January 30, 2005
The top 10
Male tennis players in the Open era
By 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash
1 Pete Sampras
Technical perfection is a quality commonly believed to be beyond the realm of mere human beings, but the American who amassed more Grand Slam singles titles than anybody else in the history of men�s tennis came mighty close. There were no flaws in his game: he possessed huge power and supreme physical ability, and when his mind was right, nobody could stop him. Seven Wimbledon titles in eight years is one of the great achievements in modern sport. Nowadays, players are categorised by the weapons they possess. The Sampras serve was the ultimate � unbelievably accurate, supremely forceful and, more often than not, unplayable. Admittedly, he never won the French Open, and his dislike of clay became almost a phobia in the later years of his career. The only criticism that could be levelled against him is a lack of patience when it came to confronting the vagaries of the red stuff. However, 14 Grand Slam titles offer material proof that he was the greatest ever.
2 Rod Laver
So why is a Pistol superior to a Rocket? They are both revered by their peers, and Laver twice completed the Grand Slam, which Sampras never did. As an Australian, I was reared on the legend of the Queenslander from Rockhampton, and I soon appreciated that he had revolutionised the way tennis was played. Watch dated film of players pre-Laver, and the game seems so effete, but he brought in power and the use of topspin with a supreme combination of force and finesse. Had he not missed out on five years of Grand Slam events because of his decision to turn professional, then quite probably he would still be ahead of Sampras in terms of numbers, but that is something than can never be proved. What will remain forever irrefutable is that back in the days of Laver, three of the four big tournaments were played on grass and the depth of quality was nowhere like it was when Sampras reigned.
3 John McEnroe
McEnroe was a one-off. He was so many things on court: arrogant, obnoxious, rude, unsportsmanlike. I defy anybody, with the possible exception of Bjorn Borg, to say they enjoyed playing him, because he made the process so unpleasant. But that was down to factors far beyond his demeanour. His style was impossible to anticipate and he played with such disguise and pace. He didn�t possess a powerful physique, yet he hit the ball with tremendous force, and his hand-eye co-ordination was second to none. �Freakish� is the best way to sum up Mac�s racket-head control and his ability to come up with the unexpected. I believe that if he played today, he would not have met with the same success because the authorities would not tolerate his behaviour.
4 Bjorn Borg
The Swede was the greatest athlete to walk on to a tennis court. His speed defied belief and he allied it with a wondrous temperament. He changed the game, becoming the first to employ the double-fisted backhand. His feat of three times going victorious from the clay of Roland Garros to win Wimbledon, with the complete transformation of mindset which that entailed, will not be repeated. But he struggled on the hard courts of America and his career lacked longevity. His best days were over before his 26th birthday.
5 Jimmy Connors
Nobody before Connors ever played the game quite like him. He was a street fighter, who knew no other way but to give 110%. Today, Lleyton Hewitt probably comes closest in terms of commitment, but whether he will continue to be a force when his 40th birthday draws close is doubtful. There was never a moment of practice that was half-hearted, and he poured every ounce of effort into every performance. His game was unconventional, the serve never forceful, but annoyingly accurate, and the return and ground strokes were laced with venom. If not for tennis politics that prevented him from playing the French Open in 1974, he would probably have completed the Grand Slam.
6 Boris Becker
Probably the scariest moments of my career were watching the 17-year-old for the first time and realising the damage he could do to my own aspirations. One minute he emerged, the next he was Wimbledon champion. His wide-out backhand down the line remains one of the greatest shots of any era. But for somebody raised on European dirt, it will always remain one of the great mysteries why he never won a singles title on clay.
7 Mats Wilander
When I was emerging, and then right at the peak of my game, more often than not it seemed Wilander was standing in my way. From the French Open of 1987 to the US Open the next year, he reached the finals of Grand Slam tournaments five times out of a possible seven and won three. His powers of endurance were legendary and the repeated accuracy of his shots was akin to that of heat-seeking missiles.
8 Andre Agassi
To complete the Grand Slam of the game�s four majors in one year has been an elusive goal in the male domain for 36 years, so the only player in that time to have won all four at all is worthy of great merit. Agassi�s longevity in the game, coupled with his dedication to the cause in recent years, will probably never be repeated. Whether his story is in its final chapter has been a question people have been asking for several years. Don�t count him out just yet.
9 Ivan Lendl
Statistics do not lie: eight successive US Open finals, including a hat-trick of title wins; four French Open finals in a row, three ending in victory; more than five years ranked as the world�s No 1. If power has become the most important facet of the modern game, then Lendl took it to unprecedented levels. He was the original modern-day player: big, super-fit, athletic, brutal, utterly professional. Winning Wimbledon, however, became an obsession that somehow always evaded him.
10 Stefan Edberg
One of the saddest inevitabilities in tennis is that in a few years, coaches will look at tapes of this pure and agile serve-and-volley player and realise they�ve made such an art extinct. Even when you were on the other side of the net, it was hard not to admire the skill of Edberg, whose athletic powers were only marginally inferior to Borg�s. Add a textbook single-fisted backhand, and you have a player of considerable quality. He won twice at three of the majors, but missed out on the clay of Roland Garros.
Roger Federer
There are many who insist the Swiss is destined to be the greatest player of all time. I think such praise is premature. He is by far the most sublime player in the world today, despite his semi-final loss in the Australian Open, but topping Pete Sampras�s silver collection is a long way off. He might join the Top 10 next year if he collects another major.