Top 10 male tennis players of all-time

We rank the top-10 male tennis players of the Open era, which began back in 1968 when the sport became professional.

There have been some phenomenal shot-makers, power-servers and baseline athletes in the men’s game over the last seven decades.

Many players could stake a claim to be considered amongst the sport’s best, but who makes it into our top-10?

10 - Mats Wilander

The first of two Swedish players in the top-10, Mats Wilander is often underrated when it comes to these types of lists.

In a six-year period, the man from Alvesta won seven Grand Slam titles with three Australian Opens, three French Opens and one US Open success.

Wilander, who now works on TV as a pundit, claimed 33 singles titles and reached world number one in September 1988.

9 - Ivan Lendl

Another European in the list, Ivan Lendl collected eight Grand Slam titles with victories in Melbourne, New York and Paris.

The Czech ace was known for his stern persona and being a fierce competitor during the 1980s, twice losing in the Wimbledon final to scupper his chances of collecting all four titles.

Lendl, who also coached Andy Murray to Grand Slam success, spent no fewer than 270 weeks as world number one.

8 - Jimmy Connors

The fiery Jimmy Connors played professionally until the age of 43, but it was from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s when he enjoyed the majority of his success.

The American left-hander won eight Grand Slam titles in total, with the majority of those successes coming in the United States.

Connors won the US Open on five separate occasions, as well as collecting two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open crown.

7 - Pete Sampras

Nobody on this list had a more powerful serve than Pete Sampras, which helped him win 14 Grand Slam singles titles.

Wimbledon was where he enjoyed the most success though, with seven grass-court Grand Slam victories between 1993-2000.

Sampras is a two-time Australian Open winner and also won five US Open titles, including his last Grand Slam success, which came at Flushing Meadows in 2002.

6 - Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi is the first player on the list to have won all of the Big Four tournaments during his career, racking up eight Grand Slam titles.

Half of those victories came on the hardcourts of Melbourne, while he also claimed two US Open titles, one Wimbledon crown and a French Open success.

There were 12 years between his first and last Grand Slam victory (1992-2003) and the man from Las Vegas could have won even more, losing in seven other finals.

5 - Bjorn Borg

Bjorn Borg will be forever remembered for his dominance at Wimbledon and the French Open during the mid to late 1970s and very early 1980s.

The baseliner, who developed into something of a serve-volley expert, won five consecutive SW19 titles, missing out on a sixth when losing to John McEnroe in the final in 1981.

Borg - an 11-time Grand Slam champion - also won six singles title in Paris, including four in a row between 1978 and 1981.

He retired from tennis at the tender age of 25, so who knows how many Grand Slam titles he would have racked up had he played for up to a decade more.

4 - Rod Laver

Although six of his 11 titles came when players were amateur, Rod Laver still proved his class in the early stages of the Open era.

The Australian won all four Grand Slam titles in an illustrious career and is the only player on the list to win them all in the same year, in 1969.

Laver's run of success spanned throughout the 1960s, starting with his first of three Australian Open wins in 1960 and ending with his US Open title victory in 1969.

3 - Novak Djokovic

If this list was purely down to who had won the most Grand Slam titles, then DNovak jokovic would be sitting proudly at number one.

The Serbian ace has 24 victories in the Big Four events, with 10 Australian Open victories, seven successes at Wimbledon, four US Opens and three French Opens.

In terms of overall career titles, he sits third on 100 and can also boast an Olympic gold medal that he won in Paris in 2024.

2 - Rafael Nadal

Without doubt the best clay-court tennis player we have ever seen, Rafael Nadal also excelled on other surfaces and finished his career with 22 Grand Slam victories.

The left-hander holds the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles at one tournament, after an incredible 14 triumphs at the French Open - including five in a row between 2010 and 2014.

Nadal was a four-time winner of the US Open and twice won at both Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

1 - Roger Federer

Many of his peers have described Roger Federer as the best and most beautiful player to grace the court, especially when you consider how he played and the success he enjoyed.

Only Connors won more tournaments and reached more finals than the Swiss ace, who is third on the list for Grand Slam victories with 20.

Nobody has won more matches at Wimbledon and the Australian Open than Federer and he also leads the way with a record eight SW19 titles.

Federer's career spanned across different eras, starting during the time of Sampras and Agassi, before competing at the very top-level against the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Murray - arguably the greatest period in the sport's history.

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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.