Many great players played in the days before tennis's Open era, many of whom are unknown by modern sports fans. Among them are "Big Bill" Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Fred Perry, Don Budge, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Pancho Segura, Frank Sedgman, Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall, and Lew Hoad. Any one of these eleven would probably be competitive in today's game. Other fine players of the pre-Open era include Maurice McLoughlin, "Little Bill" Johnston, the "Four Musketeers" (Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet, and René Lacoste), Vinnie Richards, Jack Crawford, Vic Seixas, and Tony Trabert. Among women the top two pre-Open era players are considered to be Suzanne Lenglen and Helen Wills Moody.
Among the greatest male players of the Open era are Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John Newcombe, Stan Smith, Guillermo Vilas, Arthur Ashe, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg,Goran Ivaniševic, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Andre Agassi, Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Roddick, and Roger Federer. Among the women are Margaret Smith Court, Maria Bueno, Billie Jean King, Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert, Hana Mandlikova, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, and Justine Henin-Hardenne.
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