Simply the Best?

 

I’m not sure what a “British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules,” as Radio Times is described, knows about tennis. But I do know that lists like this exist solely to stir up discontent. Case in point: If you’re going to mix eras -- including Rod Laver -- then John McEnroe absolutely deserves to be above Andy Murray, as would Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Mats Wilander and even six-time major winner Carlos Alcaraz. And as much as I respect and adore Bjorn Borg -- whose ability to win the French and Wimbledon back-to-back is unparalleled -- he belongs under Pete Sampras. Yes, he retired much sooner. But the list should be based on what a player accomplished, not what they might have, and Pete has three more majors and more than double the number of weeks at No. 1.

And this is the Radio Times women’s list, which I don’t have any strong quibbles with: 

But along the Bjorn lines, Monica Seles should probably also be placed based on what she accomplished -- putting her after Billie Jean King and Margaret Court -- rather than on what we assume she would have achieved had she not been stabbed. (Talk to Little Mo about "would haves.") And calendar Slam winner Margaret belongs ahead of Billie Jean, who has half her majors in singles and trails by six in their head-to-head. (Even if you erase all of Margaret's Aussie Open crowns, she still has more majors than BJK.) And a case could be made for any of the top three to sit at No. 1 -- Serena Williams with the most majors (23), Steffi Graf with just one fewer (having retired a decade earlier) and the only one of the three to win the calendar Grand Slam (with the corresponding Olympic gold medal), and Martina Navratilova for the most combined majors (59), including 18 singles titles despite playing in an era when two of the four Slams weren't routinely contested, plus the most WTA titles (167 to Serena's 73), the most match wins (1,661 to Serena's 858), and both Martin and Steffi spent more weeks at world No. 1 than Serena. But even as an ardent Steffi/Chrissie Evert fan, this list feels about right.