Portal:Tennis/Selected biography

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Selected biography 1

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Kim Clijsters (Dutch pronunciation: [kɪm ˈklɛistərs] ^ⓘ; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She is a former World No. 1-ranked player in singles and in doubles. She shares the record for most Grand Slam singles titles won as a mother with Margaret Court.

She has won 41 WTA singles titles and 11 WTA doubles titles. Clijsters has won four Grand Slam singles titles: three at the US Open, in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and one at the Australian Open in 2011. She has also been runner-up in four Grand Slam singles tournaments, and won the WTA Tour Championships singles title in 2002, 2003 and 2010. In doubles, she won the French Open and Wimbledon titles in 2003. Clijsters announced her retirement with immediate effect on 6 May 2007, but almost two years later, on 26 March 2009, she publicly declared her intent to return to the WTA tour for the 2009 summer hard court season. In only her third tournament back, she won her second US Open title, becoming the first unseeded player and wildcard to win the tournament, and the first mother to win a major since Evonne Goolagong in 1980.

Clijsters retired from professional tennis in August 2012.

Selected biography 2

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Marat Safin; (Russian: Марат Михайлович Сафин) (born January 27, 1980) is a former Russian tennis player. Safin won two majors and reached the world number 1 ranking during his career. He was also famous for his emotional outbursts and sometimes fiery temper on court. Safin is the older brother of former World No. 1 WTA player Dinara Safina (Dinara Mikhailovna Safina) (Russian: Динара Михайловна Сафина), born April 27, 1986 in Moscow. They are the first brother-sister tandem in tennis history to both achieve No. 1 rankings.

Safin began his professional career in 1997, and held the No. 1 world ranking for a total of 9 weeks between November 2000 and April 2001. He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2000 US Open after defeating Pete Sampras, and won the 2005 Australian Open, defeating Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Safin helped lead Russia to Davis Cup victories in 2002 and 2006. Despite his dislike of grass courts, he became the first Russian man to reach the semi-finals of Wimbledon at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships. At the time of his final Grand Slam appearance at the US Open on 2 September 2009, Safin was No. 61 in the official world men's tennis rankings.

Selected biography 3

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Roger Federer (born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP number one position for a record 237 consecutive weeks and a total of 302 weeks. He has been ranked inside the top 10 since October 2002 and the top 20 since April 2001. Federer has won a male record 16 Grand Slam singles titles. He is one of seven male players to capture the career Grand Slam and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so on three different surfaces (clay, grass and hard courts). Many sports analysts, tennis critics, former and current players consider Federer to be the greatest tennis player of all time.

Federer has appeared in an unprecedented 22 career Grand Slam finals, of which 10 were consecutive appearances, and he has appeared in 18 of 19 finals over the four and a half years from the 2005 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open, excluding the 2008 Australian Open. He holds the record of reaching the semi-finals or better of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments over five and a half years from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open. In the 2011 Australian Open he reached his 27th consecutive quarter-finals in the grand slam tournaments, equalling the record set by Jimmy Connors.

Federer has won a record 5 ATP World Tour Finals (shared with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras) and 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments. He also won the Olympic Gold Medal in doubles with his compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. He has been year-end top 2 in the rankings, 8 years in a row (2003–2010).

As a result of Federer's successes in tennis, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for a record four consecutive years (2005–2008). He is often referred to as The Federer Express or abbreviated to Fed Express, the Swiss Maestro or simply Maestro.

Selected biography 4

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Rafael Nadal (Catalan pronunciation: [rəˈfɛl nəˈðal pəˈɾeɾə], Spanish pronunciation: [rafaˈel naˈðal paˈɾeɾa]; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His success on clay has earned him the nickname "The King of Clay", and has prompted many experts to regard him as the greatest clay court player of all time. Nadal has won 14 Grand Slam singles titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 18 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, and also was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008 and 2009.

He completed the career Grand Slam by winning the 2010 US Open, being the seventh player in history, and the youngest in the open era, to achieve it. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the four grand slams and the Olympic Gold medal) after Andre Agassi. By winning the 2014 French Open, Nadal became the only male player to win a single Grand Slam tournament nine times and the first to win at least one Grand Slam tournament for ten consecutive years.

Nadal was ranked world No. 2, behind Roger Federer, for a record 160 consecutive weeks before earning the top spot, which he held from 18 August 2008 to 5 July 2009. He regained the world No.1 ranking on 7 June 2010, after winning his fifth French Open title.

Selected biography 5

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Andy Roddick (born August 30, 1982) is an American former professional tennis player and World No. 1. He is the top-ranked American player and sixth-ranked player in the world as of June 22, 2009. He finished sixth in the 2006, 2007 ATP Race. He became a Grand Slam singles champion when he won the title at the 2003 US Open. He has reached three other Grand Slam finals (Wimbledon twice and the US Open), losing to Roger Federer each time. Roddick is known for his powerful serves, and holds the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, clocked at 155 mph (249.4 km/h). He has broken his own speed record three times.

Roddick was on the victorious United States Davis Cup team when it won the 2007 Davis Cup. Roddick defeated Dmitry Tursunov of the Russian Davis Cup team, the defending champions, in the finals.

Roddick retired from professional tennis in August 2012.

Andy Roddick was born in Omaha, Nebraska to Jerry and Blanche Roddick. Roddick's father was a businessman, and his mother was a schoolteacher. She now directs the Andy Roddick Foundation. Roddick has two older brothers, Lawrence and John, who were both promising tennis players at a young age.

Selected biography 6

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James Blake (born December 28, 1979, in Yonkers, New York, United States) is an American former professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful forehands. In 2006 he reached the final of the Tennis Masters Cup but lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets. On July 3, 2007, Blake's book, Breaking Back: How I lost everything and won back my life, discussing his comeback after his unlucky 2004 season, was released and debuted at #22 on The New York Times Best Seller list. He wrote this book along with Andrew Friedman.

Blake was born in Yonkers, New York, to African-American father Tommy Sr. and White British mother Betty. He has a brother, Thomas Jr., who is also a professional tennis player, and three older half-brothers, Jason, Christopher and Howard, and a half-sister, Michelle.

Blake started playing tennis at age five alongside his brother Thomas. When 13, he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and for five years as a teenager, he was forced to wear a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis. Blake attended Fairfield Warde High School (then called Fairfield High School), in Fairfield, Connecticut. A schoolmate was future musician John Mayer. Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model, Arthur Ashe, speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program. Brian Barker was his first (and current) coach. He dropped out of Harvard University after his sophomore year to pursue a career in professional tennis.

Blake announced his retirement from tennis after competing at the 2013 US Open.

Selected biography 7

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Novak Djokovic (Serbian: Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković pronounced [ˈnɔvɑk ˈdʑɔːkɔvitɕ] ^ⓘ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player, who is ranked World No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Djokovic has won 11 Grand Slam singles titles and has held the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings for more than 180 weeks. By winning three Grand Slam titles in 2011, Djokovic became the sixth male player to win three Grand Slams in a calendar year. By reaching the 2012 French Open final, he became the ninth player in the Open Era to reach the final of all four Grand Slam singles tournaments and became only the fifth to do so consecutively. Amongst other titles, he won the ATP World Tour Finals in 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2014 and was on the Serbian team which won the 2010 Davis Cup. He also won the Bronze medal in men's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has won 26 Masters 1000 series titles.

He holds several men's world records of the Open Era: becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events both separately and consecutively; the only man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open Era; and playing the longest Grand Slam men's singles final in history (5 hours 53 minutes). Djokovic's ATP tournament records include winning 31 consecutive ATP World Tour Masters 1000 series matches, playing in the finals at all nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (a record shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal), and being the only player to win eight.

Djokovic is the first Serbian player to win multiple Grand Slams and the first Serbian player to rank No. 1 for more than 100 weeks. He is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. Djokovic has won numerous awards, including the 2011 Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year and the 2012 Best Male Tennis Player ESPY Award. He has won the ATP World Tour Player of the Year in 2011 and 2012.

He is a double winner of the award The Best Sportsperson of Serbia and award for The Best Sportsman by Olympic Committee of Serbia. He is considered to be the best Serbian tennis player in history, and one of the best to have ever come from the former Yugoslavia.

Selected biography 8

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Ana Ivanovic, (Serbian: Ана Ивановић, Serbian pronunciation: [ˈana iˈvaːnɔvitɕ] ^ⓘ; born 6 November 1987, in Belgrade, Serbia, then Yugoslavia) is a former World No.1 Serbian tennis player. She won the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open.

Competing as a professional since 2003, Ivanovic has won 15 WTA Tour singles titles, and was ranked no. for 12 weeks in 2008.

After winning the 2008 French Open she endured an ongoing period of reduced success, failing to make a Grand Slam quarterfinal in her subsequent 17 Grand Slam tournaments, and dropping as low as No. 65 in the rankings during July 2010. 2014 was a resurgent year for Ivanovic, winning the Auckland Open, her first singles title in over two years, and following up with tournament titles at the Monterrey Open, Birmingham Classic and Pan Pacific Open. She qualified for competition in the 2014 WTA Tour Championships and secured a year-end ranking of No.5.

Selected biography 9

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Andre Agassi (born April 29, 1970) is a former World No. 1 professional American tennis player who won eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. He is one of five male players to have won all four Grand Slam singles events. He has won the Tennis Masters Cup, been part of a winning Davis Cup team, and has won an Olympic gold medal. He won 17 ATP Masters Series tournaments, more than any other player. TENNIS Magazine has named him the 12th greatest player from 1965 through 2005.

Because of sciatica caused by two bulging discs in his back, a spondylolisthesis (vertebral displacement), and a bone spur that interferes with the nerve, Agassi retired from professional tennis on September 3, 2006, after losing in the third round of the US Open. Agassi is married to Steffi Graf and has two children. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation, which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada. In 2001, the Foundation opened the Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy in Las Vegas, a K-12 public charter school for at-risk children.

Selected biography 10

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Pete Sampras (born 12 August 1971), is a former World No. 1 American tennis player. During his 15-year career, he won a record 14 Grand Slam men's singles titles in 52 appearances. Sampras finished as World No. 1 on the ATP rankings for six consecutive years, a record for the open era and tied for third all-time.

Sampras won the singles title at Wimbledon seven times, a record shared with William Renshaw and Roger Federer. He also won five singles titles at the US Open, an open era record shared with Jimmy Connors. Bud Collins has named Sampras as one of the top five men's tennis players of all-time, and TENNIS Magazine has named him the greatest player from 1965 through 2005. On July 17, 2007, Sampras was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Selected biography 11

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Jimmy Connors (born September 2, 1952, in East St. Louis, Illinois, also known as "Jimbo") is a former World No. 1 American tennis player. He held the top ranking for 160 consecutive weeks from July 29, 1974 through August 29, 1977, and an additional eight times during his career (a total of 268 weeks). He won eight Grand Slam singles titles and two Grand Slam doubles titles with Ilie Năstase and was the mixed doubles runner-up with Chris Evert at the 1974 US Open. He is considered to be one of the top male tennis players of all time. He is a former coach of Andy Roddick, the winner of the 2003 US Open.

Selected biography 12

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Venus Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is currently ranked World No. 6 in singles and World No. 20 in doubles. She is considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time, she has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first African American woman to achieve the feat during the open era.

Her 21 Grand Slam titles ties her for twelfth on the all time list and is more than any other active female player except for her younger sister Serena Williams: seven in singles, twelve in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Her seven Grand Slam singles titles ties her with four other women for twelfth on the all-time list. Her five Wimbledon singles titles ties her with two other women for eighth on the all-time list. She is one of only three women in the open era to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles. From the 2000 Wimbledon Championships through the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held. She is one of only five women in the open era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.

Williams has won three Olympic gold medals, one in singles and two in women's doubles. She has won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis player. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924.

Williams has 46 career singles titles and her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest winning streak since January 1, 2000.

Venus has played her sister Serena in 25 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 14 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam singles finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they met in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together. She is also one of only two active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams, the other player being her sister Serena Williams .

Selected biography 13

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Serena Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American professional tennis player and current world no. 1. The Women's Tennis Association has ranked her world no. 1 in singles on six separate occasions. She regained this ranking for the sixth time on February 18, 2013. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on July 8, 2002. She is considered to be one of the greatest women's tennis players of all-time in a career hampered by several injuries.

Her 36 Grand Slam titles places her fifth on the all-time list: 21 in singles, 13 in women's doubles, and 2 in mixed doubles. She is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four Grand Slam singles titles simultaneously and only the fifth woman in history to do so. Her 21 Grand Slam singles titles is third on the all-time list behind Margaret Court and Steffi Graf. She has won more Grand Slam titles in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles than any other active female player.

Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles. She has won more career prize money than any other female athlete in history. Serena has played older sister Venus in 27 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 16 of these matches. They have met in eight Grand Slam finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they played each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, which was the first time in the open era that the same two players had contested four consecutive Grand Slam finals. The pair have won 12 Grand Slam doubles titles together.

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David Nalbandian (born 1 January 1982) is an Argentinian former professional tennis player. Nalbandian has won 11 ATP titles including the season-ending 2005 Tennis Masters Cup (forerunner of the ATP World Tour Finals). He reached a highest singles ATP ranking of No. 3 on 20 March 2006.

Nalbandian began playing tennis at age five when his Iranian grandfather built a cement court in his backyard, that's why he had a preference for fast surfaces, unlike other Argentinian players, who prefer clay courts. Once in a TV show, when asked about his success at 2002 Wimbledon Championships, where he reached the final, he joked that his run-up had been due to grass growing on the court his grandfather had once built. As a junior player, he won the 1998 Junior US Open singles against Roger Federer and the 1999 Junior Wimbledon doubles titles.

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Andy Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player and current British No. 1. His highest world ranking was No. 2 from 17 August 2009 to 31 August 2009. Murray achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on 16 April 2007.

Murray defeated Roger Federer at the 2012 Olympic Games in straight sets to win the gold medal in the men's singles final. At the 2012 US Open, Murray became the first British player since 1977, and the first British man since 1936, to win a Grand Slam singles tournament, when he defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets. This title made him the only British male to become a Grand Slam singles champion during the Open Era. On 7 July 2013, Murray won the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, becoming the first British man to do so since Fred Perry, 77 years previously.

Murray is most proficient on a fast surface (such as hard courts), although he has worked hard since 2008 on improving his clay court game. Murray works with a team of fitness experts. After having worked with Ivan Lendl as a coach from 2011 through 2013 he is currently coached by Amélie Mauresmo.

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Rod Laver MBE (born 9 August 1938) is an Australian former tennis player and was the World No. 1 player for seven consecutive years, from 1964 to 1970. He is the only tennis player to have twice won the Grand Slam (all four major singles titles in the same year) — first as an amateur in 1962 and second as a professional in 1969. He is also the only male player and first player, male or female, to have won the Grand Slam during the open era. He is the 3rd male player to win all four Grand Slams in his career after Fred Perry and Don Budge.

Laver was ranked as the best professional player in the world during the five-year period he was excluded from the Grand Slam tournaments. Rod Laver is the second and last male player to win each major title twice in his career. Only Roy Emerson and Margaret Court had won all four Grand Slam tournaments twice before Laver in the history of tennis. In 1967 he also won the Professional Grand Slam (only Ken Rosewall did the same in 1963). Laver is universally regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

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Martina Navratilova (born October 18, 1956) is a Czech American and former Czechoslovak tennis player and a former World No. 1. Billie Jean King said that Navratilova is, "The greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived." In 2006.

Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women's doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. She reached the Wimbledon singles final 12 times, including 9 consecutive years from 1982 through 1990, and won the women's singles title at Wimbledon a record 9 times. She and King each won 20 Wimbledon titles, an all-time record.

Navratilova is one of just three women to have accomplished a career Grand Slam in singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles (called the Grand Slam "boxed set") a record she shares with Margaret Court and Doris Hart. She holds the open era record for most singles titles (167) and doubles titles (177). Navratilova, Margaret Court, and Maureen Connolly share the record for the most consecutive Grand Slam singles titles (six). In women's doubles, Navratilova and Pam Shriver won 109 consecutive matches and won all four Grand Slam titles in 1984. Also the pair set an all time record of 79 titles together and tied Louise Brough Clapp's and Margaret Osborne duPont's record of 20 Grand Slam women's doubles titles as a team.

Originally from Czechoslovakia, she was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at the age of 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residency. At the time, Navratilova was being told by the Czechoslovakian Sports Federation that she was becoming too Americanized. Navratilova became a US citizen in 1981, but on January 9, 2008, had her Czech citizenship restored. She stated she has not renounced her American citizenship nor does she plan to do so and that the restoration of her Czech citizenship was not politically motivated.

Navratilova is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy. She also serves the Health and Fitness Ambassador for AARP in an alliance created to help AARP's millions of members lead active, healthy lives.

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Juan Martín del Potro (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxwan marˈtin del ˈpotɾo]; born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine professional tennis player who is the current 89th ranked player in the world. Del Potro achieved a top 10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of World No. 4. Soon after attaining this ranking, however, del Potro had to withdraw from most of the tournaments in 2010 due to wrist injury, and his ranking plummeted.

Having started playing tennis at the age of seven, del Potro won his first senior match in 2004 at the age of 15. In 2008, he became the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments. He also completed the second longest winning streak in 2008, and the second longest by a teenager in the Open Era, behind Rafael Nadal—with his winning sequence spanning 23 matches over five tournaments. Del Potro captured his maiden Grand Slam title at the 2009 US Open defeating Roger Federer in the final, and Nadal in the semifinal, becoming the first and only man ever (as of Jan 2011) to beat both Federer and Nadal in the same Grand Slam tournament. He became the second Argentine and the fifth youngest man to win the US Open title in the Open Era. [...]

Del Potro is primarily an offensive baseliner with a powerful serve and deep, flat/topspin groundstrokes. His forehand shot is one of his main strengths, capable of generating speeds over 100 mph, and he also possesses a very consistent and powerful double-handed backhand. Del Potro's height allows him to get a powerful first serve, and makes it easier for him to return high topspin balls. Del Potro's best surfaces are hard and clay, while his game on grass has yet to improve with his height being cited as a possible factor.

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Laura Robson (born 21 January 1994) is an English tennis player. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her first professional tournament in November 2008.

Robson has dropped out of the top 1000 in the world in singles following a prolonged absence from the WTA Tour due to a wrist injury picked up early in the 2014 season. A career high singles ranking of world number 27 was reached on 8 July 2013. She has a career high doubles ranking of number 82 but is currently unranked. She won a silver medal playing with Andy Murray in the mixed doubles at the 2012 London Olympics, with whom she also reached the 2010 Hopman Cup final.

Robson has appeared at least once in the main draw of every Grand Slam tournament. She is the first British woman since Samantha Smith at Wimbledon in 1998 to reach the fourth round of a major tournament, having done so at the 2012 US Open and the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2012 Guangzhou Women's Open, Robson became the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1990 to reach a WTA main-tour final. She was named WTA Newcomer of the Year for 2012.

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Leander Paes (born 17 June 1973) is an Indian professional tennis player who currently features in the doubles events in the ATP tour and the Davis Cup tournament. Having won 6 Doubles and 6 Mixed Doubles Tennis Grand Slam titles and finishing runners up in numerous other Grand Slam finals, he is considered to be one of the greatest and most respected contemporary doubles and mixed doubles players in the world. He is among the most successful professional Indian tennis players and is also the former captain of the Indian Davis Cup team. He is the recipient of India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1996–1997, the Arjuna Award in 1990, and the Padma Shri award in 2001 for his outstanding contribution to tennis in India.

Apart from his twelve Grand Slam victories at doubles and mixed doubles events, he is famous for his several memorable Davis Cup performances playing for India and also for winning a bronze medal for India in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. He also achieved the rare Men's Doubles/Mixed Doubles double during the 1999 Wimbledon. His consecutive Olympic appearances from 1992 to 2008 make him the third Indian, after shooters Karni Singh and Randhir Singh, to compete at five Olympic Games. After winning the Mixed Doubles in Wimbledon 2010, Leander Paes became only the second man (after Rod Laver) to win Wimbledon titles in three different decades. In 2010 he joined the Board of Directors of Olympic Gold Quest,> a foundation co-founded by Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to support talented athletes from India in winning Olympic medals.[...]

Duo of Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi were nicknamed as "Indian Express".Leander Paes's off and on partnership with fellow Indian tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi draws constant media attention in his home country, India. In the 2006 Asian Games, a loss to the Chinese Taipei in the team event led Leander to question Bhupathi's commitment to Team India. He once stated in an interview that although he and Bhupathi are friends, he did not consider pairing with his former team-mate. However, for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, they decided to play together for their country, and lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual champions Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka.

In 2011, the "Indian Express" pair won the doubles title at Chennai Open. They reunited to play in a Grand Slam Tournament after 9 years and claimed runners-up in the 2011 Australian Open.

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In 1932, Gottfried von Cramm earned a berth as a Davis Cup competitor for his country and immediately won the first of four straight German national championships. During this time he also teamed up with Hilde Krahwinkel to win the 1933 Mixed Doubles title at Wimbledon. Noted for his gentlemanly conduct and fair play, he gained the admiration and respect of his fellow tennis players. He earned his first individual Grand Slam title in 1934, winning the French Open. His victory made him a national hero in his native Germany; however, it was by chance that he did so just after Adolf Hitler had come to power. The handsome, blond Gottfried von Cramm fit perfectly the Aryan race image of a Nazi ideology that put pressure on all German athletes to be superior. However, von Cramm steadfastly refused to be a tool for Nazi propaganda. Germany effectively lost its 1935 Davis Cup Interzone Final against the US, when von Cramm refused to take match point in the deciding game, by notifying the umpire that the ball had tipped his racket, and thus calling a point against himself, though no one had witnessed the error.

For three straight years he was the men's singles runner-up at the Wimbledon Championships, losing memorable matches in the finals to England's Fred Perry in 1935 and again in 1936. The following year he lost in the finals to American Don Budge both at Wimbledon and at the U.S. National Championships. In 1935, he was beaten in the French Open finals by Perry but turned the tables the following year and defeated Perry for his second French championship. In an attempt to get von Cramm on side, the Nazi regime punished his insubordination by not allowing him to compete in the 1937 French championship even though he was the defending champion.

Despite his Grand Slam play, Gottfried von Cramm is most remembered for his match against Don Budge during the 1937 Davis Cup. He was ahead 4–1 in the final set, when Budge launched a comeback, eventually winning 8–6 in a match considered by many as the greatest battle in the annals of Davis Cup play and one of the pre-eminent matches in all of tennis history. In a later interview, Budge said that von Cramm had received a phone call from Hitler minutes before the match started and came out pale and serious and had played each point as though his life depended on winning.

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Lew Hoad (23 November 1934 – 3 July 1994) was an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player.

In his 1979 autobiography, Jack Kramer, the long-time tennis promoter and great player himself, ranked Hoad as one of the 21 best players of all time. For five straight years, beginning in 1952, he was ranked in the world top 10 for amateurs, reaching the World No. 1 spot in 1956. Hoad was a member of the Australian team that between 1952 and 1956 won the Davis Cup four times. He turned professional in July 1957.

Hoad won four majors as an amateur, and won the 1959 Tournament of Champions as a professional. Rod Laver, writing for the Herald-Sun newspaper in 2012, ranked Lew as the greatest player of the 'Past Champions' era of tennis. Laver described his strengths of "power, volleying and explosiveness" as justification of his accolade. Serious back problems plagued Hoad throughout his career, particularly after he turned professional, and led to his effective retirement from tennis in 1967 although he made sporadic comebacks enticed by the advent of the open era in 1968.

Following his retirement Hoad and his wife Jenny operated a tennis resort, Lew Hoad's Campo de Tenis in Fuengirola, Spain, near Málaga. Hoad died of leukemia on 3 July 1994.

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Ken Rosewall AM, MBE (born 2 November 1934) is a former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player from Australia.

Rosewall won a record 25 tennis Majors including 8 Grand Slam singles titles and before the Open Era a record 15 Pro Slam titles and a record 35 Major finals overall. He won the Pro Grand Slam in 1963. Rosewall won 9 slams in doubles with a career double grand slam. He is considered to be one of the top male tennis players of all time. He had a renowned backhand and enjoyed a long career at the highest levels from the early 1950s to the early 1970s. Rosewall was one of the two best male players for about nine years and was the World No. 1 player for a number of years in the early 1960s. He was ranked among the top 20 players, amateur or professional, every year from 1952 through 1977. Rosewall is the only player to have simultaneously held Pro Grand Slam titles on three different surfaces (1962–1963). At the 1971 Australian Open he became the first male player during the open era to win a Grand Slam tournament without dropping a set.

A natural left-hander, he was taught by his father to play right-handed. Perhaps as a result of this unorthodox training (or in spite of it), he developed a powerful and effective backhand but never had anything more than an accurate but relatively soft serve. He was 1.70 m tall (5 ft 7 in) and weighed 67 kg (145 pounds) and was ironically nicknamed "Muscles" by his fellow-players because of his lack of them. He was, however, fast, agile, and tireless, with a deadly volley. His sliced backhand was his strongest shot, and, along with the very different backhand of former player Don Budge, has generally been considered one of the best, if not the best, backhands yet seen.

The father of two sons, and grandfather of five, Rosewall now lives in northern Sydney.

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Henri Cochet (French: [ɑ̃ʁi ʒɑ̃ ˈkəʊʃeɪ]); (14 December 1901 – 1 April 1987) was a champion tennis player, one of the famous "Four Musketeers" from France who dominated tennis in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Born in Villeurbanne, Rhône, Cochet won ten amateur Majors (Four French Championships, two Wimbledons, one US Championship, one World Hard Court Championship and two World Covered Court Championships) and one professional Major (French Pro) during his singles career (achieving victory on three different surfaces). He was ranked World No. 1 player for four consecutive years, 1928 through 1931 by A. Wallis Myers. He turned professional in 1933 but, after a less than stellar pro career, he was reinstated as an amateur in 1946.

The Four Musketeers were inducted simultaneously into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island in 1976. Cochet died at age 85 in Paris.

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Björn Borg (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈbjœːɳ ˈbɔrj] ^ⓘ; born 6 June 1956) is a former World No. 1 tennis player from Sweden widely considered to be one of the greatest in tennis history. Between 1974 and 1981 he won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, six at the French Open and five consecutive at Wimbledon. He also won three year-end championships and 15 Grand Prix Super Series titles.

Borg set numerous Open Era records that still stand, most notably winning 41% of the Grand Slam singles tournaments he entered, winning both the French Open and Wimbledon for three consecutive years, and winning three Grand Slams without losing a set. He also was the first male professional to win 11 Grand Slam singles titles, and his career match win rate remains the second best of the Open Era.

A teenage sensation at the start of his career, Borg's unprecedented stardom and consistent success helped propel the rising popularity of tennis during the 1970s. As a result, the professional tour became more lucrative, and in 1979 he was the first player to earn more than one million dollars in prize money in a single season. He also made millions in endorsements throughout his career. The downside, however, was the constant attention and pressure eventually caused burnout and his retirement at the age of 26.

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Fred Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from 1934 to 1936 and was World Amateur number one tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship, in 1936 and was the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open.

Perry was the first player to win all four Grand Slam singles titles (though not all in the same year) and completed this "Career Grand Slam" at the age of 26, remaining the only British player ever to achieve this. Although Perry began his tennis career aged 18, he was also a Table Tennis World Champion in 1929.

In 1933, Perry helped lead the Great Britain team to victory over France in the Davis Cup; the team's first success since 1912, followed by wins over the United States in 1934, 1935, and a fourth consecutive title with victory over Australia in 1936.

From 1927 to 1967, the International Lawn Tennis Federation, treated all amateur champions as though they no longer existed, from the moment they turned professional. Perry, who turned pro at the end of the 1936 season, suffered the same fate. Only in 1968, with the introduction of "Open Tennis" did this change. After becoming disillusioned with the class-conscious nature of the Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, the working-class Perry moved to the United States and became a naturalised US citizen in 1938. Despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, Perry was not accorded full recognition by tennis authorities until his twilight years. In 1984, a statue of Perry was unveiled at Wimbledon, and in the same year Perry became the only tennis player listed in a survey to find the "Best of the Best" British sportsmen of the 20th century.

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Kho Sin-Khie, (Chinese: 许承基; pinyin: Xu Chengji, Mandarin pronunciation: [xǔ tʂʰəŋ˧˥tɕi˥˩]; 2 September 1912 – 31 January 1947) was an Indonesian-born tennis player who represented the Republic of China in the Davis Cup. He was from the Peranakan Chinese ethnic group. He was the first Chinese player ever to win a major international tournament. He won twice the British Hard Court Championships and the Surrey Grass Court Championships on one occasion. He was a Swiss, Italian and Swedish champion as well.

Kho was born and raised in Java to a poor family in an eggplant farm where his father, Han Ting was the head of the village. He had three brothers and three sisters. After he had been dropped out of school he started playing tennis at the age of 14, while working in a sports equipment store. Kho won numerous tournaments in Europe, most notably winning the British Hard Court Championships twice, in 1938 and 1939 and was a runner-up in 1946. He reached the fourth round of the 1936 French Championships and 1938 Wimbledon Championships. Kho appeared in six Davis Cup ties for China, between 1935–1946, winning eight of his 18 rubbers.

On 27 January 1940 he married Jane Margaret Gordon Balfour, daughter of E.J. Gordon Balfour, a judge in Ceylon. In order to help his country against the Empire of Japan he participated in a series of exhibition matches with Englishman Pat Hughes in the Malacca Lawn Tennis Club. While in London on 31 January 1947, Kho was admitted to hospital with double pneumonia and died soon after.

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Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28, 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first person of color to win a Grand Slam title (the French Open). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open), then won both again in 1958, and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame. "She is one of the greatest players who ever lived," said Robert Ryland, a tennis contemporary and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams. "Martina couldn't touch her. I think she'd beat the Williams sisters." In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women's professional golf tour.

At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, Gibson was often compared to Jackie Robinson. "Her road to success was a challenging one," said Billie Jean King, "but I never saw her back down". "To anyone, she was an inspiration, because of what she was able to do at a time when it was enormously difficult to play tennis at all if you were black," said former New York City Mayor David Dinkins. "I am honored to have followed in such great footsteps," wrote Venus Williams. "Her accomplishments set the stage for my success, and through players like myself and Serena and many others to come, her legacy will live on."

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Tony Wilding (31 October 1883 – 9 May 1915) was a former World number 1 tennis player from Christchurch, New Zealand.

Wilding was the son of wealthy English immigrants to New Zealand and enjoyed the use of private tennis courts at their home. He obtained a legal education at Trinity College, Cambridge and briefly joined his father's law firm. His tennis career started with him winning the Canterbury Championships aged 17.

Wilding developed into a leading tennis player in the world during 1909–1914 and is considered to be a former World number 1. He won 11 Grand Slam tournament titles including six in singles and five in doubles. He also won three ILTF Championships; the World Hard Court Championships twice and the World Covered Court Championships once. Wilding won the Davis Cup four times playing for Australasia, and won a bronze medal at the indoor singles tennis event of the 1912 Olympics which made him the first and only player ever from New Zealand to win an Olympic medal in tennis in the Summer Olympics,a record which still remains unbroken as of 2016. He still holds a number of all time singles tennis records namely 75 career clay court titles (1900–15), 23 titles won in a single season (1906) and 114 career outdoor titles (shared with Rod Laver). In his ranking list of greatest tennis players compiled in 1950, Norman Brookes, winner of three Grand Slam titles and president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia, put Wilding in fourth place.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I Wilding enlisted and was killed on 9 May 1915 during the Battle of Aubers Ridge at Neuve-Chapelle, France. In 1978 Wilding was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

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Don Budge (June 13, 1915 – January 26, 2000) was an American tennis champion who was a World No. 1 player for five years, first as an amateur and then as a professional.

Budge is most famous as the first player, male or female, and only American male to win in a single year the four tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam of tennis and second male player to win all four Grand Slams tournaments in his career after Fred Perry. He is to date the youngest to achieve that feat. Budge won six consecutive Grand Slam events starting with the 1937 Wimbledon Championships. He turned professional after winning the Grand Slam at the 1938 U.S. National Championships and thereafter played mostly head-to-head matches. Budge won four Pro Slams, achieved on three different surfaces. Budge was considered to have the best backhand in the history of tennis, at least until the emergence of Ken Rosewall in the 1950s and 1960s.

Budge was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame at Newport, Rhode Island in 1964.

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Bill Tilden (February 10, 1893 – June 5, 1953), nicknamed "Big Bill," was an American male tennis player. He is often considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Tilden was the World No. 1 player for six years from 1920 through 1925. He won 14 Major singles titles including ten Grand Slams, one World Hard Court Championships and three Pro Slams. He also won a record seven US Championships titles (shared with Richard Sears and Bill Larned).

Tilden dominated the world of international tennis in the first half of the 1920s, and during his 18-year amateur period of 1912–30, won 138 of 192 tournaments. He owns a number of all-time tennis achievements including a career match winning record and a career winning percentage at the US National Championships. At the 1929 US National Championships Tilden became the first player to reach 10 finals at a single Grand Slam event. This mark stood until 2015, when Roger Federer reached his tenth Wimbledon final. Tilden, who was frequently at odds with the rigid United States Lawn Tennis Association about his amateur status and income derived from newspaper articles, won his last Major title in 1930 at Wimbledon aged 37. He turned professional on the last day of that year and toured with a handful of other professionals for the next 15 years.

Tilden was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1959.

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Reginald Doherty (14 October 1872 – 29 December 1910) was a British World No. 1 ranked tennis player, and the older brother of tennis player Laurence Doherty. During his career he won four consecutive singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships between 1897 and 1900. Additionally he won eight Wimbledon doubles titles and two doubles titles at the U.S. National Championships, all partnering his brother Laurence.

Doherty represented the British Isles in the prestigious Davis Cup contest from 1902 to 1906. In 1902 he won the doubles match with his brother but lost the final and decisive singles match against American Malcolm Whitman in straight sets. In 1903 he contributed significantly to his team's first Davis Cup title against the United States by winning the doubles match and the decisive singles match. Doherty won the Davis Cup trophy a further three times (1904, 1905, 1906) although in these years he only competed, and won, in the doubles matches.

Doherty died of heart failure and neurasthenia on 29 December 1910 at the age of only 38 at his home in Kensington. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1980 together with his brother.

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Helen Wills (October 6, 1905 – January 1, 1998), also known as Helen Wills Moody and Helen Wills Roark, was an American tennis player. She became famous for holding the top position in women's tennis for a total of nine years: 1927–33, 1935 and 1938. Wills won 31 Grand Slam tournament titles (singles, doubles, and mixed doubles) during her career, including 19 singles titles.

Wills was the first American woman athlete to become a global celebrity, making friends with royalty and film stars despite her preference to stay out of the limelight. She was admired for her graceful physique and for her fluid motion. She was part of a new tennis fashion, playing in knee-length pleated skirts rather than the longer ones of her predecessors. Unusually, she practiced against men to hone her craft, and she played a relentless game, wearing down her female opponents with power and accuracy. In 1933 she beat the 8th-ranked male player in an exhibition match.

Her record of eight wins at Wimbledon was not surpassed until 1990 when Martina Navratilova won nine. She was said to be "arguably the most dominant tennis player of the 20th century", and has been called by some (including Jack Kramer, Harry Hopman, Don Budge) as the greatest female player in history.

Wills was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1959.

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Suzanne Lenglen (24 May 1899 – 4 July 1938) was a French tennis player who won 31 Championship titles between 1914 and 1926. She dominated women's tennis from the end of World War I until 1926 when she turned professional. A flamboyant, trendsetting athlete, she was the first female tennis celebrity and one of the first international female sport stars, named La Divine (the divine one) by the French press. Lenglen's 241 titles, 181 match winning streak and 341–7 (97.99%) match record are hard to imagine happening in today's tennis atmosphere.

In 1926 she became the first major female tennis star to turn professional. Lenglen was paid US$50,000 by American entrepreneur Charles C. Pyle to tour the United States in a series of matches against Mary K. Browne.

The second court at the Roland Garros Stadium, site of the French Open, is named Court Suzanne Lenglen in her honour and the trophy awarded to the winner of the Women's Singles competition at the French Open is named the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

Lenglen was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1978.