Lineal Tennis Greatest of All-Time

GOATYearsGOATYears
1Laurence Doherty1903-19201Lottie Dod1893-1920
2Bill Tilden1920-19582Molla Mallory1920-1922
3Pancho Gonzales1958-19663Suzanne Lenglen1922-1930
4Rod Laver1966-19984Helen Wills Moody1930-1970
5Pete Sampras1998-20095Margaret Court1970-1980
6Roger Federer2009-20236Chris Evert1980-1986
7Novak Djokovic2023-present7Martina Navatilova1986-1996
8Steffi Graf1996-2016
9Serena Williams2016-present

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Hi (hopefully) awesome reader! I welcome your comments. However, please be aware that I make all of my arguments using facts, statistics, and logic. Unfortunately, the average comment on a top-100 list goes something like this:

"UR StooPid. (Insert player) is trash. I've watched (pick a sport) for (pick a number of years) and (pick a player) is better than everyone. UR DUMB. HAHA6969."

–Some Jabroni

As cognitively stimulating as this species of comment is, it ends up being a missed opportunity to share a nuanced perspective. I reply to all comments that show even the most basic levels of thought and humility. The people who make the comments like the example above are under the assumption that the three seconds of thought that popped into their brains after reading the list is more than the 1000s of hours that I put into creating and maintaining the lists. I would be happy to defend any placement, or make an adjustment if one is warranted. If you are a jabroni, like the one above, then your comment will die in the lonely void of the unpublished comments section.

For everyone else, I look forward to your comments!

P.S. The theme of this site and the top-100 lists is that athletes from previous generations have historically been grossly overrated by sports publications in a way that is statistically improbable. Click on the "About" dropdown menu to see just how badly the average top-100 list disproportionately favors athletes from older generations when leagues were smaller, race quotas existed, and globalization wasn't a thing. Also, please consider reading "The History" section of the sport you are commenting on.

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