1970- American tennis player In the 1980s America's tennis fans took to heart a new kind of player, one without the disciplined control of a Boris Becker or the tantrums of a John McEnroe. "To see him is to think of MTV," wrote a Sports Illustrated reporter when Agassi burst onto the scene in 1987. "The kid … has a teenager hipster's style and swagger.…
1943-1993 American tennis player Arthur Ashe's 1993 memoir, aptly titled Days of Grace, is a reflection on his brief but rich life as a champion tennis player, a father, an African-American man, and a compassionate and courageous human being. As the first African American to win a major men's tennis title and to be ranked number one internationally, Ashe used his position and reputat…
1956- Swedish tennis player Bjorn Borg One of the best all-time performers in tennis history, Swedish player Bjorn Borg won 62 singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles, and was ranked number one in the world in 1979 and 1980. With his powerful two-handed backhand, menacing topspin, and balletic footwork, he challenged the chief rivals of his day, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. And wi…
1976- American tennis player Jennifer Capriati took the tennis world by storm in 1990 when she became the youngest player to ever reach a final of a professional tennis tournament just shy of her fourteenth birthday. She was the youngest ever player to reach the semifinals of the major tournaments and the youngest ever player to be ranked in the top ten. Capriati's initial success, however,…
1948- American tennis player Rosemary Casals teamed with Billie Jean King to become one of the top doubles tandems ever in women's tennis. On the court, Casals disdained the conservative, baseline strategy that had been the trademark of the women's game until the late 1960s. Casals, however, may have been most effective as a rebel off-court. She, along with pioneer King and others, f…
1972- American tennis player Michael Chang was the youngest tennis player to be ranked among the five best players in the world. Just fifteen years old when he came out from the juniors becoming the youngest player to win a major match at the U.S. Open, and the youngest go to the Tour semifinals, Chang turned pro in 1988. In 1989, at the age of 17, he became the youngest player ever to win the Fre…
1934-1969 American tennis player Maureen "Little Mo" Connolly's career ended prematurely with a freakish accident, and cancer cut short her life. But Connolly, who won all nine of her Grand Slam women's tennis events, still played long enough to make an indelible mark on the game. "Whenever a great player comes long you have to ask, 'Could she have beaten …
1952- American tennis player Jimmy Connors, has been one of the most recognizable American tennis players for four decades. The left-handed player was known for his two-handed backhand and powerful return-of-serve which helped him win eight Grand Slam championships. In particular, Connors won the U.S. Open championship five times and he is the only player to win this tournament on three different …
1970- American tennis player Jim Courier, arguably the world's best men's tennis player for one all-too-brief period in the early 1990s, has always managed to keep things in perspective. Although he has not been the toast of the tennis world since the beginning of the first Clinton administration, Courier, who won both the French Open and Australian Open twice, has found a comfortabl…
1942- Australian tennis player Australian Margaret Smith Court was a dominant woman's tennis player in the 1960s and early 1970s. Over the course of her career, she won a total of sixty-two Grand Slam women's singles events, more than anyone in the history of women's tennis, and seventy-nine total singles titles. The first Australian to win Wimbledon, Court won the second Gran…
1954- American tennis player In the 1970s and 1980s, Chris Evert was one of the most dominant and popular women's tennis players in the United States and the world, influencing many young players to try the game. Over the course of her professional tennis career, she won 157 titles and 1300 matches, including eighteen singles titles at Grand Slam events. She had a winning percentage of more…
1927- American tennis player Althea Gibson once characterized herself as a "Harlem street rebel," referring to her adolescence in New York City, when she was often without direction and—more often—in various trouble. Yet the world's first African-American tennis champion remained a gadfly all her life. In the late 1950s her scrappiness and athleticism enabled her…
1951- Australian tennis player Evonne Goolagong's 1993 memoir, Home! The Evonne Goolagong Story, released just a few years after she returned to her native Australia, became a bestseller in her home country. The book's ability to capture the attention of so many people indicates just how popular this Aboriginal Australian was to her fellow citizens. As a tennis champion, Evonne Goola…
1969- German tennis player When she attained the number one ranking with the Women's International Tennis Association (WITA) in 1987 and effectively moved past tennis superstars Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf never looked back. One of the dominant forces in the game of tennis, Graf possessed a blazing forehand and an unrivaled winning attitude. She dominated women's…
1943- American tennis player Billie Jean King, more than anyone, revolutionized women's tennis. One of the greatest players ever, King was in the Top Ten five times between 1966 and 1972, and has won 20 Wimbledon championships. She founded charitable organizations as well as the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation, which she established to ensure that …
1981- Russian tennis player Anna Kournikova is arguably the most marketable woman in sports, despite having won no WTA Tour Anna Kournikova singles tournaments. "Anna Kournikova is sex with a tennis racket attached," Bud Collins, longtime expert in the sport, said on ESPN Classic's Sports Century series. Kournikova has only once reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam ev…
1938- Australian tennis player Rod "Rocket" Laver has been called the greatest tennis player of the twentieth century, and for good reason. He is the only player in the history of tennis to win two Grand Slams—taking the singles titles of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open in a single year. His first Grand Slam came in 1962, while he was still an am…
1959- American tennis player One of most successful tennis players of all time, John McEnroe was a dominant force whose reputation was built just as much on his personality as it was on his fantastic play on the court. Known for his violent verbal abuse of ballboys, line judges, chair judges and himself, the McEnroe tirades became just as common as McEnroe victories—and he had plenty of tho…
1956- Czech tennis player Martina Navratilova won 56 Grand Slam tennis championships, including 18 in women's singles and a record nine at Wimbledon. Her rivalry with Chris Evert helped popularize women's tennis. But Navratilova, who defected from Czechoslovakia in the mid-1970s, was just as influential off the court as an icon for female and gay athletes. In 1999, the cable network …
1970- Argentine tennis player Argentinean Gabriela Sabatini was a teen tennis phenomenon in the mid-1980s who, while popular on the circuit, never lived up to her potential as a player. While she had a great tennis game, she only won one grand slam singles title, the U.S. Open in 1990. Sabatini left professional tennis behind in the mid-1990s to concentrate on her work in the perfume business. Bor…
1973- Yugoslav tennis player With youth, personality and talent on her side, as well as a number one ranking and one of the game's most memorable grunts, Monica Seles put power into her shots and dominated tennis in the early nineties. But when a crazed fan at a German tournament attacked her in 1993, her subsequent two years away from the sport left many wondering if she would ever return;…
1893-1953 American tennis player Bill Tilden has been called the greatest men's single players of all time, a player's player whose cannon of a serve, psychological know-how, paralyzing drop shot, and canny backcourt play transformed the game of tennis. Tilden's dazzling eighteen-year career as an amateur took him to three Wimbledon titles and seven U.S. singles championships.…
1965- Swedish table tennis player Jan Ove Waldner has been called the "Mozart of table tennis" because of his ability to play many different compositions on the table. If not Mozart, Waldner is certainly the Michael Jordan of his sport. His domination and nearly mythical status among the sport's players and fans is unprecedented in the history of the game. Although table tenni…
1981- American tennis player Together with her older sister, Venus Williams, Serena Williams has taken the tennis world by storm, soaring to the top of a game traditionally dominated by white players. For Serena, 2002 was particularly sweet. The year didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start. A sprained ankle forced Williams to miss the Australian Open in January 2002, but things br…
1980- American tennis player Venus Williams' route to superstardom in professional tennis was quite unlike that of most of her fellow players, the majority of whom learned the game from pros at country clubs or expensive tennis academies. Venus and younger sister Serena Williams practiced their tennis basics in a city torn by gang warfare, Compton, California, playing the game on municipal …