Tennis

F

1980s

Although Connors and McEnroe remained top players through the 1980s, Borg retired early in the decade at age 25. Other leading male players of the era included Czech-born Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg of Sweden, and Boris Becker of Germany, who in 1985 became the youngest player to win the Wimbledon men’s singles title at 17.

One of the most successful female players ever was Czech-born Martina Navratilova. Navratilova won 167 singles titles during her career, including a record nine Wimbledon singles titles (1978, 1979, 1982-1987, 1990). Her rivalry with Evert was one of the most intense and long-lasting in tennis history.

Steffi Graf of Germany dominated women’s tennis beginning in the late 1980s, eventually winning 22 major singles titles and the 1988 grand slam (all four major singles championships in the same year). Other leading female players of the 1980s included American Tracy Austin and Czech Hana Mandlikova.

G

1990s to Today

In the early 1990s Lendl, Edberg, and Becker were established stars, joined by outstanding American players such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, and Michael Chang. Graf developed a rivalry with Yugoslavia-born Monica Seles, who emerged as a dominant player by winning the U.S., French, and Australian opens in both 1991 and 1992. Navratilova remained one of the highest ranked players until her retirement from singles competition at the end of 1994, and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain, Jennifer Capriati of the United States, and Gabriela Sabatini of Argentina also found success during the decade.

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Sampras was the dominant player in the world in the 1990s, with multiple championships at Wimbledon (1993-1995, 1997-2000), the U.S. Open (1993, 1995, 1996), and the Australian Open (1994, 1997). His win at Wimbledon in 2000 was his 13th, breaking Emerson’s record of 12 career grand slam singles titles, and he added a 14th title at the 2002 U.S. Open.

Agassi became just the fifth men’s player to win all four grand slam singles events at least once, taking the Australian Open four times (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003), the U.S. Open twice (1994, 1999), the French Open (1999), and Wimbledon (1992). Other male stars of the 1990s included Sergi Bruguera and Carlos Moya of Spain, Goran Ivanisevic of Croatia, Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, Richard Krajicek of The Netherlands, Thomas Muster of Austria, and Patrick Rafter of Australia.

In women’s tennis, Martina Hingis of Switzerland emerged as one of the top players of the late 1990s, winning five grand slam singles titles, including three at the French Open. Other prominent female players of the period were Jana Novotna of the Czech Republic; Mary Pierce of France; and Lindsay Davenport and sisters Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the United States. Serena Williams won the 1999 U.S. Open singles title, becoming the first black woman player to win a grand slam singles event in more than 40 years. Venus Williams won singles titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in both 2000 and 2001. She repeated at Wimbledon in 2005.

In 2002 Navratilova came out of retirement and proved she could still play at the top level in her mid-40s. The following year she won the Australian Open mixed doubles title, becoming the oldest player (46) to win a grand slam championship, and captured a record-tying 20th career Wimbledon title with a mixed doubles victory. In 2004 Navratilova became the oldest woman in 82 years to win a singles match at Wimbledon and also reached the doubles quarterfinals in the Olympics and the doubles semifinals at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Capriati broke through and won the Australian and French opens in 2001, the first grand slam singles titles of her career. She successfully defended her Australian title in 2002. In the 2002 French Open Serena Williams beat her sister in the final; in the process, the Williams sisters ascended to the top two positions in the world rankings, the first siblings ever to do so. Serena Williams also defeated her sister in the championship singles matches at the 2002 U.S. Open, the 2002 and 2003 Wimbledon tournaments, and the 2003 Australian Open.

In 2001 a new men’s tennis star, 20-year-old Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, won his first major title at the U.S. Open and became the youngest male player to finish the year ranked number one in the world. The top young American player of this period was Andy Roddick, who captured the U.S. Open in 2003.

Roger Federer of Switzerland emerged as the top player in the world in 2004, winning three of the four major titles (the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open) that year. In 2005 he won Wimbledon for the third straight year, becoming only the third male tennis player since 1936 to win three consecutive singles titles at the hallowed tournament. Federer followed that achievement with his second straight U.S. Open crown, defeating Andre Agassi in the final match. In January 2006 Federer won the Australian Open, but he lost the French Open on clay to Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who emerged as Federer’s main rival. Returning to the grass courts of Wimbledon, Federer defeated Nadal in the final to win his fourth consecutive Wimbledon singles title. He won his fifth Wimbledon title in 2007, tying the record for consecutive Wimbledon titles set by Björn Borg in 1980. Federer holds the record for most consecutive wins on grass in the Open Era (1968 to the present).

In 2008 Nadal supplanted Federer as the world’s top-rated men’s tennis player after winning that year’s French Open and Wimbledon. He added the 2009 Australian Open, his third title in grand slam events in less than a year.

Belgians Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin established themselves among the top women’s tennis stars. Henin captured three grand slam singles titles during 2003 and 2004, defeating Clijsters each time in the final. Russian women’s tennis came to prominence in 2004 as three different players won major titles: Anastasia Myskina (French Open), Maria Sharapova (Wimbledon), and Svetlana Kuznetsova (U.S. Open). In 2005 Serena Williams won the Australian Open, Henin the French Open, Venus Williams captured Wimbledon, and Clijsters collected her first grand slam title by taking the U.S. Open championship.

In 2006 France’s Amélie Mauresmo won her first grand slam title at the Australian Open and then took her second at Wimbledon in July, defeating Henin in the finals both times. But as the decade went on, the Williams sisters continued as major forces in grand slam tourneys with Serena winning championships at the Australian Open (2007 and 2009) and the U. S. Open (2008), and Venus winning titles at Wimbledon in 2007 and 2008.

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