www abdopublishing com Published by Abdo Publishing a division of ABDO PO Box 398166 Minneapolis Minnesota 55439 Copyright 2015 by Abdo Consulting Group Inc International copyrights reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher SportsZone is a trademark and logo of Abdo Publishing Printed in the United States of America North Mankato Minnesota 092014 012015 Cover Photos PRS AP Images left Michel Spingler AP Images right Interior Photos PRS AP Images 1 left Michel Spingler AP Images 1 right AP Images 7 13 15 17 25 29 45 Bodini AP Images 9 John Rooney AP Images 11 Adam Stoltman AP Images 19 27 MAC AP Images 21 Marty Lederhandler AP Images 23 Laurent Rebours AP Images 31 Richard Drew AP Images 33 Burnett AP Images 35 Bob Dear AP Images 37 Lance Jeffrey AP Images 39 Dave Caulkin AP Images 41 49 Michel Euler AP Images 43 Mark Lennihan AP Images 47 Neale Cousland Shutterstock Images 51 55 Anthony Correia Shutterstock Images 53 Lev Radin Shutterstock Images 57 Alessia Pierdomenico AP Images 59 Olga Besnard AP Images 61 Editor Patrick Donnelly Series Designer Christa Schneider Library of Congress Control Number 2014944205 Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gitlin Marty The best tennis players of all time Marty Gitlin p cm Sports best ever ISBN 978-1-62403-622-4 lib bdg Includes bibliographical references and index 1 Tennis Juvenile literature I Title 796 342 dc23 2014944205
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 4 Rod Laver 6 Margaret Court 10 Billie Jean King 14 Jimmy Connors 18 Chris Evert 22 Bjorn Borg 26 Martina Navratilova 30 John McEnroe 34 Steffi Graf 38 Andre Agassi 42 Pete Sampras 46 Roger Federer 50 Serena Williams 54 Rafael Nadal 58 Honorable Mentions 62 Glossary 63 For More Information 63 Index 64 About the Author 64
INTRODUCTION The world’s best tennis players are wizards with rackets Yet their grit and guts might be even more impressive 4
Tennis is an unforgiving game Matches are long The weather can be extreme And on the court all eyes are focused on just two or four players It takes amazing agility power stamina and mental strength to excel in tennis Those who do become stars And those who can win in the Grand Slams the Australian Open the French Open the US Open and Wimbledon become legends Here are some of the greatest tennis players of all time 5
