref>

In November 2018, Tennis.com polled its readers to choose the greatest women's tennis player of all time and Graf came in first.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2018/11/goat-vote-steffi-or-serena-ten-went-one-way-you-went-another/78127/ | title=GOAT Vote: Steffi or Serena? 'The Ten' went one way; you went another | newspaper=Tennis.com }}</ref> In July 2020, The Guardian polled its readers to determine the greatest female tennis player of the past 50 years, and Graf was the clear favorite, picking up nearly twice as many votes as any other player.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jul/04/greatest-female-tennis-player-graf-evert-williams-seles-navratilova | title=The greatest female tennis player of the last 50 years: The fans' verdict | website=[[TheGuardian.com]] | date=4 July 2020 }}</ref>