Talk About Tennis 2.0

As Megan asked me about my favorite players of all time, why not share who are yours?

Men
Pete
Stefan
Roger
Jimbo
Bjorn
Laconte
Rafa
Lendl (specially after he drilled Mac on the chest)
Mac
Courier

Women
Steffi
Martina
Mandlikova
Henin
Monica
Chrissie
Conchita
Claudia Kohde Kilsh
Andrea Temesvari
Garbie

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 12:19 am As Megan asked me about my favorite players of all time, why not share who are yours?

WOMEN
Temesvari

Temesvari, damn! My list is so boring.

WOMEN
Hingis
Muguruza
Azarenka
Sharapova
Kerber
Henin
Mauresmo
Halep
Hsieh
Capriati

MEN
Guga
Safin
Federer
Baghdatis
Wilander
Ivanisevic
Rafter
Fish
Gonzo
Wawrinka

Pierce
Sanchez Vicario
Serena
Davenport
Seles
Venus
Navratilova
Dementieva
Sharapova
Clijsters


Nadal
Tsonga
Agassi
Ivanisevic
Tiafoe
Roddick
Henman
Wawrinka
Sampras
Rafter

.
Women -

Leylah Fernandez - unparalleled focus and determination.
Patty Fendick - always gave 100%.
Su-Wei Hsieh - unpredictably unpredictable and incredibly creative.
Ons Jabeur - happy to be left of centre.
Andrea Jaeger - she had ‘spunk’ - but I hated the moonballs (is she still a nun? I called her ranch once and spoke with her there).
Martina Navratilova - brought excitement and better fitness to the game.
Jana Novotna - the definition of a pure athlete.
Natalia (Natasha) Zvereva - I don’t know why exactly, but I really liked her.
Corina Morariu - Bravely fought off leukemia and seems like a genuinely nice human being - far too good for that idiot Gimelstob.
Nicole Gibbs - I got to know her mom somewhat at a Junior tournament, and both mother and daughter were very nice... plus Nicole is also a cancer survivor, and for what she did in the late stages of her career and in retirement regarding mental health.


Men -

John McEnroe - for the tennis genius, not the juvenile personality.
Bjorn Borg - for the steady contrast in both style and personality he provided to several of his peers.
Jimmy Connors - for being an integral part of what I consider to be the ‘golden era’ of tennis.
Stefan Edberg - serve and volley and humility.
Hicham Arazi - maybe the most naturally talented player I’ve ever seen (but the head needed work).
Miloslav Mecir - the ‘big cat’... the epitome of smooth...
Fabrice Santoro - see Su-Wei Hsieh above.
Augustin Calleri - most fluid and beautiful backhand I’ve ever seen.
Slobodan Zivojinovic - for the name... and he was a character.
Cedric Pioline - because he gave me 4 of his racquets in 1996 or 1997.

Federer
Becker
Bjorkman
Edberg
Hewitt
Kafelnikov
McEnroe
Safin
Santoro
Wilander

Hingis
Clijsters
Coetzer
Dokic
Hantuchova
Navratilova
Safarova
Seles
Sharapova
Zvereva

Federer
Blake
Sampras
Santoro
McEnroe
Rafter
Baghdatis
Fish
Malisse
Nalbandian

Evert
Davenport
Zvonareva
Kuznetsova
Azarenka
Hantuchova
Radwanska
Mauresmo
Sakkari
Navratilova

I can't get to ten, not old enough. Also excluding players just now rising up.

ATP

Edberg
Courier
Kuerten
Federer
Murray
Rafter

WTA

Hingis
Novotna
Dementieva
Clijsters
Huber
Kvitova
Bencic

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 3:46 pm I can't get to ten, not old enough. Also excluding players just now rising up.

ATP

Edberg
Courier
Kuerten
Federer
Murray
Rafter

WTA

Hingis
Novotna
Dementieva
Clijsters
Huber
Kvitova
Bencic

Dang, I forgot about Kvitova! I do love her. How are you old enough to have Dementieva, Novotna, Edberg, and Guga on your list but not old enough to have 10 favorites? I'm surprised Guga isn't making many lists here. Maybe because his career was fairly brief.

I started following circa '94-96, but not all years equally carefully. I guess I just listed major players fighting for Slam titles. There were few other sentimental favorites like Dominique van Rost and Younes el Aynaoui.

This was harder for me than I thought it would be. I don't have ten men.

Men

Early Pete Sampras
JMac (as has been said for his tennis)
Jimmy Connors
Marat Safin
Bjorn Borg
Gustavo Kuerten
David Ferrer
Rafael Nadal

Women

Monica Seles
Mary Pierce
Martina Navratilova
Hsieh Su-Wei
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Venus Williams
Leylah Fernandez
Ons Jabeur
Paula Badosa
Serena Williams

Early Pete Sampras? The one that won the USO at 19 in 1990? As opposed to LATE Pete Sampras, the one that won the 2002 USO at 32?
Ok, please explain that one. For all of Pete's fans (JazzNu and I), the 2002 win was the ultimate icing on the cake.
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Gang. Great lists I am tempted to redo mine, after seeing some of your picks

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:38 pm Early Pete Sampras? The one that won the USO at 19 in 1990? As opposed to LATE Pete Sampras, the one that won the 2002 USO at 32?
Ok, please explain that one. For all of Pete's fans (JazzNu and I), the 2002 win was the ultimate icing on the cake.
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Gang. Great lists I am tempted to redo main, after seeing some of your picks

Before Pete became a serve bot i liked his game. Is 2002 the retching on the court year? If so I loved how he, uh, gutted that one out. I thought he got a bit lazy mentally and became a bot that's why I say early Sampras.

2002 was the last year he won. The Corretja match was 1996, when he won against Chang in the final.
Interesting take on him becoming a serve-bot. I never agreed with that classification, as, for example, in all his matches vs Agassi at the USO, he hit more BH winners that Andre.
But, we are talking faves. There is no need to being rational about it. So you have, technically, 9 1/2 faves.

Gee....this is tough. I've been following tennis since the late 70's. So here goes...

Women:

Chris Evert
Billie Jean King
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Steffi Graf
Monica Seles
Jennifer Capriati
Martina Navratilova
Martina Hingis
Venus Williams
Lindsay Davenport

Men:

Jimmy Connors
Roger Federer
Stefan Edberg
Mats Wilander
John McEnroe
Pete Sampras
Guga Kuerten
Rafa Nadal
Boris Becker
Andre Agassi

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:38 pm Early Pete Sampras? The one that won the USO at 19 in 1990? As opposed to LATE Pete Sampras, the one that won the 2002 USO at 32?
Ok, please explain that one. For all of Pete's fans (JazzNu and I), the 2002 win was the ultimate icing on the cake.
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Gang. Great lists I am tempted to redo main, after seeing some of your picks

I thought about putting Agassi 2.0 on my list. I wasn't a fan of his early "rebel" days.