Tonight, the Tennis Channel is finishing their countownd with their top 10. What's different about this list is that they have both men and women on it.
The production has been great, with interviews from just about everyone on it who is still alive. And each countdown show has been hosted by sports icons like Jerry Rice, Jack Nicklaus and Carl Lewis.
Here are numbers 100-11:
Spoiler:
100: Michael Chang, M, USA
99: Ann Haydon Jones, F, GBR
98: Henry Bunny Austin, M, GBR
97: Pat Cash, M, AUS
96: Manuel Orantes, M, ESP
95: Thomas Muster, M, AUT
94: Andy Roddick, M, USA
93: Nicola Pietrangeli, M, ITA
92: Svetlana Kuznetsova, F, RUS
91: Shirley Fry Irvin, F, USA
90: Bill Johnston, M, USA
89: Dorothea Lambert Chambers, F, GBR
88: Amelie Mauresmo, F, FRA
87: Mary Pierce, F, FRA
86: Tony Wilding, M, NZL
85: Yannick Noah, M, FRA
84: Norman Brookes, M, AUS
83: Jan Kodes, M, CZE
82: Yevgeny Kafelnikov, M, RUS
81: Vic Seixas, M, USA
80: Marat Safin, M, RUS
79: Gabriela Sabatini, F, ARG
78: Ashley Cooper, M, AUS
77: Molla Mallory, F, USA
76: William Renshaw, M, GBR
75: Pauline Betz Addie, F, USA
74: Tony Roche, M, AUS
73: Jaroslav Drobny, M, CZE
72: Gottfried Von Cramm, M, GER
71: Maria Sharapova, F, RUS
70: Patrick Rafter, M, AUS
69: Louise Brough, F, USA
68: Helen Hull Jacobs, F, USA
67: Fred Stolle, M, AUS
66: Bobby Riggs, M, USA
65: Pancho Segura, M, ECU
64: Ellsworth Vines , M, USA
63: Lleyton Hewitt, M, AUS
62: Hana Mandlikova, F, CZE
61: Neale Fraser, M, AUS
60: Virginia Wade, F, GBR
59: Margaret Osborne Dupont, F, USA
58: Alice Marble, F, USA
57: Jennifer Capriati, F, USA
56: Stan Smith, M, USA
55: Gustavo Kuerten, M, BRA
54: Manuel Santana, M, ESP
53: Tracy Austin, F, USA
52: Jack Crawford, M, AUS
51: Doris Hart, F, USA
50:Tony Trabert, M, USA
49: Ilie Nastase , M, ROM
48: Frank Sedgman, M, AUS
47: Jean Borotra, M, FRA
46: Henri Cochet, M, FRA
45: Kim Clijsters, F, BEL
44: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, F, ESP
43: Lindsay Davenport, F, USA
42: Jim Courier, M, USA
41: Guillermo Vilas, M, ARG
40: Novak Djokavic, M, SRB
39: Althea Gibson, F, USA
38: Maria Bueno, F, ARG
37: Evonne Googlagong, F, AUS
36: Rene LaCoste, M, FRA
35: Pancho Gonzalez, M, USA
34: Jack Kramer, M, USA
33: Mats Wilander, M, SWE
32: Lew Hoade, M, AUS
31: John Newcomb, M, AUS
30: Martina Hingis, F, SUI
29: Helen Wills Moody, F, USA
28: Arthur Ashe, M. USA
27: Maureen Connolly Brinker, F, USA
26: Justine Henin, F, BEL
25: Stefan Edberg, M, SWE
24: Suzanne Lenglen, F, FRA
23: Fred Perry, M, GBR
22: Venus Williams, F, USA
21: Boris Becker, M, GER
20: Ken Rosewall, M, AUS
19: Monica Seles, F, USA
18: Ivan Lendl, M, CZE
17: Roy Emerson, M, AUS
16: Bill Tilden, M, USA
15: Jimmy Connors, M, USA
14: Serena Williams, F, USA
13: John McEnroe, M, USA
12: Andre Agassi, M, USA
11: Don Budge, M, USA
Connors should be top ten! Johnny Mac and Agassi not in the top 10, either - wow. Ashe is too high. Some of the Aussies should be higher.
But the top ten...
I can't imagine anyone being No. One but Laver, Navratilova or Federer. Going to be interesting to see how the rank them, and I'm hoping my favorite player ever, Chis Evert, is top 5.
Imagine having to come up with a set of criteria that actually rationalizes this list. What a formidable task that would be. Don't think it can be done.
Imagine having to come up with a set of criteria that actually rationalizes this list. What a formidable task that would be. Don't think it can be done.
Sad what the Fed/Nadal era has done to Roddick's legacy. He basically was just slightly not good enough to have 4-5 GS's. Just fell short to the arguable GOAT's @ Wimbledon Final 3 diff times. Got crushed by him playing great tennis in the semi's of the US/Aussie twice.
Interesting...and hard to argue with. I'd probably put Evert and Borg before Nadal...maybe Court, too. But it's hard to argue with the top 6. I was surprised to see Martina at 4 and Steffi at 3, but after realizing Steffi has won all four majors at least four times each....wow.
What would Laver have done if he had have been able to play the majors those 5 years he was pro? Amazing.
I was able to see players as far back as Laver and Court and Newcomb and King play....so this was a helluva fun list they made. Very cool.
Well argued. Putting Djokovich much higher would be laughable. Maybe in 5 more years. Even considering putting him ahead of players like Edberg, Borg and Rosewall is ludicrous.
Yeah he's clearly top 20, but outside top10, maybe if you get lolwomen out you can get him up near the 10 spot, and he could easily be top10 within 2years he only needs a couple more majors
I didn't get to see it was Nadal at 5, Sampras at 2 and Fed at 1 right
No lie, I came here to lol at cvig because i assumed he would be complaining about novak being ranked 4 or something
40?!?!?!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Supine
Serena got robbed
Quote:
Originally Posted by bottomset
Yeah he's clearly top 20, but outside top10, maybe if you get lolwomen out you can get him up near the 10 spot, and he could easily be top10 within 2years he only needs a couple more majors
I didn't get to see it was Nadal at 5, Sampras at 2 and Fed at 1 right
You guys do know tennis was played before 1998, right?
Top ten from 10 - 1:
Spoiler:
King
Evert
Court
Borg
Nadal
Sampras
Navratilova
Graff
Laver
Federer
I will say I can certainly see an argument for Serena to be ranked higher.
ha! This is great...during the show, Evert said with all of her records and longevity she should be ranked number one. Then she winked at the camera and said she was kidding.