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spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Bud's preface","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "The assignment: Select the top five men's tennis players of all-time.
This is about as simple as picking the five most stunning mountains in the world.
Over the years, as the game has evolved, made new demands of professionalization, and spread farther across the planet, at least 25 players are genuine candidates for the quintessential quintet.
To my mind, greats of one era -- Big Bill Tilden, the paragon of the 1920s, for one -- would be greats in another, adapting to changes in conditions, equipment, and methods.
Although there are more very good players today than ever before, true greats are scarce, as they always have been.
So here are my five, in their order of appearance on the scene.
";
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Bill Tilden
United States","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "
Tall and slim with a “cannonball” serve, Tilden had every shot, spin, angle, and imperious self-confidence.
While Tilden's first serve was devastating, his second serve was super challenging with its kicking twist.
No player of his era had a stronger combination of forehand and backhand drives, supplemented by a forehand chop and a backhand slice.
The backcourt was where Tilden played tennis as he was no advocate of the rush to the net for the instant volley coup. Instead he preferred to make his matches games of chess as mentally he tried to outwit his opponents while also trying to outplay them physically.
From 1920 to 1926, he dominated the game. During those years he was invincible in the United States, won Wimbledon both times he competed there, and captured 13 successive singles matches in the Davis Cup challenge round against the best players from Australia, France, and Japan.
As an amateur (1912-30) he won 138 of 192 tournaments, lost 28 finals, and had a 907-62 match record -- a phenomenal .936 winning percentage.
Tilden's last major triumph was the Wimbledon singles title of 1930, and it gave him a total of 10 majors, which stood as the men's record until Roy Emerson surpassed it in 1967.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1959.
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";
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Pancho Gonzalez
United States","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "
Very much his own man, a loner, and an acerbic competitor, most of Gonzalez's great tennis was played beyond wide public attention, on a nearly secret pro tour amid a small band of gypsies of whom he was the ticket-selling mainstay.
He had rages against opponents, officials, photographers, reporters and even spectators.
These rages were frequently spectacular, but they only served to intensify Gonzalez's play, and they did not at all disrupt his concentration.
He won four major titles, two in U.S. Open singles, one in French Open doubles, and one in Wimbledon doubles. He also won 17 other titles, and three months before his 44th birthday he was the oldest player to win a tournament in the Open era.
After winning the U.S. Open singles titles of 1948-49, and a Davis Cup, he turned pro, eventually dominating opponents for a decade as a steely, constantly attacking competitor.
Open tennis arrived late for him yet Gonzalez was a factor into his early 40s.
If I had to choose someone to play for my life it would be Pancho Gonzalez.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1968.
Sound off in our tennis message boards
";
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Rod Laver
Australia","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "
A left-handed whirlwind who would conquer the tennis world, and in my eyes, the greatest player ever.
Few champions have been as devastating and as dominant as Laver was as an amateur and a pro during the 1960s.
An incessant attacker, he was nevertheless a complete player who glowed in the backcourt and at the net.
Quick and combative, this southpaw scintillated at serve-and-volley, and had superb groundies, and a wicked topspin backhand.
Two Grand Slams, 1962 as an amateur, 1969 as a pro, plus five Davis Cups. Nobody since has come close.
During a 23-year career that spanned the amateur and Open eras, Laver won 47 pro titles in singles, and was runner-up 21 times.
Ten majors were his (four at Wimbledon, two at each of the other venues), but how many would he have totaled if his prime years, 1963-67, hadn't been spent with the pros in relative obscurity?
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981.
Sound off in our tennis message boards";
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Bjorn Borg
Sweden","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "
Before he was 21, Bjorn Borg had registered feats that would set him apart as one of the game's greats -- and before he was 26, the headbanded, golden-locked Swede was through.
No career in men's tennis of the modern era has been so brief and bright. Borg did try comebacks in 1991, 1992, and 1993, all unsuccessful.
A player of great strength and endurance, Borg had a distinctive and unorthodox style and appearance, bowlegged, yet very fast.
He utilized a two-handed backhand, adapted from the slap shot in hockey, a game he favored as a child.
Cool, dauntless, speedy. Peerless at the baseline, Borg broadened to add a heavy serve, some volleying, and chipping approaches in order to capture Wimbledon for five straight years from 1976 to 1980.
To that he added a Davis Cup, and a record six French Opens. Nobody can match him in putting those two together.
Players today can't believe that Borg made the clay-grass transition to conquer both the French Open and Wimbledon three straight years from 1978 to 1980.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1987
Sound off in our tennis message boards";
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i++] = new Array("","Pete Sampras
United States","","","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_0823_Greatestplyr[i-1].body = "
The silky Sampras smoothly glided along a path of greatness in an outwardly unconcerned and effortless manner while he mounted a planned and concerted assault on the citadels of the past.
He took aim at Roy Emerson's record of 12 singles titles at majors, and surpassed it.
How can you argue with 14 singles titles at majors, starting in 1990 as the youngest U.S. Open winner at age 19.
Half of those titles were Wimbledons, plus five U.S. Opens, and two Australian Opens.
Smooth in his movements, Sampras was a deadly serve-and-volleyer, relentless competitor, standing as world No. 1 for a record six straight years from 1993 to 1998.
He would put all his extraordinary qualities on display: the grit and stubbornness underlying fluid groundies, thundering serves, and casual yet deadly volleys and racing forehands.
His only struggles were on clay at the French Open, but Sampras did win the Italian Open on clay in 1994, and delivered the Davis Cup brilliantly in 1995 with a two singles and doubles all-winning performance against Russia on Moscow dirt.
Sound off in our tennis message boards"; // END editorial data