Who Are The Top Tennis Players In The World?
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We take a look at the top tennis players in the world, both past and present. See who made our list and find out a little bit about their careers.
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 3 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record total of 310 weeks.
Early Life and Career
Roger Federer was born on 8 August 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. He began playing tennis when he was eight years old and turned professional in 1998. Over the course of his career, he has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most of any male player—and has been ranked World No. 1 by the ATP for a record 310 weeks.
Federer’s achievements in tennis have earned him numerous accolades, including being voted by players as the ATP Player of the Decade (2001–2010) and the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year seven times, an all-time record. He is also one of eight men to have achieved a Career Grand Slam in singles tennis, and one of only two (along with Andre Agassi) to have done so on three different surfaces (grass, hard court and clay). He is also the only male player ever to win two Grand Slam singles titles (Wimbledon and the US Open) seven times each.
Major Achievements
Roger Federer has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles, an all-time record for a male player. He has held the world No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for a record 302 weeks, and is currently ranked No. 3.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal is a Spanish professional tennis player who has been ranked No. 1 in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) a record nine times. Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for a male player, as well as three Olympic gold medals, two Davis Cups, 32 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles, and 13 French Open titles. In men’s doubles, he has also won two Davis Cups and two Wimbledon titles. He was also a member of the winning Spain team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Early Life and Career
Rafael Nadal Parera was born in Mallorca, Spain, to Sebastián Nadal, a businessman who owned an insurance company, and Ana María Parera. He has a younger sister named Marián. His uncle, Miguel Ángel Nadal, is a professional footballer. Rafa began playing tennis at age four with his dad as his coach.
Nadal’s professional career began in 2001 when he competed on the Challenger tour, winning his first tournament in Sopot. In 2002 he made his debut on the ATP Tour at age 15, becoming the youngest player ever to win an ATP match. In 2005 Nadal won his first Grand Slam tournament at the French Open. He has gone on to win many more titles, including 12 more Grand Slams and an Olympic gold medal.
Major Achievements
Rafael Nadal has achieved numerous milestones in his career so far. He has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, which is the second most in history for a male player, as well as being the only player to win at least two Grand Slams on each of the three main surfaces (hard court, clay, and grass). Nadal has also won an Olympic gold medal in singles and helped Spain win the Davis Cup five times.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He is the first Serbian player to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP. Djokovic has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles, the fourth most in history, and 77 ATP Tour titles, the second most in history.
Early Life and Career
Novak Djokovic was born on May 22, 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia. He began playing tennis at age 4 and quickly showed signs of great potential. By age 12, he had earned a sponsorship from Germany’s national tennis federation. The following year, he won the European under-12 championship.
Djokovic turned pro in 2003, but he did not have much success in his early years on the ATP Tour. His breakthrough came in 2006, when he reached the third round of the French Open and won his first ATP title in Amersfoort, Netherlands. That year also saw Djokovic qualify for his first Wimbledon tournament. He lost in the second round but made an impression with his performances.
Major Achievements
Novak Djokovic has achieved a great deal of success in his tennis career. He has been ranked No. 1 by the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) for a total of 223 weeks, and he has won 17 Grand Slam singles titles. Some of his other notable achievements include winning the Wimbledon men’s singles title in 2011, 2014, and 2015; winning the Australian Open men’s singles title in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016; and winning the US Open men’s singles title in 2011 and 2015. In addition to his Grand Slam titles, Djokovic has also won four ATP Masters 1000 titles and six ATP World Tour 500 titles.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in women’s singles tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era. Williams has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, all with her sister Venus Williams.
Early Life and Career
Serena Williams was born on September 26, 1981, in Saginaw, Michigan, to Richard Williams and Oracene Price. She has four older sisters: Venus, Isha, Lyndrea, and Yetunde. The Williams family moved from Michigan to Compton, California in the early 1980s to join the Singles support group headed by Richard Mordecai. There Serena and her sisters Venus and Isha started receiving regular tennis coaching from Rick Macci.
Williams turned professional on October 18, 1995, at the age of 14. She made her Grand Slam tournament debut at the 1996 Australian Open where she partnering with Venus Williams lost in the first round to unseeded pair of Nicole Pratt and Annabel Ellwood. Later that year she reached her first ever WTA final at the Toyota Princess Cup where she lost again to Pratt. In 1997, Serena along with Venus won their first ever doubles title at the Ameritech Cup defeating Martina Hingis and Jana Novotná in the final.
Major Achievements
Serena Williams has achieved many great things throughout her career in tennis. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, which is the most of any active female player. She has also won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 4 Olympic gold medals, and has held the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles. In addition to her many achievements, Serena is also known for her philanthropy work off the court. She has founded the Serena Williams Fund, which supports educational opportunities for inner-city youth and victims of domestic abuse.
Andy Murray
Andy Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player from Dunblane, Scotland. He is currently ranked as the world No. 1 by the ATP. He has won two Grand Slam singles titles, the 2012 US Open and the 2016 Wimbledon Championships. He has also won an Olympic gold medal in singles, as well as a silver medal in doubles.
Early Life and Career
Andy Murray was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on May 15, 1987. He first picked up a tennis racket at age three and began receiving intensive coaching at age eight. When he was nine years old, Murray moved to Barcelona, Spain, to train at the Sanchez-Casal Academy.
At age 15, he decided to leave the academy and return to Britain to attend Dunblane High School. In 2004, he turned professional and won his first top-level singles title that same year. The following year, he reached the third round of Wimbledon—the youngest player ever to do so—and won his first ATP Tour title.
Major Achievements
Andy Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals. He has won three Grand Slam singles titles, two Olympic gold medals, and the Davis Cup. Murray was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Judy Murray and William Murray. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine, was a professional footballer in the late 1950s. Murray is a supporter of Hibernian Football Club, one of his father’s former teams.
