10. Roy Emerson and Rod Laver

How can you have two people at #10? Good question. Emerson had 12 Slam Titles and Laver had 11. But Remember we are talking about the open Era. These Australian Champions didn’t play much in the Open Era. Laver had only 5 Slams in the Open Era. But what these men did for tennis is definitely worth putting in the top 10. Heck, Laver even has a big arena named after him. He was the No. 1 ranked professional from 1964 to 1970, spanning four years before and three years after the start of the Open Era in 1968

9. John McEnroe

What he lacks in Overall Grandslam titles with 5, he makes up for it with entertaining temper, off court acting, and now fantastic broadcaster. While he was definitely one of the greatest players of all time, he was also the most entertaining. I don’t think Nick Kygrios is a great comparison but the tempers just might be. I am pleasantly pleased with the broadcaster he has turned into. He and brother Pat McEnroe are my two favorite to listen to. Fun fact, McEnroe hold the most titles with singles AND doubles combined. (Connors holds the single record) McEnroe became the top-ranked singles #1 player in the world on March 3, 1980. He was the  #1 player on 14 separate occasions between 1980 and 1985 and finished the year ranked No. 1 four straight years from 1981 through 1984. He spent a total of 170 weeks as the world #1.

8. Jimmy Connors

Some how Jimmy Connors is underrated in the tennis world. He held the #1 ranking for the most weeks in a row (160) until Fed broke that streak. He also has the most ATP titles in ATP History… And with 8 slams that definitely puts him above McEnroe in my book. You could easily make an argument for him 5-8 but I’m going to argue that he is #8 for now. Connors won eight Grand Slam singles championships: 5 US Opens, 2 Wimbledons, and 1 Australian Open. He did not participate in the French Open during his peak years (1974–78), as he was banned from playing by the event in 1974 due to his association with World Team Tennis. This probably would have given him the career grand slam and would probably have double digit slam titles. But we will never know.  He only played in two Australian Opens in his entire career, winning it in 1974 and reaching the final in 1975. Fun Fact, few highly ranked players, aside from Australians, travelled to Australia for that event up until the mid-1980s.

7. Ivan Lendle

He ended up with 8 titles in his career and get this… 11 Runner ups. Ouch. However I am not going to fault him for losing in the finals. I think its better than being 6-0 and losing first or second round in the other . He paved the way for our #6 player in terms of diet and conditioning and taking Pro Tennis into some of the fittest most athletic people in the world! He was world #1 for 270 weeks. Lendl won a career total of 94 ATP singles titles (plus 49 other non-ATP tournaments, a total of 144 singles titles) and 6 doubles titles, and his career prize money of U.S. $21,262,417 was a record at the time

6. Andre Agassi

I could be overrating him at 6, but if it wasn’t for Pete, he would be where Pete is. Oh and he is my favorite player... But with that said he does have a 11 titles and helped bring tennis mainstream with his rivalry with Pete. He also has wins against a lot of these legends you are reading about here. Andre and Rafa are the only two players in tennis history to complete the Career Golden Slam. (All 4 Slams + Win Gold at the Olympics. Federer technically has a doubles gold) Plus he and Steffi Graff are Couple Goals. Two of the greatest tennis player married and creating education opportunities and more in Vegas. 

5. Bjorn Borg

Let me start this by stating that he retired at 26… Federer is 37 at the time of this article. Imagine if he had another 11 years on his resume. Unfortunately his hot start and winning his first slam at 18 years old and becoming an international phenom tooks it toll. But his brilliance still graced tennis for a while and was as good as player to play the game. Legend has it, when McEnroe took over the number 1 spot in 1981 after the US Open, Borg skipped the presses and the shower and left town, never to return to tennis as a player again. “What if”. Between 1974 and 1981 he became the first man in the Open Era to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles (6 at the French Open and 5 in  row at Wimbledon that Fed would once again break another record), although he was never able to win the US Open in four finals appearances. 

4. Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras might not look like the 4th most athletic tennis player in the world, but don’t try and tell that to Agassi or Federer. Sampras held the record of 14 Grandslams for a long time before Fed dethroned him as the worlds greatest tennis player. Quickly after Sampras was also be quickly passed by Nadal and Djokovic. With a big serve and some of the best hands tennis will ever see if made for a leathal 1-2 punch especially in an era where serving and volleying were in. It would be fascinating to see how he would do in todays game. He also had the recond for most Titles at the prestigious Wimbledon before Fed dethroned him again. His epic battles with Agassi made for one of sports greatest rivalries of their time. He is the pride and joy of American tennis and that title could remain there for a long long long time!