Picking the greatest tennis player to ever exist on planet Earth often causes quite a stir with a number of names in the mix.
Naturally, the game’s renowned big three are often the trio of players discussed when it comes to choosing who is the best ever.
Roger Federer is always in the discussion. He won 20 Grand Slam titles, with eight of those coming at Wimbledon – a record when it comes to the men’s game at SW19.
The recently retired Rafael Nadal is another. Federer hailed Nadal after the curtain came down on his career and he claimed 22 Grand Slam titles.
When it comes to the number of major titles, nobody can hold a flame to Novak Djokovic and at 37-years-old, he’s still playing on the tour.
Djokovic has appointed Andy Murray as his coach for the Australian Open and one of the game’s all-time greats picked him as the best ever back in 2021.
Who Pete Sampras named as the greatest tennis player ever
When he was in his pomp, Sampras was comfortably the best player in existence and he won 14 Grand Slam titles during his career.
Back in 2021, Sampras was asked who he thought the best male player ever to play the game was and he was in no doubt who to give his vote to.
He told the Tennis Channel: “I do think what Novak’s done over the past 10 years, winning the majors, being consistent, finishing number one for seven years, to me, it’s a clear sign that he is the greatest of all time.”
What Novak Djokovic said after Sampras named him as the greatest-ever player
Djokovic looked up to Sampras as a child and it clearly meant a lot to him to get the nod of approval from his childhood hero.
These days it’s Djokovic who is inspiring a new generation of players but nonetheless, he was happy to get the nod from Sampras.
He said: “I saw what he said, I love it Pete, thank you so much, he knows how much he means to me. When I was four, five-years-old, he was the first tennis player that I looked up to, him winning Wimbledon in 1992 was the first image of tennis that I remember. So, thank you for that Pete.”
Djokovic has done remarkable stuff during his career and the longevity of his career does really make it difficult to label anyone else as the greatest ever.
Given that he didn’t win a Grand Slam title in 2024 it will not be fascinating to see if Djokovic can get back in the winners circle at the big tournaments next year.
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