The Greatest Tennis Player Of The Open Era

Tennis is a beautiful sport, and to each it means something unique. To Andre Agassi, “Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love -- the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.” Agassi realized the complexity of tennis, and the challenges one must overcome to excel at it. Because of the great difficulty of the sport and the length of time tennis has existed, there is a great debate and fascination over the greatest to play the game. However, only one person can rightfully claim the title “The Greatest Tennis Player of the Open Era:” Roger Federer.

The history of tennis is very intriguing topic. Historians say the first accounts of tennis being played

come from 12th century France. Back then, the game was played much differently, in fact, “the palm of your hand was used to hit the ball” (Meier). This explains why early tennis was called “Jeau de Paume,” meaning “Game of the Palm.” The game was also played with a leather ball. What most people would recognize as tennis came about in late 19th century Great Britain. From this location, tennis has spread around the globe, being played by different people from diverse backgrounds and classes.
At this point, one may ask what the “Open Era” truly means. The Open Era began in 1968 which brought about many changes to the sport. The biggest change being that professional tennis players were allowed to compete in tournaments that were deemed “established.” Before 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tournaments, including the grand slams, now the most prestigious tournaments to win. These established tournaments also did not offer prize money, but did compensate the amateur players of their travel expenses. To legally earn money from playing tennis, players had to turn pro, eliminating them from the tournaments that the society of today uses to judge and compare different players. However, the Professional Tour did have their own tournaments, with their own Professional Major Championships. Instead of the previous three Major Championships, which were the former US Pro, French Pro, and Wembley Championships, Professional tennis now proudly hosts the four grand slams, which are Wimbledon, the US Open, the French Open (a.k.a. Roland-Garros) and the Australian Open. Because of the difference in tournaments and the greater number of grand slams existing today, it is extremely hard to compare players before to the Open Era to players in the Open Era. To account for this discrepancy, only player’s achievements during the Open Era will be taken into consideration in this comparison. Also, each player’s prize money will be listed to compare to only people from the same generation, as inflation and greater funding over the years has made prize money comparisons impossible to players of different time periods.
Bjorn Borg was born on June 6, 1956 in Sodertalje, Sweden. Borg turned pro in 1973, and retired in 1983. The Swede with long, blonde hair “dominated tennis in the late 1970’s” (De Giullo). Playing right-handed, he “used a two-handed backhand, adapted from a slap shot in hockey” (ATP). Borg preferred to play from the baseline, trading groundstrokes with his opponent, relying on his strength and endurance. However, serving and volleying did not come natural, but through practice and hard work. It wasn’t until after practicing the serving-and-volleying tactic that he was able to win Wimbledon.
Throughout his career, Borg won a total of 101 career titles, winning $3,655,751. He won 11 Grand Slam Titles, winning the French Open six times and Wimbledon five; thus, Borg “was the first player of the modern era to win more than 10 majors” (De Guillo). Dominating Wimbledon from 1976 to 1980, Borg won “the title five consecutive years” (De Guillo). Because of his unprecedented success at the time, he was inducted to the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. However, Borg has major flaws to be called The Greatest Tennis Player of the Open Era. While showing great success at two of the four Grand Slams, Borg failed to win either the Australian Open or the US Open. He also had a very short career for someone with his level of talent and success barring no major injuries; Borg retired “while seemingly in the prime of his career” at age 27 (De Guillo). Thus, Borg cannot The Greatest Tennis Player of the Open Era.
Pete Sampras was born on August 12, 1971 in Potomac, Maryland. Sampras turned pro in 1988, and retired in 2002. He played right-handed, and used a two-handed backhand. When at the baseline, Sampras relied on his strong forehand and possessed a great backhand slice. Sampras was great and the net and had a big serve. Sampras favored a grass or hard court surface much more than clay, as he was “without a French Open Title” (De Giullo).
Sampras won a total of 64 career titles, winning $43,280,489.

He won 14 Grand Slam Titles, two Australian Opens, seven Wimbledon's and five US Opens, besting an Open Era record set previously by Borg. He dominated in his prime, being “number one in the ranking for six consecutive years” (De Guillo). He also finished the year ranked number one six times, which is a record that stands even today. When he retired in 2002, Sampras was considered The Greatest Tennis Player of the Open Era. As a result of his success, he was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007. Despite his great achievements, he possessed flaws of his own. Compared to the other players being compared, his number of titles at 64 is sub par. Likewise, an immense blemish to his claim is that he only “won three of the four Grand Slam events over the course of his career” (De Guillo). Without even reaching a French Open Final, how can Sampras receive this prestigious title? The Greatest Tennis Player of the Open Era must show he can win on every surface, and Sampras does not meet this

requirement.
Roger Federer was born on August 8, 1981 in Basel, Switzerland. The Swiss turned pro in 1998 and is still continuing on tour with great success, as he is currently ranked second in the world. He plays right-handed, using a one-handed backhand. He has an incredible forehand, called by many indlucing Florian Meyer as, “Possibly the best shot in tennis history” because of the variety he can use. He has a very effective serve, and is an excellent net player as well. He classifies himself as an aggressive baseliner, but he can come to the net whenever he deems necessary.
Partially from winning 97 career titles, Federer has won a record $116,222,182 in prize money.

This is in large part due to his record number of 20 grand slam titles, including six Australian Opens, one French, five US Opens and eight Wimbledons. It should be noted that Federer completed a Career Grand Slam, meaning he has won all four major titles, something only eight men have done. In his prime he was almost unstoppable; from the years 2004 to 2008, Federer “went 237 consecutive weeks being ranked number one,” an over four and a half year feat that has and may never be done again (De Giullo). By winning the Australian Open and the Rotterdam Open in 2018, Federer became the oldest man to reach world number one at the age of 36. This feat is proof of his “consistently high level of play over his twenty year career” (De Giullo). Nevertheless, there are a few things he has yet to accomplish, including a Golden Slam, which means winning all four Grand Slams plus an Olympic gold medal in singles. However, he does have history at the Olympics, winning an Olympic gold medal in doubles, with fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka, at Beijing in 2008, and an Olympic silver medal in singles at London in 2012. Because of his remarkable achievements and unprecedented success even today, it’s “hard not to select Roger Federer as the greatest of all time” (De

Giullo).