Who Is The Tennis Goat?

We all know that there can only be one true GOAT in tennis. But who is it? Is it Roger Federer? Novak Djokovic? Rafael Nadal?

There’s only one way to find out. Read our blog post to see who we think is the greatest tennis player of all time.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who is currently ranked world No. 5 in the ATP singles rankings. He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles-the most in history for a male player-and has held the world No. 1 ranked spot in the ATP rankings for a record 310 weeks.

His early life and career

Roger Federer was born on August 8, 1981, in Basel, Switzerland. His father, Robert Federer, is Swiss-German, and his mother, Lynette Federer (née Durand), is an Afrikaner from Kempton Park, Gauteng, in South Africa. He has one sister named Diana. growing up, Federer played both tennis and football and he credits the latter sport with helping him develop his footwork. However, he stopped playing football at the age of 12 to focus on tennis.

In 1993, at the age of 11 2/3, he entered the ranking lists of the Swiss Tennis Association (STA) with a world ranking of 2135. In 1998 he became a member of the Swiss Davis Cup team for the first time; he would go on to be a member for a total of 13 years (from 1998 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2015). He has won 20 Grand Slam singles titles—the most in history for a male player—and 103 ATP Tour singles titles. He is ranked world No. 4 by the ATP.

His achievements

By winning Wimbledon for a record-equalling eighth time, Roger Federer has shown that he is still the man to beat on grass. The Swiss ace needed just one hour and 24 minutes to see off Russia’s ninth seed Medvedev and claim his 19th Grand Slam title, equalling the all-time record held by rival Rafael Nadal.

This was Federer’s first appearance in a Wimbledon final since he defeated Andy Murray in 2012, and it was also his first time playing Medvedev. It was a comprehensive performance from the 38-year-old, who didn’t drop a set all tournament and only conceded more than four games in a set on one occasion.

Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal is a Spanish tennis player who has been ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for a recordtotal of 209 weeks. Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second most in history for a male player, as well as a record 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 20 ATP Tour 500 titles, and has held the world No. 1 ranking for a record of 196 weeks. In majors, Nadal has won a record 13 Roland Garros titles, two Wimbledon titles, four US Open titles, and two Australian Open titles.

His early life and career

Rafael Nadal Parera was born on June 3, 1986, in Mallorca, Spain. Nadal’s father, Sebastian, is a businessman who owns an insurance company and a glass and window business. His mother, Ana Maria, is a housewife. He has a younger sister named Maria Isabel. As a child, Nadal played both tennis and football (soccer). When he was 12 years old, he decided to focus on tennis.
Nadal turned professional in 2001, at the age of 15. He won his first ATP match the following year. In 2003, he reached the third round of Wimbledon—becoming the youngest player to do so since Boris Becker in 1984. Later that year, he won his first ATP title at the clay court tournament in Sopot, Poland.

His achievements

Rafael Nadal has earned numerous titles and awards throughout his career. As of February 2021, he has won 86 ATP singles titles, the second-most in history for a male player, as well as four Olympic gold medals, two Davis Cups, 34 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 19 Grand Slam singles titles, tying Roger Federer for the most all-time. He is the only male player to have won all four Grand Slam singles tournaments on three different surfaces (clay, grass, and hardcourt).

Novak Djokovic

The Djoker has been on an absolute tear as of late. He has won 3 of the 4 majors this year and is the first man to do so since 1969. He has beaten some of the best players in the world en route to these victories, including Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final. Djokovic is now the undisputed best player in the world and is being hailed by many as the new tennis GOAT.

His early life and career

Novak Djokovic was born on May 22, 1987, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). His father, Srdjan, owned a pizza parlor; his mother, Dijana, was a lawyer. Djokovic began playing tennis at age four and was soon recognized as a prodigy by Yugoslav tennis great Jelena Gencic. When he was six, Djokovic spent several months honing his skills at Gencic’s tennis academy in Mount Karayevo, Montenegro.

Djokovic turned professional in 2003, but first made a name for himself the following year by winning the junior title at the Wimbledon championships. That same year he qualified for the main Wimbledon draw, but lost in the first round to Mario Ancic of Croatia. At the 2005 French Open, Djokovic again lost in the first round—this time to ultimate champion Rafael Nadal of Spain. But he rebounded later that year with a victory at the Serbia Open.

Djokovic finally broke through at Grand Slam events in 2008. After losing to Nadal in the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open that year (both times in five sets), Djokovic beat fellow rising star Roger Federer of Switzerland to win his first major title at the U.S. Open.

His achievements

Since turning professional in 2003, Djokovic has won 78 ATP Tour singles titles, including 17 Grand Slam singles titles, five ATP Finals titles, 35 Masters 1000 series titles, three Olympic medals, and a Davis Cup title. He is the second male player in the Open Era to have won all nine of the ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments (completing the Golden Masters), and is one of only six players to have won an ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournament on each surface (hard court, clay court and grass court). In 2016, he became the eighth player in history to achieve the Career Grand Slam.

He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 1 (achieved on 22 November 2015), and has been ranked world No. 1 for a record 263 weeks as of 10 February 2020. In majors, Djokovic has won 17 singles titles; tied with Pete Sampras at Wimbledon and Roger Federer at the US Open for third all-time among men, behind only Roy Emerson (12) and Rafael Nadal (19).

Djokovic stands alone with an all-time record of 36 Masters 1000 series titles; Nadal is second with 34. Of his 78 ATP Tour titles overall, 38 have been on hard courts (both records), 14 on clay courts (3rd all-time) and 26 on grass courts (4th all-time). Djokovic holds the best match winning percentage on hard courts (84%), clay courts (78%) and indoor hard courts (89%) among men during the Open Era.

Pete Sampras

Pete Sampras is considered by many to be the greatest tennis player of all time. He is the only player to have won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, which is more than any other male player in history. Sampras was also a dominant player in the 1990s, winning six consecutive Wimbledon singles titles.

His early life and career

Pete Sampras was born on August 12, 1971, in Washington, D.C., to Soteris and Stefania Sampras. His mother emigrated from Greece as a young girl, while his father was born in the United States to Greek parents who had also emigrated. Sampras has two older sisters, Louanna and Pam. Growing up, the family moved around frequently because of his father’s work as a hotelier; they eventually settled in Palos Verdes, California. At age three, Sampras discovered his love for tennis after watching Jimmy Connors compete at Wimbledon on television; from that moment on he wanted to become a professional tennis player and compete at Wimbledon himself one day.

Sampras began taking tennis lessons when he was five years old; by age six he was good enough to compete in tournaments. At age seven he won the Southern California Championship for boys 10 and under; the following year he was a finalist in the same tournament. When he was nine years old his family hired Pete Fischer, a well-known tennis coach, to give him private lessons; Fischer continued to coach Sampras until he turned professional at age 14. Under Fischer’s tutelage Sampras quickly developed into a top junior player; by age 11 he was ranked number one in Southern California and number two in the nation for boys 12 and under.

In 1985, at age 14, Sampras won the U.S. National Hardcourts Championships—one of the most prestigious junior tournaments in the world—becoming the youngest player ever to do so. The following year he made his debut on the professional tour but only played in four events because of his age (professional tennis players must be at least 14 years old). In 1987 Sampras began playing full-time on the pro tour but had little success; his best result that year was reaching the semifinals of a small tournament in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The following year was much more successful: Sampras won his first professional title (in Schenectady, New York) and reached the semifinals of two Grand Prix events—tournaments that were then second only to Grand Slam events in terms of prestige (the Grand Prix tour would eventually evolve into today’s ATP Tour).

His achievements

Pete Sampras was an American professional tennis player. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in tennis history. He was a right-handed player with a serve-and-volley style of play. He won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, including a record seven Wimbledon Championships, and held the world No. 1 ranking for six years straight. His professional career ended at the age of 32 when he suffered a serious hip injury while running during a practice session.

Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. In his first year on the ballot, he received 91% of the votes, the highest percentage ever for a first-time candidate and third overall behind Rod Laver (96%) and Björn Borg (93%).

Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. In singles, Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist. Andre Agassi is considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

His early life and career

Andre Agassi was born in Las Vegas, Nevada to Emmanuel “Mike” Agassi, an Olympic boxer from Iran, and Elizabeth “Betty” Agassi (née Dugan), a breast-canceraurus survivor. He has a fraternal twin brother, Philip, and an older sister, Tami. The Agassis married on July 26, 1974, three months after they immigrated to the United States.

Agassi’s father claimed that he named his son after Andrei Gromyko, the former Soviet Union’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Mike and Betty became U.S. citizens in 1984.

In his early years with IMG Academy and as a professional player, Agassi experimented with different racquet technologies and strings before using Prince graphite racquets and Luxilon Big Banger strings as his primary equipment throughout his career.

His achievements

Andre Agassi is a retired professional tennis player who was one of the sport’s most dominant players from the early 1990s to the mid-2000s. Agassi is an eight-time Grand Slam singles champion and a 1996 Olympic gold medalist. He also won 17 ATP Masters Series titles and was part of a winning Davis Cup team.

In singles, Agassi lost only four matches in his first two years on tour and was the youngest player ever to be ranked No. 1 by the ATP. He went on to spend 101 weeks at No. 1, the fifth-most in history. His career singles win-loss record of 870–274 (75.8%) is among the best in tennis history, and his open-era record for most tournaments won (60) is second only to Roger Federer’smark of 64.Career statistics – Andre Agassi

In June 1999, Agassi was ranked as the world No. 1 for the first time.Agassi Returns To Number 1 With French Open Victory On November 7 of that year, he became the first male player in history to be ranked No. 1 in three separate decades (1980s, 1990s, 2000s). He is one of only five male players (and the only American male player) to achieve this feat; Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer are the others.Agetsis number 1!Only five men achieved #1 ranking in 3 decades

Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006 after losing in the third round of the US Open.Loss To Baghdatis Prompts Tennis Great Andre Agassi To Retire