10 Rosewall. She previously won a junior title at Wimbledon. Mary Pierce had to overcome incredible adversity on the tour, battling injuries and an abusive relationship with her father. 1 in doubles, Wade won four Grand Slam doubles titles. The list of the failing ones is prominent: among them even most of the all time greats: Evert, Navratilova, Seles, Serena, Federer, Djokovic. In 2016, she won the mixed-doubles at Wimbledon, becoming the first British player to win at Wimbledon since Joanna Mary Durie in 1987. 3. A powerful, attacking baseline game that allows her to dictate the pace of play on multiple surfaces and consistently gain the upper hand in rallies. Not only did she win 12 Grand Slam titles in singles, but she took home the career Grand Slam, winning all four majors. She was clearly the best player of that time. At 20 years old, it robbed her of over two years in her prime. WebVirginia Wade and Andy Murray are the most successful British tennis players in the Open Era by singles titles. The second-most successful female British Olympian, Godfree won five Olympic medals in two Olympic Games. Her victory in the Olympics semi-final against Anastasia Myskina in 2004 also stands out, as well as her many battles with Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters. Not only did she win the Wimbledon championship in 1946 without losing a single set, but at a tournament in Cincinnati in 1943, she recorded an extremely rare "golden set". Not only did she take home the title, but she did it without dropping a single set. If there is a definition of the modern baseline player, Sharapova is exactly that. Martina Navratilova boasted perhaps the greatest serve-and-volley game that womens tennis has ever seen. Serena deserves her status as a global icon. it destroyed her confidence. If she can add a few more Grand Slam titles to her list, she could creep up fast. Right IconThis ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet. Best British Tennis Players 2. If Virginia Wade was the last great British womens champion of the 20th century, Dorothy Round was one of the first. WebMonica Seles is a part-Hungarian, part-Yugoslavian, and part-American former womens tennis pro who had all the makings of one of the greatest tennis players to ever live. No tennis match had been seen by so many. 12 Navratilova won twice a false one. In an epic match against her frequent doubles partner Louise Brough, the battle between the two of them went to Osborne by a score of 15-13 in the third set. She also is the most recent British woman to win a major title. She won 55 singles titles and spent nearly 100 weeks spent at No.1, the eighth-most of all time. Not only did she excel as a player by winning 39 grand slam titles 12 in singles, 16 in womens doubles and 11 in mixed doubles but she is a crusader for social justice and womens equality in sports. Anita Lizanas impact on tennis has been unjustly lost to the mists of time. Vote up the best women's tennis players ever. You could tell Chris would become a star. Off the court, she has remained a major presence in the tennis world to this day as a television commentator, calling Grand Slam matches on NBC and on the Tennis Channel. She also had enough movement that no one could exploit her in that regard. Florence Angela Margret Mortimer Berret, better known as simply Angela Mortimer, is the 2: Ann Jones. Wills got the better of Jacobs six times, but the seventh time, at the 1933 U.S. Open, Jacobs came away the victor. She also beat Venus Williams to win the crown at Wimbledon. Most Successful British Tennis Players Of All Born: Dec. 21, 1954, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Many of the women on this list were teenage sensations, finding championship success instantly on the tour. She has won 23 grand slams the most of any active tennis player, male or female. I'm Fred, the guy behind TennisPredict. Often well known for falling apart in big matches, she has nonetheless found enough toughness and consistency to win the champions trophy at both the U.S. Open and the French Open. Serena NEVER had the level of consistent competition that Martina and Chris Evert gave each other. Some weeks later she crowned her Grand Slam with the Olympic Gold becoming the only player ever to achieve the Golden Slam. She still prefers to stay near the baseline, but she can play many different styles depending on who she is facing. I was living in New York City in 1971 when she made a splash at the US Open as a 16-year-old. Steffi Graf was your clear favourite, picking up nearly twice as many votes as any other player. This guy was the tennis pro of the 90s. 100 Greatest of All Time Nick Gannon. Died: June 8, 2018, Sao Paulo, Brazil (Age 78). After retiring as a player, Sue Barker became a sports reporter. Retired from professional tennis in 2013, she continued to remain associated with the game, captaining Great Britain Fed Cup team from 2017 to 2019. If a player has a great serve, they have the chance to consistently win their games. It was an elegant but deadly stroke often compared to that of Roger Federer in the mens game. 2 who turned pro in 1968 and retired in 1986. Coming from an Aboriginal Australian background, she overcame an environment of discrimination much similar to that faced by Althea Gibson in the United States. Martina Hingis was a teenage tennis sensation. In 2016, she won the mixed-doubles at Wimbledon, becoming the first British player to win at Wimbledon since Joanna Mary Durie in 1987. The left-hander had nearly every shot in the game, and in many ways, she had a style of play that was well ahead of her time. Now 53 years old, she is a former professional player who ranked World No.1 for a record 377 weeks. At full flight in her imperious pomp, she embodied what was possible with a tennis racket, doing so with incomparable poise while dragging her sport forward into the modern era. That last, dramatic French Open triumph against Hingis in 1999 is up there for the unexpected delight of it all. Justine Henin is one of the last great tennis champions in the women's game to use a one-handed backhand. But don't rule out a return to the top of the sports ranks from a competitor as tough as she is. Greatest Female Tennis Players Of All Time The best women's tennis players of all time are multiple Grand Slam champions, Olympic tennis gold medalists and simply the best ladies to ever Born: June 14, 1969, Mannheim, West Germany. The Best British Tennis Players of All Time British Female Tennis Players 10 Rosewall. 12 Laura Robson is a British professional tennis player who won a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics in the mixed-doubles event. Serena Williams continues to try to tie that record, but she has been unsuccessful so far in her attempts. Both players share the record of 186 consecutive weeks at #1. Helen Wills Moody was the number one player in the world from 1927 to 1933, and she regained that position in 1935 and 1938. 2, Wade won three Grand Slam singles titles, including the famous 1977 Wimbledon, which was attended by Queen Elizabeth II. Top 5 British Tennis Players of All Time She has also won four doubles and 11 singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. Greatest Female Tennis Players Of All Time While she did not reach similar numbers at the Grand Slam level, Davenport proved she could put in performances of the highest caliber on that stage, too, winning one Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open title apiece. Evonne Goolagong was the most notable female tennis player at the launch of the open era, as she was consistently winning single double and mixed double Grand Slam titles. Billie Jean King has come to personify womens equality in sports thanks to her famous "Battle of the Sexes" win against Bobby Riggs in 1973, immortalized in countless retrospectives, books and a Hollywood film adaptation. The second-most successful female British Olympian, Godfree won five Olympic medals in two Olympic Games. With that being said, one of the best ways to compare players is to look at grand slam totals. In 1993, she was stabbed by a deranged fan. She retired in 2020, bringing her storied career to a close. In 1998, she fulfilled her longtime dream and won that title, the last of her style to do so. She was particularly great on grass courts, winning five Wimbledon championships. British Tennis Players But of all the great women in tennis, only one can stand alone as the greatest of all time. Serena Williams; Steffi Graf; Martina Navritolova; Chris Evert; Margaret Court; Monica Seles; Billie Jean King; Venus Williams; Evonne Goolagong Cawley; Justine Henin; Martina Hingis; Helen Wills Moody; Maureen Connolly; Lindsay Davenport; Kim Clijsters; Jennifer The Belgium one-hander could win points at any time by ripping backhands from all angles. Unfortunately, those were her only two Grand Slam titles, and she was already retired and in the Hall of Fame before she turned 30 years old. British tennis players Angela Mortimer was certainly one of the greatest British female tennis players alive during the 1950s and early 1960s. Most memorable British tennis players On the court, Sharapova dictated points with a strong serve and heavy groundstrokes and won all four majors for the career Grand Slam. Johanna Konta is a British tennis player who represented Australia till 2012. At her best, she was unbeatable. She was never truly dominant like many on this list, but she had a short run in her career where she was a Grand Slam threat every single time. Other than the Williams sisters, she is the defining player of her generation. In 2011, she became the first woman from Asia to reach a Grand Slam final and then win a Slam outright at the French Open, in front of a TV audience of hundreds of millions of Chinese fans. When considering singles and doubles, Martina Navratilova has had a ton of success in her career. Murrays tally of 46 singles titles is good for 14th on the all-time list, just behind Boris Becker and ahead of greats including Arthur Ashe and Stefan Edberg. 100 Greatest of All Time While there are certain advantages to being tall, these players have not exactly dominated the game, Read More 10 Tallest Tennis Players In The WorldContinue, Speed makes a big difference in tennis, especially in the modern game. One of the most underrated womens tennis players of all time is Amelie Mauresmo. Top 5 British Tennis Players of All Time She previously won a junior title at Wimbledon. How is that fair? top 5 greatest British tennis players of all time If not for her come back in the early 2000s, she would not make a list like this. She has been world No 1 for 319 weeks. Born: March 8, 1990, Bilovec, Czhechoslovakia. Evonne often bullied her opposition, dominating early on and consistently throughout matches. Born: Aug. 25, 1927, Silver, South Carolina, Died: Sept. 28, 2003, East Orange, New Jersey (Age 76). By the end of 1993, she was burned out of tennis, taking over a year off and dealing with arrest, drug use, and more. Her career never really recovered, but she added one more Grand Slam to her mantle at the 1996 Australian Open. Stephens demonstrated enormous promise by defeating Serena Williams as a teenager at the Australian Open, and then fulfilled that promise by defeating Venus Williams en route to the U.S. Open title. Her stretch of seven grand slams won between 1990 and 1993 is one of the greatest runs of dominance recorded by a player in the modern era. There were so many great Graf matches. With that in mind, we are spending the Wimbledon fortnight debating which of the greats is the greatest of them all. She was well on her way to being a legitimate rival to Steffi Graf, but a stabbing incident in 1993 stopped her career temporarily just as she was ascending to the top of the game. And after beating Serena to win the French, she became the first woman to best both Williams sisters in Grand Slam finals. Evonne Goolagong was the most notable female tennis player at the launch of the open era, as she was consistently winning single double and mixed double Grand Slam titles. A popular tennis player, Jones won eight Grand Slam titles during her career. She also demonstrated incredible overall consistency at the majors, reaching a then-record 26 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals between 1959 and 1960. 2 Nadal, No. 20 Greatest Female Tennis Players Of All Time She retired in 2008, picking up a hugely impressive 53 career titles, including 9 Grand Slams. But overcome it Gooolagong did. The Best British Tennis Players of All Time If she was a little more dedicated to fitness early in her career, she might be higher on the list. WebAn international panel of tennis experts determined this ranking of 62 men and 38 women. Seles started her career young, turning pro in 1989, aged just 16. However, in her time, she was a dominant player who could win on any surface. Talk about a child prodigy Tim Henman. The Best British Tennis Players of All Time The game has changed so much, and the racquets, in particular, have turned the modern game into something vastly different from the past. By doing so, she broke her countrys Grand Slam title drought, becoming the first Australian woman to win once since Evonne Goolangong Cawley in 1980, Born: Feb. 28, 1985, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Evonne often bullied her opposition, dominating early on and consistently throughout matches. The days are long and the nights are warm but, sadly, we will have to wait until next year to see the great players of our time compete at Wimbledon. Christine Truman Margaret Court doubles Wimbledon By fotograaf onbekend / CC BY-SA 3.0 NL (https://creativecommons. But what puts Steffi miles ahead of Serena is the Grand Slam and the Golden Slam. 100 Greatest of All Time She dominated on clay, popularising the two-handed backhand and the idea of staying on the baseline. Its pure logic: A slam means a hit. However, her ability to dominate in the first half of the 1970s is hard to overlook. She raised the bar in terms of physicality in the womens game and recognised the advantages of assembling a support team, each of whom had a specific role to play. Born: Jan. 18, 1988, Bremen, West Germany. Best British Female Tennis Players of All Time Best Women Country: Germany. 12 She leveraged her position as a top player to spearhead the formation of the Womens Tennis Association in 1973 and her achievements on the court were matched by her accomplishments off it. There was a lot on the line. Ranker Tennis. Godfree won two Wimbledon singles titles. Konta achieved a steep rise in her ranking from the spring of 2015 to late 2016, climbing from 150 to inside the world's top ten, thereby becoming the first Briton to be ranked amongst the WTA's top ten since Jo Durie over 30 years previously. Billie Jean King takes on Bobby Riggs in the Battle of the Sexes. The other Serbian woman who emerged as a star in the 2000s, Ana Ivanovic matched Jelena Jankovic by earning the world No.1 ranking spot in 2008. She burst onto the scene by winning the U.S. Open at 17 in 1951, and over the next three years, Connolly won nine Grand Slams, including all four in a single year, the first woman to win the "Calendar Slam. Most Successful British Tennis Players Of All Her career was cut short due to injuries, but her trailblazing impact on the game remains significant. Greatest British Tennis Players best women Forty-three players made the list from the Americas, 39 from Europe and 18 from Oceania. It took her much of the decade, but Wozniacki put all doubts to rest when she took home the 2018 Australian Open title. She was the first Latin-American woman to win a major title and paved the way to tennis becoming the global sport it is today. Once known as a media darling, Maria Sharapova has fallen on hard times in the last few years. The greatest female tennis player of Throughout her 11 year career, she showed she was a continually great competitor. First, she came out of nowhere at Wimbledon in 2007 to make the final in a huge upset over Justine Henin in the semis. The greatest female tennis player of