Top 10 male tennis players ever?

My top 10:

1) Rod Laver
2) Bjorn Borg
3) Roger Federer
4) Pete Sampras & Rafael Nadal (Nadal is the more complete player but Pete has more slams)
5) Boris Becker
6) John McEnroe
7) Ivan Lendl
8) Andre Agassi
9) Jimmy Connors
10) Mats Wilander

Apart from the much older players, I decided on the basis of who would win at the peak of their powers.

Had to go with Fed based on his success on every surface. Some people have considered Federer the second best clay court player of all time next to Nadal of course, and this is his worst surface!

Wikipedia Rod Laver. It might astonish you. The guy won the calender Grand Slam as an amatuer and then turned pro which did not let him play Grand Slams again until 1968 when professionals were officially allowed to play the Grand Slams. He then won the calendar year Grand Slam again in 1969. In the years he played as a professional and was not allowed to play Wimbledon, the French Open, etc. he won 11 professional grand slam tournaments which were the equivalent of Wimbledon, the French Open, etc. He also won the calendar year Grand Slam in 1967 in the professional tour. He won all 4 majors there! If those tournaments were allowed to be counted toward his Grand Slam total, he would have 22 Grand Slam championships to his name!!!! And 3 calendar year Grand Slams! Check it out on Wikipedia. The guy was a machine!

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Originally Posted by Lawn Tennis

Had to go with Fed based on his success on every surface. Some people have considered Federer the second best clay court player of all time next to Nadal of course, and this is his worst surface!

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I think Borg may be the second best clay-courter of all time. Many people even rank him above Nadal. Federer would probably be quite a long way behind in third

It's Nadal making Federer look not so good on clay. Federer has made it to four French Open finals, and likely would have four titles at RG instead of one if not for Nadal. If we could somehow bring Borg, Nadal, and Federer together in their prime, I think it would be a rock, paper, scissors deal. On clay, Nadal beats Federer, Borg beats Nadal, and Federer beats Borg. Rafa has the right skills and techniques to make Roger look silly at RG.

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Originally Posted by Lawn Tennis

On clay, Nadal beats Federer, Borg beats Nadal, and Federer beats Borg. Rafa has the right skills and techniques to make Roger look silly at RG.

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So, Borg is better than Nadal but Federer's better than Borg?! Well I think Nadal would edge Borg at RG but either Borg or Nadal could batter Federer at their peaks. RG 2008 anyone?

Borg doesn't play moonball like Nadal. He plays a traditional style that Federer competes very well against - as well as or better than anyone for that matter. The whole reason Nadal has had success is largely attributed to his deep high-bouncing ball.

On second thoughts I think Nadal would beat Borg, on clay at least. I think Nadal's ability to take the point away from an opponent after one bad shot. If you watch some of the rallies 'back in the day' between Vilas and Borg at RG (particularly that ridiculous 86 shot one), both play a high percentage of shots straight down the middle of the court, the kind of shots that Nadal would hammer.

it really does amaze me how much pace Nadal can put on a ball with that grip/style.

I saw a similar poll on (I think) the CBS Sports site recently. The results of this poll were as follows:
Roger Federer
Rod Laver
Ken Rosewall
Jimmy Connors
Pete Sampras
Ivan Lendl
Roy Emerson
Bill Tilden
Bjorn Borg

Thought it might be interesting to compare results!

No Rafael Nadal?

No Rafa, it surprised me as well. Apparently, he is too young for this list.

True. The next 8 months should give us a good idea as to whether he has or will earn a spot on that list.

I guess it s because although Nadal is an amazing player, not a lot of people love him. Federer's elegant and natural way of playing just make him nicer to look at. I m not saying that this should influence these listings, just that it might do...

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Originally Posted by upsalla

I guess it s because although Nadal is an amazing player, not a lot of people love him. Federer's elegant and natural way of playing just make him nicer to look at. I m not saying that this should influence these listings, just that it might do...

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Rafael does some things significantly better than Roger. For instance, Nadal's mentallity; he treats every match individually and never assumes it's an easy match at any moment. Roger -especially the past two years- has shown a mental weakness. He is emotionally attached to winning.

Don't now about you guys but I don't see anyone displacing Nadal at the top of the rankings any time soon. Plus, if he wins the Open he must be regarded as one of the top 5 players of all time.

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Originally Posted by AlexLogan

Don't now about you guys but I don't see anyone displacing Nadal at the top of the rankings any time soon. Plus, if he wins the Open he must be regarded as one of the top 5 players of all time.

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He has to be the favorite; perhaps Djokovic is in second.. Del Potro may be able to mix things up, but he's doing the right thing by letting time heal him.

Nadal all day!