No. 10 – Michael Chang, United States
Image: Source
Retired for 6 years now, Michael Chang is still among the top 10 on the career earnings list with 19.1 million dollars earned in 15 years.
Chang was never Number one in the world, peaking at number two in 1996. He burst on to the scene becoming the youngest ever player to win a grand slam, winning the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17, beating Stefan Edberg in the Roland Garros final. He reached three more slam finals – 1995 losing to Muster in the Roland Garros Final and in 1996 reaching both the Australian Open, losing to Boris Becker and the US Open, losing to Pete Sampras. Chang won 34 single titles and reached 24 more finals. Seven of the titles were at Masters tournaments.
No. 9 – Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia
Image: Source
Ivanisevic is retired for 5 years now but still hanging on in the top ten of career earnings at number nine, with 19.8 million dollars. Ivanisevic played from 1988-2004 on the Pro circuit.
Like Michael Chang, he has only one Grand Slam title – Wimbledon in 2001. He entered the tournament as a wild card, and is the only player to win the men’s title at Wimbledon as a wild card. Like Chang, his peak ranking was number twoin the world, achieved in 1994.
He reached 4 grand slam finals, all in Wimbledon. He was able to win in his final visit,beating Patrick Rafter. Pete Sampras twice and Andre Agassi beat him in the three previous finals. He reached 49 finals in his career, winning 22 of them and also had 9 career titles as a doubles player.
No. 8 – Stefan Edberg, Sweden
Image: Source
Retired for 13 years now, Edberg is still number eight in the world, with 20.6 Million dollars earned in a 14 year career. Along with Boris Becker, Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, ruled the second half of the 80’s, except for the French Open.
Edberg won six grand slam titles, winning twice in Australia, twice in Wimbledon and the US Open twice. He reached the Roland Garros final once in 1989 but was defeated by a 17 year old Michael Chang. He also won 2 doubles grand slams. Edberg finished his career with 42 career titles in the singles circuit and 18 in the doubles.
No. 7 – Ivan Lendl, Czech Republic/United States
Image: Source
The oldest player on the list, Ivan Lendl began his career in 1978 and retired in 1994 at the age of 34. He won 21.2 Million Dollars in a career that spanned 3 decades.
Lendl won 8 grand slams but never at Wimbledon, which probably has him out of discussion of the greatest of all time. He did win the Australian Open twice, and he won the US Open and the French Open three times each. All his grand slams came between 1985 to 1990, and he held the top spot in the rankings for most of those 5 years.
Lendl reached at least one grand slam final for 11 consecutive years, something Pete Sampras matched later on, and is considered one of the pioneers of “power tennis” that is mostly played from the baseline, a style that most players use today.
Lendl won 144 titles in his career, with 94 of them listed by ATP, second best all time (Jimmy Connors has 109) and also has 9 doubles titles.
No. 6 – Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Russia
Image: Source
6th on the All time earnings list with 23.8 Million dollars, Yevgeny Kafelnikov played between 1992 to 2003. He is the last man to win the singles and the doubles title in the same grand slam, back in the 1996 French Open.
Kafelnikov won 2 singles grand slam titles, 1996 in Roland Garros beating Michael Stich and in 1999, beating Thomas Enqvist at the Australian Open final. He reached another Slam Final in 2000, losing to Andre Agassi in Australia. Kafelnikov also won 4 doubles titles in Grand Slam Tournament, three of them in the French Open. The first three came with Daniel Vacek as his partner and the last one with Paul Haarhuis.
Kafelnikov won 26 singles titles out of 46 finals he reached and also owns 27 doubles titles.
No. 5 – Rafael Nadal, Spain
Image: Source
No. 5 on our list, the King of Clay, the current world number 1, Rafa has earned 25 million dollars in his 8 year career so far, trailing 4th place by only 75,000 dollars, so as soon as he gets back from his injury he’ll get the fourth spot.
Nadal has six grand slam titles, four of them coming in the French Open (2005-2008) and the two other split between Wimbledon (2008) and the Australian Open (2009). He hasn’t gotten past the Semi Finals in New York yet, but he’s only 23 so he has plenty of time. In five of his six Grand Slam titles he has beaten Roger Federer in the final. In 2005 he beat Federer in the Semi Final of the tournament. He has also lost two Wimbledon finals, both to Roger Federer in 2006-2007.
Nadal has 36 singles titles out of 46 times he has reached finals, an impressive 78% success ratio. He has 5 titles already in 2009. He has also won 5 doubles titles in his career.
No. 4 – Boris Becker, Germany
Image: Source
One of the most popular tennis players in history and also one of the best of them. Boom Boom Becker is fourth on the career earnings list with 25.08 Million dollars earned in 15 years.
Becker is a former world number one who has won six grand slam titles – 3 in Wimbledon (1985, 1986, 1989), two in the Australian Open (1991, 1996) and one US Open (1989). He reached the French Open Semi’s three times, but the Roland Garros title always eluded him and prevented the career grand slam.
Becker is the youngest Wimbledon winner in history, with him being 17 in 1985, beating Kevin Curren in four sets. He was the first German to win Wimbledon and at the time the youngest to win a grand slam, a record later broken by Michael Chang.
Becker won 49 career titles and 15 doubles titles.
No. 3 – Andre Agassi, United States
Image: Source
Another former world number one and the only one married to a former world number one (Steffi Graf), with 31.1 Million dollar careerearnings is third on the all time list.
Agassi has eight grand slam titles and is one of only six men to achieve a career grand slam, winning all four major tournaments. He has four wins in the Australian Open (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003), one Wimbledon (1992), one French Open (1999) and two US Open titles (1994, 1999). He reached another seven slam finals but lost, with Pete Sampras beating him three times. He beat Sampras only once in a slam final, 1995 in Australia.
Agassi has 17 Masters titles, the all time leader and 60 singles titles in general out of 90 finals and one doubles title.
No. 2 – Pete Sampras, United States
Image: Source
One of only two men to earn more than 40 million dollars in their career, Pistol Pete won 43.2 million dollars in his 15 year career. He was number one for a quite a while until Roger Federer knocked him off the throne, and is on the verge of knocking him off the Grand Slam titles throne.
Pete Sampras shares first place with Roger Federer for Career grand slam titles with 14. Sampras has won Wimbledon seven times (1993-1995, 1997-2000), shared number one with William Renshaw, five US Open titles (1990, 1993, 1995-1996, 2002), also shared number one with Roger Federer andJimmy Connors and two Australian Open titles (1994, 1997). He never got passed the French Open Semi Final, reaching it only once. Sampras has reached a Slam final four more times, losing three times in the US Open and once in the Australian Open.
Sampras finished the year at number one for six consecutive years (1993-1998), an ATP record. He won 64 singles titles and two doubles in his career.
No. 1 – Roger Federer, Switzerland
Image: Source
The current number two in the world is Number one on this list and probably every list you can think of regarding tennis players, subjective and objective. And if he isn’t, there’s a good chance he’ll on top of those lists by the time he gives up on his playing days.
Federer has won 48 Million Dollars to date and if his return from tennis hell continues there’s a good chance he’ll reach the 50 Million milestone by the end of 2009. Federer won the French Open earlier this month for the first time, becoming the sixth man in history to complete a career grand slam and also tied Pete Sampras for career grand slams with 14. He has won Wimbledon five times (2003-2007), the US Open five times (2004-2008), the Australian Open three times (2004, 2006-2007) and the mentioned Roland Garros title. He has reached five more grand slam finals that he lost, all losses coming to Rafael Nadal.
Federer has dominated the game like no one has in a very long time, probably not since Rod Laver back in the 60’s during the 2003-2007 stretch and with his recent rejuvenation process and Nadal showing signs of physical and mental fatigue from the past 18 months, who knows how many more titles, accolades and money The Swiss Maestro might rack up. The Best Tennis player of all time is his if you ask most tennis fans.
