Top 5 Men Tennis Players of All-Time

Tennis is a very unique sport, which involves grace, balance, strength, skill, and strategy. Throughout the long and great history of the sport, many men have been crowned champions by finishing the year winning Grand Slams and being ranked number 1 overall. But, sometimes a great player is more than just the championships he has amassed, and some on this list are there for what they brought to the game of tennis as a whole.

1.) Roger Federer - Obviously the most dominant male tennis player since Pete Sampras retired - but what makes Roger Federer number one is his consistency, his grace and on-court intelligence and the entire package he is. Pete had a great serve, Roger has a great serve but it is so underestimated it always surprises his opponent when they expect it the least. With 15 Grand Slam titles he is the undisputed record holder, but for some, the lack of consistent strong competition will keep Roger off a lot of people's number one list.

2.) Pete Sampras - Pete could definitely just as easily be number one on this list and many others, the four consecutive Wimbledon's, the 14 Grand Slam titles, playing against a pretty high competition pool that always included some amazing duels with Andre Agassi is the stuff of tennis lore. The only reason Pete isn't number one on my list is his lack of a clay-court championship and the legacy that is Roger Federer.

3.) Jimmy Connors - Yes, most tennis fans hearts just dropped not seeing Bjorn Borg here, but what Connors lacked in championships he made up with consistency and has a record I don't see getting broken anytime soon, with 109 career singles wins! Sampras had 64 career wins to give you some perspective, of course winning a Grand Slam is a much more impact-full win than a generic tourney victory, but being a winner is huge. Plus Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe are American Tennis, they are the forefathers of the modern sport that we watch on television, without those two who knows if personalities like Agassi or Roddick would ever emerge.

4.) Andre Agassi - Yes I'm from America but I'm not a homer. I think Agassi deserves the fourth spot not only for his ability to win on every surface by winning each of the four Grand Slams (Australian, French, Wimbledon, and U.S.) his off court persona and what he brought to the world of tennis is unmatched. Throw in the fact that he had to compete against Pete Sampras during the prime of his career and was still able to win those Grand Slams, and there is no doubt of Andre's place in history.

5.) Bjorn Borg - Finally, yes Borg was a great all-around player that was intimidating and intelligent all at the same time. His amazing achievement of winning five Wimbledon's and four French Opens cements his place in history forever and obviously makes for a great case to include Borg in the Top 3 of all time.

Others that should be named are John McEnroe, Borris Becker, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Rod Laver and Arthur Ashe. A lot of these great players were also great people off the courts doing tremendous amounts of charity work for a number of social causes. To learn more about some of these greats visit www.tennis.com.