25 Best and Most Famous Tennis Players of All Time

Our ranking of the 25 best tennis players of all time, led by Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Roger Federer, with Grand Slam titles and records.

Each profile lists playing style, country, birth date, career span and the titles that matter, followed by what made the player stand out. Men and women share one list, and Grand Slam counts are up to date through the 2026 US Open. Below the ranking you will find the best player of each era, the main Grand Slam records and the names that just missed the cut.

How We Ranked the Tennis Players

Grand Slam singles titles: the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open are the yardstick in every era.
Time at the top: weeks at world No. 1 and year-end No. 1 finishes, or the equivalent rankings before computers.
Range: winning on grass, clay and hard courts, and in some cases in doubles as well.
Era and context: players before 1968 were often barred from the majors once they turned pro, so we weigh that in.

Majors carry the most weight, but not blindly: Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall missed about five years of majors each as professionals, and early champions played far smaller fields. We rank men and women together on what they achieved against their own fields. The order is our own judgment, not an official one.

The 25 Best Tennis Players at a Glance

#	Player	Plays	Career
1	Novak Djokovic	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	since 2003
2	Serena Williams	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	1995 to 2022, back since 2026
3	Roger Federer	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1998 to 2022
4	Rafael Nadal	Left-handed, two-handed backhand	2001 to 2024
5	Steffi Graf	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1982 to 1999
6	Martina Navratilova	Left-handed, one-handed backhand	1974 to 2006
7	Rod Laver	Left-handed, one-handed backhand	1956 to 1979
8	Margaret Court	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1960 to 1977
9	Chris Evert	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	1972 to 1989
10	Pete Sampras	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1988 to 2002
11	Björn Borg	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	1973 to 1983
12	Billie Jean King	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1961 to 1990
13	Carlos Alcaraz	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	since 2018
14	Ken Rosewall	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1950 to 1980
15	Helen Wills	Baseline game	1922 to 1938
16	Bill Tilden	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1912 to 1946
17	Suzanne Lenglen	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1914 to 1927
18	Jimmy Connors	Left-handed, two-handed backhand	1972 to 1996
19	Ivan Lendl	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1978 to 1994
20	Monica Seles	Left-handed, two-handed on both sides	1989 to 2003
21	John McEnroe	Left-handed, one-handed backhand	1978 to 1994
22	Andre Agassi	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	1986 to 2006
23	Venus Williams	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	since 1994
24	Jannik Sinner	Right-handed, two-handed backhand	since 2018
25	Justine Henin	Right-handed, one-handed backhand	1999 to 2011

#1 Novak Djokovic

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: May 22, 1987, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
🌍 Country: Serbia
🏆 Career Highlights: 24 Grand Slam singles titles (10 Australian Open, 3 French Open, 7 Wimbledon, 4 US Open), record 428 weeks at No. 1, record 8 year-end No. 1 finishes, 102 ATP titles, record 40 Masters titles, record 7 ATP Finals, Olympic gold 2024
🏛️ Hall of Fame: Active

Djokovic holds the men’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record ten at the Australian Open. He spent a record 428 weeks at No. 1 and finished eight years on top. He is the only man to have won every major at least three times and every Masters event at least twice.

He broke into the Federer and Nadal era by winning the 2008 Australian Open at 20, and in 2011 he took three majors and took the No. 1 ranking for the first time. The missing piece came in Paris in 2024, when he beat Carlos Alcaraz for Olympic singles gold. As of 2026 he is still playing and reached the Australian Open final in January at 38.

#2 Serena Williams

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 23 Grand Slam singles titles (7 Australian Open, 3 French Open, 7 Wimbledon, 6 US Open), 319 weeks at No. 1, 73 WTA titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles with Venus, 4 Olympic golds (singles 2012, doubles 2000, 2008, 2012)
🏛️ Hall of Fame: Active

Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any player in the Open Era, between the 1999 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open. From the 2002 French Open to the 2003 Australian Open she won four majors in a row, beating her sister Venus in all four finals. She won the 2017 Australian Open while pregnant with her first daughter.

She is the only player with a career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles, and she spent 319 weeks at No. 1. After retiring in 2022 she returned in June 2026, playing doubles at Queen’s and a singles match at Wimbledon. Her serve was the most feared shot in women’s tennis for two decades.

#3 Roger Federer

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: August 8, 1981, in Basel, Switzerland
🌍 Country: Switzerland
🏆 Career Highlights: 20 Grand Slam singles titles (6 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 8 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), 310 weeks at No. 1 including a record 237 in a row, 103 ATP titles, 6 ATP Finals, Olympic doubles gold 2008, Olympic singles silver 2012
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2026

Federer won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, including a men’s record eight at Wimbledon. From February 2004 he held the No. 1 ranking for a record 237 weeks in a row, and he spent 310 weeks on top in total. His 103 ATP titles are the second most in the Open Era.

Between 2004 and 2007 he won 11 of 16 majors with an all-court game built on a one-handed backhand and quick footwork. He came back from knee surgery to win the 2017 Australian Open and Wimbledon at 35. He played his last match at the 2022 Laver Cup, in doubles alongside Rafael Nadal, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in August 2026.

#4 Rafael Nadal

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: June 3, 1986, in Manacor, Mallorca, Spain
🌍 Country: Spain
🏆 Career Highlights: 22 Grand Slam singles titles (2 Australian Open, 14 French Open, 2 Wimbledon, 4 US Open), 209 weeks at No. 1, 92 ATP titles, 36 Masters titles, Olympic singles gold 2008, Olympic doubles gold 2016, 5 Davis Cups

Nadal won the French Open a record 14 times, a run that began on his debut in 2005 and ended with his last title in 2022. His 81 straight wins on clay are the longest winning streak on one surface in the Open Era. In total he won 22 Grand Slam singles titles.

He was more than a clay specialist: he beat Federer in the 2008 Wimbledon final and completed the career Golden Slam with Olympic singles gold in Beijing. His heavy left-handed topspin forehand changed how the game is played. He retired after the Davis Cup Finals in Málaga in November 2024.

#5 Steffi Graf

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: June 14, 1969, in Mannheim, West Germany
🌍 Country: West Germany, Germany
🏆 Career Highlights: 22 Grand Slam singles titles (4 Australian Open, 6 French Open, 7 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), record 377 weeks at No. 1, record 8 year-end No. 1 finishes, 107 WTA titles, Golden Slam 1988, Olympic gold 1988
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2004

In 1988 Graf won all four majors and the Olympic gold in Seoul, the only calendar Golden Slam in tennis history. She went on to win 22 Grand Slam singles titles and is the only player to win each major at least four times. Her 377 weeks at No. 1 are still the record for men and women.

She played her first major at the 1983 French Open aged 13. Her forehand and footwork ended the long reign of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova at the top. She retired in 1999 after winning a sixth French Open, and in 2001 she married Andre Agassi.

#6 Martina Navratilova

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: October 18, 1956, in Prague, Czechoslovakia
🌍 Country: Czechoslovakia, United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 18 Grand Slam singles titles, record 9 Wimbledon singles titles, 59 Grand Slam titles in total, 332 weeks at No. 1, 167 singles titles and 177 doubles titles (both Open Era records)
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2000

Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles and a record nine at Wimbledon, the last in 1990. Her 167 singles titles and 177 doubles titles are both Open Era records. Counting doubles and mixed, she won 59 major titles.

At 18 she asked for political asylum in the United States after losing the 1975 US Open semi-final. She turned her serve and volley game and an intense fitness regime into six majors in a row in 1983 and 1984. Her last major title came in the 2006 US Open mixed doubles, weeks before her 50th birthday.

#7 Rod Laver

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: August 9, 1938, in Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia
🌍 Country: Australia
🏆 Career Highlights: 11 Grand Slam singles titles, calendar Grand Slam 1962 and 1969, 8 Pro major titles, Pro Slam 1967, 200 singles titles, 5 Davis Cups
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1981

Laver is the only player to win the calendar Grand Slam twice, as an amateur in 1962 and as a professional in 1969. The 1969 sweep is still the only one by a man in the Open Era. He won 11 Grand Slam singles titles in total.

Between those two Slams he turned pro and was barred from the majors from 1963 to 1967, so he won eight Pro majors instead. He won 200 singles titles, more than any other player. The main court at the Australian Open has been called Rod Laver Arena since 2000.

#8 Margaret Court

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: July 16, 1942, in Albury, New South Wales, Australia
🌍 Country: Australia
🏆 Career Highlights: Record 24 Grand Slam singles titles, record 64 Grand Slam titles in total, calendar Grand Slam 1970, record 11 Australian Open singles titles, 192 singles titles
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1979

Court won 24 Grand Slam singles titles, the most of any player, and 64 major titles counting doubles and mixed. She won the first of seven straight Australian titles in 1960 at 17 and finished with 11. In 1970 she won all four majors for the calendar Grand Slam.

Many of her Australian titles came against thin fields, which is why she ranks below Williams and Graf here. She returned after the birth of her first child and won three majors in 1973. She later became a Pentecostal minister in Perth, and her statements against gay rights have made the name of Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne a point of dispute.

#9 Chris Evert

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: December 21, 1954, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 18 Grand Slam singles titles, record 7 French Open titles, 6 US Open titles, 157 singles titles, 260 weeks at No. 1, 7 year-end No. 1 finishes
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1995

Evert won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record seven French Opens, and 157 titles in all. She reached the semi-finals or better at 52 of the 56 majors she played. She won at least one major every year from 1974 to 1986.

From August 1973 to May 1979 she won 125 matches in a row on clay, still the benchmark for men and women. Her rivalry with Martina Navratilova produced 80 matches and defined the women’s game for more than a decade. She helped make the two-handed backhand standard.

#10 Pete Sampras

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: August 12, 1971, in Washington, D.C., United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 14 Grand Slam singles titles (2 Australian Open, 7 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), 286 weeks at No. 1, 6 year-end No. 1 finishes in a row, 64 ATP titles, 5 ATP Finals, Davis Cup 1992 and 1995
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2007

Sampras retired with 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the record at the time, including seven Wimbledons in eight years. He finished six years in a row as world No. 1, from 1993 to 1998. His serve and volley game was close to unbeatable on fast courts.

He became the youngest US Open men’s champion in 1990 at 19. His rivalry with Andre Agassi defined American tennis in the 1990s. He played his last match in the 2002 US Open final, beating Agassi for his 14th major.

#11 Björn Borg

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: June 6, 1956, in Stockholm, Sweden
🌍 Country: Sweden
🏆 Career Highlights: 11 Grand Slam singles titles (6 French Open, 5 Wimbledon), 109 weeks at No. 1, 66 singles titles, ATP Player of the Year 1976 to 1980
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1987

Borg won six French Opens and five Wimbledons in a row, from 1976 to 1980, at a time when the two surfaces demanded opposite styles. He never lost a French Open final. His 11 majors were the Open Era record for a man at the time.

The 1980 Wimbledon final against John McEnroe, with its 18 to 16 fourth-set tiebreak, is often called the greatest match ever played. After losing the 1981 Wimbledon and US Open finals to McEnroe, he retired at 25. A comeback in 1991 brought no wins of note.

#12 Billie Jean King

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: November 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 12 Grand Slam singles titles including 6 Wimbledon, 39 Grand Slam titles in total, 7 Federation Cups, Battle of the Sexes 1973
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1987

King won 39 Grand Slam titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women’s doubles and 11 in mixed. Six of her singles titles came at Wimbledon. She was world No. 1 in the 1960s and early 1970s.

In 1973 she beat the 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes in front of a huge TV audience. The same year she founded the Women’s Tennis Association. The Federation Cup was renamed the Billie Jean King Cup in her honour in 2020.

#13 Carlos Alcaraz

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: May 5, 2003, in El Palmar, Murcia, Spain
🌍 Country: Spain
🏆 Career Highlights: 7 Grand Slam singles titles (1 Australian Open, 2 French Open, 2 Wimbledon, 2 US Open), year-end No. 1 2022 and 2025, 27 ATP titles, 8 Masters titles, Olympic silver 2024
🏛️ Hall of Fame: Active

Alcaraz won the 2022 US Open at 19 and became the youngest world No. 1 in ATP history. He beat Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Wimbledon final and went on to win two French Opens and a second US Open. His win at the 2026 Australian Open made him the youngest man to complete the career Grand Slam, at 22.

As of October 2026 he has seven majors. He mixes power with drop shots and net play, which makes him dangerous on every surface. His rivalry with Jannik Sinner has decided most of the big finals since 2024.

#14 Ken Rosewall

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: November 2, 1934, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
🌍 Country: Australia
🏆 Career Highlights: 8 Grand Slam singles titles, record 15 Pro major titles, Pro Slam 1963, 147 singles titles, world No. 1 professional from 1961 to 1964
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1980

Rosewall won 23 majors in singles: eight Grand Slam titles and a record 15 Pro majors. His first Grand Slam title came at the 1953 Australian Championships and his last at the 1972 Australian Open, which made him, at 37, the oldest man to win a major in the Open Era. In 1963 he won all three Pro majors.

His sliced backhand was considered the best of his era. Wimbledon was the one big title he never won, despite four finals between 1954 and 1974. At 39 he reached both the Wimbledon and the US Open finals in 1974.

#15 Helen Wills

🎾 Plays: Baseline game
🎂 Born: October 6, 1905, in Centerville, California, United States (died January 1, 1998)
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 19 Grand Slam singles titles (8 Wimbledon, 7 US Championships, 4 French Championships), 31 Grand Slam titles in total, Olympic singles and doubles gold 1924, 180-match winning streak
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1959

Wills won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, including eight at Wimbledon, a record that stood until Navratilova won her ninth in 1990. From 1927 to 1933 she won 180 matches in a row. She also won both Olympic golds in Paris in 1924.

Her power from the baseline and her calm manner earned her the nickname Little Miss Poker Face. In 1926 she lost to Suzanne Lenglen in Cannes in the so-called Match of the Century. She also played under her married name, Helen Wills Moody.

#16 Bill Tilden

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: February 10, 1893, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States (died June 5, 1953)
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 10 Grand Slam singles titles (3 Wimbledon, 7 US Championships), world No. 1 amateur from 1920 to 1925, 138 titles from 192 amateur tournaments
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1959

Tilden was world No. 1 for six years in a row, from 1920 to 1925, and won ten Grand Slam singles titles. In 1920 he became the first American man to win Wimbledon. His seven US titles are a shared record.

In the late 1920s the French Four Musketeers ended his long run of Davis Cup wins. His reputation was badly damaged by convictions in 1946 and 1949 involving teenage boys, and he died in Los Angeles in 1953.

#17 Suzanne Lenglen

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: May 24, 1899, in Paris, France (died July 4, 1938)
🌍 Country: France
🏆 Career Highlights: 8 Grand Slam singles titles (6 Wimbledon, 2 French Championships), Olympic gold 1920, first world No. 1 from 1921 to 1926
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1978

Lenglen won six Wimbledon singles titles, five of them in a row from 1919 to 1923, and swept singles, doubles and mixed at the French Championships in 1925 and 1926. She was the first world No. 1, from 1921 to 1926. She also won Olympic gold in Antwerp in 1920.

At 15 she won the 1914 World Hard Court Championships, which made her the youngest major champion in history. She died in Paris at 39, and the second court at Roland Garros carries her name.

#18 Jimmy Connors

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: September 2, 1952, in Belleville, Illinois, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 8 Grand Slam singles titles (1 Australian Open, 2 Wimbledon, 5 US Open), 268 weeks at No. 1, Open Era records of 109 singles titles and 1,274 match wins
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1998

Connors holds the Open Era men’s records for titles, with 109, and for match wins, with 1,274. He won eight Grand Slam singles titles, including five US Opens on three different surfaces. He spent 268 weeks at No. 1.

In 1974 he won three of the four majors and was not allowed to enter the fourth, the French Open. His two-handed backhand and flat returns made him one of the best returners of all time. At 39 he reached the semi-finals of the 1991 US Open, beating Aaron Krickstein on his birthday in a five-set match.

#19 Ivan Lendl

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: March 7, 1960, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia
🌍 Country: Czechoslovakia, United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 8 Grand Slam singles titles (2 Australian Open, 3 French Open, 3 US Open), 19 Grand Slam finals, 270 weeks at No. 1, 94 ATP titles, 7 year-end championships
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2001

Lendl won eight Grand Slam singles titles and reached 19 major finals, including eight US Open finals in a row. He spent 270 weeks at No. 1 and won 94 titles. Wimbledon was the one major he never won, despite finals in 1986 and 1987.

His heavy topspin forehand and strict fitness work made aggressive baseline tennis the model for the players who followed. He reached the final of the year-end championships nine years in a row. As a coach he later helped Andy Murray win three majors.

#20 Monica Seles

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, two-handed on both sides
🎂 Born: December 2, 1973, in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia (now Serbia)
🌍 Country: Yugoslavia, United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 9 Grand Slam singles titles (4 Australian Open, 3 French Open, 2 US Open), 178 weeks at No. 1, 53 singles titles, Olympic bronze 2000
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2009

Seles won the 1990 French Open at 16, still the youngest champion there, and won eight majors before she turned 20. In 1991 and 1992 she dominated the tour with two-handed shots on both sides. She spent 178 weeks at No. 1.

On April 30, 1993, a man who was obsessed with Steffi Graf stabbed her in the back during a match in Hamburg. She did not play for more than two years and won one more major, the 1996 Australian Open. Many players and historians believe she could have become the most successful woman of all time.

#21 John McEnroe

🎾 Plays: Left-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: February 16, 1959, in Wiesbaden, West Germany
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 7 Grand Slam singles titles (3 Wimbledon, 4 US Open), 170 weeks at No. 1, 77 singles titles, 77 doubles titles, 9 Grand Slam men’s doubles titles, 5 Davis Cups
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 1999

McEnroe won seven Grand Slam singles titles and finished four straight years as No. 1, from 1981 to 1984. His 82 and 3 record in 1984 is still the best single season of the Open Era. He is the only man with more than 70 titles in both singles and doubles.

His left-handed serve and touch at the net ended Björn Borg’s run at Wimbledon in 1981. He was just as famous for his arguments with umpires. He also won nine Grand Slam doubles titles, most of them with Peter Fleming.

#22 Andre Agassi

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: April 29, 1970, in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 8 Grand Slam singles titles (4 Australian Open, 1 French Open, 1 Wimbledon, 2 US Open), career Golden Slam, Olympic gold 1996, 101 weeks at No. 1, 60 ATP titles, 17 Masters titles
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2011

Agassi won all four majors and Olympic gold, one of three men with a career Golden Slam in singles. His first major came at Wimbledon in 1992 and his last at the 2003 Australian Open. He won eight in total.

After injuries and a slump he dropped out of the top 100 in 1997, then returned to No. 1 in 1999 by winning the French Open. His early-ball returns took time away from even the best servers. He has been married to Steffi Graf since 2001.

#23 Venus Williams

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: June 17, 1980, in Lynwood, California, United States
🌍 Country: United States
🏆 Career Highlights: 7 Grand Slam singles titles (5 Wimbledon, 2 US Open), 49 WTA titles, 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 4 Olympic golds (singles 2000, doubles 2000, 2008, 2012), No. 1 in singles and doubles
🏛️ Hall of Fame: Active

Venus won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five of them at Wimbledon, and Olympic singles gold in Sydney in 2000. With her sister Serena she won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles and three Olympic doubles golds. She has been world No. 1 in both singles and doubles.

She reached her first major final at the 1997 US Open aged 17, and her power changed the women’s game. She campaigned for equal prize money, which Wimbledon introduced in 2007, the year she won the title. Diagnosed with Sjögren syndrome in 2011, she was still playing doubles with Serena as of 2026.

#24 Jannik Sinner

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
🎂 Born: August 16, 2001, in Innichen, Italy
🌍 Country: Italy
🏆 Career Highlights: 5 Grand Slam singles titles (2 Australian Open, 2 Wimbledon, 1 US Open), year-end No. 1 2024, 30 ATP titles, 10 Masters titles, 2 ATP Finals, Davis Cup 2023 and 2024
🏛️ Hall of Fame: Active

Sinner won his first major at the 2024 Australian Open and finished that year as world No. 1. As of October 2026 he has five majors, including Wimbledon in 2025 and 2026, and is ranked No. 1. He also led Italy to the Davis Cup in 2023 and 2024.

His flat, early ball striking from both wings makes him the best baseliner of his generation. After two positive tests for clostebol in 2024, which a tribunal traced to his physiotherapist, he accepted a three-month ban from February to May 2025. He has met Carlos Alcaraz in several of the biggest finals since then.

#25 Justine Henin

🎾 Plays: Right-handed, one-handed backhand
🎂 Born: June 1, 1982, in Liège, Belgium
🌍 Country: Belgium
🏆 Career Highlights: 7 Grand Slam singles titles (1 Australian Open, 4 French Open, 2 US Open), Olympic gold 2004, 117 weeks at No. 1, 43 WTA titles, 2 WTA Finals
🏛️ Hall of Fame: 2016

Henin won seven Grand Slam singles titles, four of them at the French Open, and Olympic gold in Athens in 2004. She was year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. In 2006 she reached the final of all four majors.

She beat bigger hitters with variety, speed and a one-handed backhand. With Kim Clijsters she made Belgium a force and won the 2001 Fed Cup. She retired in 2008, returned in 2010 and stopped for good in January 2011 because of an elbow injury.

Best Tennis Player of Each Era

If you want one name per era, these are our picks from the ranking.

Era	Player	Why
1920s	Suzanne Lenglen	First world No. 1, six Wimbledon titles
1930s	Helen Wills	19 majors and a 180-match winning streak
1960s	Rod Laver	Calendar Grand Slam in 1962 and 1969
1970s	Chris Evert	125 straight wins on clay, seven year-end No. 1 finishes
1980s	Martina Navratilova	Six majors in a row and 167 singles titles
1990s	Steffi Graf	Golden Slam in 1988 and 377 weeks at No. 1
2000s	Roger Federer	15 of his 20 majors came between 2003 and 2009
2010s	Novak Djokovic	Record 428 weeks at No. 1 and 24 majors
2020s	Carlos Alcaraz	Seven majors and a career Grand Slam at 22

Grand Slam Singles Records

The main Grand Slam singles records, as of October 2026.

Record	Player	Mark
Most Grand Slam singles titles, women	Margaret Court	24
Most Grand Slam singles titles, men	Novak Djokovic	24
Most Grand Slam singles titles, Open Era women	Serena Williams	23
Most Australian Open titles	Margaret Court	11 (men: Novak Djokovic, 10)
Most French Open titles	Rafael Nadal	14 (women: Chris Evert, 7)
Most Wimbledon titles	Martina Navratilova	9 (men: Roger Federer, 8)
Most weeks at No. 1	Novak Djokovic	428 (women: Steffi Graf, 377)
Most singles titles, Open Era	Martina Navratilova	167 (men: Jimmy Connors, 109)
Calendar Grand Slams	Rod Laver	2 (1962, 1969)

Honorable Mentions

Nine more players who came close and could make a top 25 on another day.

Iga Świątek: Won six Grand Slam singles titles, four of them at the French Open, and Wimbledon in 2025.
Pancho Gonzales: Won the US Championships in 1948 and 1949 and then ruled professional tennis for most of the 1950s.
Andy Murray: Won three majors and is the only player with two Olympic singles golds, in 2012 and 2016.
Boris Becker: Won Wimbledon in 1985 at 17, the youngest men’s champion there, and six majors in total.
Stefan Edberg: Won six Grand Slam singles titles and was No. 1 in both singles and doubles.
Martina Hingis: Won the 1997 Australian Open at 16 and five Grand Slam singles titles in all.
Kim Clijsters: Won four majors, including the 2009 US Open as an unranked wildcard after becoming a mother.
Aryna Sabalenka: Won four majors, the Australian Open in 2023 and 2024 and the US Open in 2024 and 2025.
Mats Wilander: Won seven Grand Slam singles titles, three of them in 1988.

More About Tennis

FAQ

Who is the best tennis player of all time?

In our ranking it is Novak Djokovic, ahead of Serena Williams and Roger Federer. Djokovic holds the men’s record of 24 Grand Slam singles titles and spent a record 428 weeks at No. 1.

Who are the top 10 greatest tennis players of all time?

Our top 10 is Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Rod Laver, Margaret Court, Chris Evert and Pete Sampras.

Who has won the most Grand Slam singles titles?

Margaret Court and Novak Djokovic have 24 each. Serena Williams has 23, the Open Era record for a woman, followed by Rafael Nadal and Steffi Graf with 22.

Who is the best female tennis player of all time?

We rank Serena Williams first among women, with 23 majors in the Open Era, ahead of Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova.

Who is the best active tennis player?

Novak Djokovic is still playing as of 2026, but among players in their prime Carlos Alcaraz leads with seven majors, ahead of Jannik Sinner with five.

Who has spent the most weeks at world No. 1?

Novak Djokovic, with 428 weeks. Among women the record belongs to Steffi Graf with 377 weeks.

Has anyone won the Golden Slam?

Only Steffi Graf, who won all four majors and Olympic gold in 1988. Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams completed a career Golden Slam over several years.