Top 10 All-Time All-US Men Tennis Players

By Gerry Storch

America's male tennis stars had nothing to be ashamed of after the U.S. Open, the sport's last major event of the year ... they gave a good effort ... but there's been a falloff after the Sampras-Agassi-Courier-Chang-Martin era to the point that no one playing right now is one of the nation's 10 best players ever.

Andy Roddick took Novak Djokovic to four sets with a stirring comeback ... and Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey surprised as each took Rafael Nadal to four sets.

Roddick, 26, Fish, 26, and James Blake, 28, are the USA's best veteran players but not only are they far from the Sampras-Agassi level, they'd have to achieve far more than seems likely just to surpass Jim Courier to get into our top 10.

Querrey, who'll turn 21 in October, and 19-year-old Donald Young are the best young hopes. The 6-foot-6 Querrey has climbed to No. 38 in the world and is known for serving 10 consecutive aces. Young has won the Australian, U.S. and Wimbledon junior titles and has climbed to No. 73 in his first year as a pro.

We'll see in, oh, 10 years if they've made our list but for now, here it is. The numbers after each guy represent the number of Grand Slam titles and runnersup.

1. Pete Sampras (14,4). Sampras held the No. 1 spot on the men's tour a record six consecutive years and his 14 Slams are a record. If he isn't the best server ever, who is, and he is undoubtedly the best second server ever. His flounderings on clay at the French Open are well known but he wasn't the total failure there that one would think, as he did make the semis in 1996. His class and sportsmanship in the wake of the tacky McEnroe-Connors era helped the game as well.

2. Andre Agassi (8,7). He became only the fifth man to win all four Grand Slam tournament in a career with his triumph at the French Open in 1999. Unlike most players, who seem to fade after their mid-20s, Agassi won two Slams after age 30 and finished runnerup in two more. A flamboyant style make him a big fan favorite, and his unique quick-reaction ability to hit the ball on the rise inside the baseline would have made him a standout in any era.

3. John McEnroe (7,4). An artist on the court with his great touch, he won four U.S. Opens and three Wimbledons. He was the cornerstone of five Davis Cup championship teams and holds six U.S. Davis Cup records, including most singles wins (41). But he gained just as much attention with his tantrums and wound up with the nickname of "Superbrat."

4. Jimmy Connors (8,7). He slashed and fought his way to 109 career singles titles, tops in the open era. He is the only male to win the U.S. Open on three different surfaces during its history (grass, clay and hardcourt). He conceivably could have taken the four Slams in 1974 since he won the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. crowns but was banned from the French for having signed to play in World Team Tennis. His most electrifying feat came in 1991 when he whipped the U.S. Open crowd into a frenzy as he advanced to the semifinals at age 39 before Courier finally stopped him.

5. Bill Tilden (10,5). "Big Bill" was the dominant tennis player in the golden era of sport, the 1920s, and the world's first big tennis star. He won the U.S. Championships seven times and Wimbledon three times though his first title didn't come until age 27.

6. Don Budge (6,1). Noted for his effortless backhand, he became the first man to win the Grand Slam, doing so in 1938 ... then he turned pro the next year.

7. Jack Kramer (3,0). Reared on the California hardcourts, Kramer had the prototype big serve and volley game. He won the 1946 and '47 U.S. Championships and the 1947 Wimbledon, then became Pancho Gonzales' rival on the pro circuit, beating him in 96 of 123 matches. He later helped tennis grow big-time as a promoter.

8. Pancho Gonzales (2,0). He had a thunderbolt serve and a temper to match. He won the U.S. Championships in 1948 and '49, then spent most of his career on the pro circuit, meaning he was ineligible for the Slams ... surely he (and Kramer) would have won more. In 1969, as a 41-year-old grandfather, he outlasted Charlie Pasarell 22-24, 1-6, 16-14, 6-3, 11-9 in the longest match (five hours and 12 minutes) in Wimbledon history.

9. Arthur Ashe (3,4). Ashe won the very first "open" (amateur and pro) U.S. Open while still an amateur and serving as a first lieutenant in the Army. He was the first black male to win a national title. He spent a dozen years among the top 10 with his power game but resorted to dinks and softballs at age 32 to confuse and upset Connors in a memorable 1975 Wimbledon final.

10. Jim Courier (4,3). He won two slams on a soft surface (French) and two on a hard surface (Australian). He came close to winning the French three times in a row, finishing runnerup in 1993, and he played well at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, making the finals in those once each. Courier was one of the first guys to wear a baseball cap on the court.

Gerry Storch is editor and administrator of http://www.ourblook.com, a political discussion/media analysis website that fills the gap between a blog and a book. In his journalism days, he was sports editor of Gannett News Service.

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