By Raymond Lee | @TennisNow | Saturday, June 29, 2024
Eight-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer and seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic are two of the greatest grass-court champions in history, writes historian Raymond Lee.
Tennis’ most prestigious tournament—Wimbledon—starts Monday.
To celebrate The Championships, we’re spotlighting the Greatest Men’s Grass-Court Champions of All Time.
MORE: The Greatest Women's Grass Court Champions Of All Time
In today’s modern game, there are far fewer grass-court tournaments than the past.
Three of the four Grand Slam tournaments were once contested on lawn and there was an entire grass-court circuit as well.
For that reason many players in the past have had far more grass court experience and tournaments won than iconic grass champions, including Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Grass is very unique because aside from being a fast court, the bounces are also Eerratic and lower than hard courts and often players have problems moving out of the corners of the court which can be slippery.
While the surfaces of the Australian Championship, US Championship and Wimbledon all were on grass, each grass surface were different. For example the US Nationals at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York had a much different type of grass than the grass at Wimbledon.
In writing this article I tried to achieve two things:
1. Spotlight the greatest men’s grass-court champions from the Pre-Open and Open Eras as well as those champions whose careers spanned both.
2. Place more emphasis on the peak level of the player on grass over cumulative career statistics, though those are also valued in our conclusions.
Last week, we published my choice for The Greatest Women Grass Court Champions of All Time, which you can read here.
Prior to Roland Garros, we published The Greatest Women Clay-Court Champions of all time. Check out my picks for that list here.
The Greatest Men’s Grass-Court Champions of All Time
We start with the Bill Tilden Era.
I must point out that some of the greatest grass court players did not win as many grass court tournaments as some others simply because they could not play many grass court tournaments. For example, Novak Djokovic has won only 8 grass court tournaments in his career while a player like Bill Tilden won 47!
Does that put Djokovic way behind Tilden?
Not necessarily if we consider that grass court tournaments are more scarce these days.
Bill Tilden
For many decades, Bill Tilden was considered to be the Greatest of All Time.
I believe he still has an excellent claim to that unofficial title of GOAT. If you have a claim to being the GOAT in tennis, I will say the odds are that Tilden was a pretty fair grass court player. Pretty fair is grossly understating the greatness of Tilden on grass and frankly, all surfaces.
Tilden won 10 grass court majors in his career: 3 Wimbledon championships and 7 U.S. National titles. He also won the US Pro championship on grass when he was playing in the professional ranks on grass. The US Pro was one of the most prestigious tournaments in the professional ranks in those days.
Tilden had a great overall game for grass. He had a powerful serve with variety, good volley, excellent mobility on grass and great power off the ground if he needed it. He was not a serve-and- volleyer like Pete Sampras, Pancho Gonzalez or Jack Kramer but he was able to control play from the baseline with his power, various speeds, angles and spins.
Opponents said Tilden played chess on the tennis court because of his shrewd strategical moves. I wonder if the number 1 rated Grandmaster in chess Magnus Carlsen plays tennis on the chessboard?
Ellsworth Vines has said that he never saw anyone who could do so much on both sides. In addition to his powerful service game, Tilden also had a fantastic return on all surfaces.
According to sources, Tilden won 88.04% of his matches on grass and 47 grass court tournaments in his career. The 88.04% probably understates his dominance on that surface since I’m sure his percentage went down on grass as he aged because he played forever. He lost a lot in his later years considering he played until his late fifties.
Ellsworth Vines
Ellsworth Vines always comes to mind when discussing elite fast-surface players. Vines arguably had the fastest serve in tennis history—at least fastest with a wood racquet. His flat forehand, which he could hit with a bit of topspin, was again one of the hardest hit groundstroke in history. Think about prime Juan Martin del Potro forehand power and you get an idea of how much pace Vines could produce on that wing. He had a strong backhand and his speed on the court was excellent.
The Vines volley and overhead were exceptional. Some of Vines’ overheads at Wimbledon were hit so hard that they bounced into the Royal Box!
Here’s a quote discussing Vines’ game from Paul Metzler’s superb book Tennis Styles and Stylists.
”Vines was only nineteen when, in 1931, he swept the board in U.S. major tournaments to such effect that his American ranking rose from tenth to first and he became the logical successor to Tilden. The following year he descended upon Wimbledon, laying the opposition waste with his “violent” game, smashing some lobs so hard that the ball bounced from mid-court into the royal box itself. In the quarterfinals he was expected to be well tested by the powerful serving and all-round hard hitting of the Spanish player Enrique Maier. But a strong opponent only caused Vines to hit even harder. He won in quick time, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, making the Spanish’s service seem almost innocuous compared to his own. Next, he faced Crawford, victor over fourth-seeded Fred Perry, and hit him off the court in so devastating a display that Henri Cochet, watching from the stand, was heard to observe: “Pretty good. Wonderful. Never saw anything like it.”
Later in the book: “Vines swept over Austin like a heavy surf gaining force with each wave. The score was 6-4 6-2 6-0. In his twelve service games Vines served thirty aces, the last one ending the match. The third set took only ten minutes. Some of Vines’ drives beat Austin by half the width of the court.”
The last serve that Vines hit against Austin in the 1932 Wimbledon was so fast that Austin claimed not to be able to see the ball and did not know which side he was aced. I’m not sure if I believe that but it does point out how fast Vines could hit his serve.
Vines turned pro at a very young age so he was not allowed to play in the classic majors of the Australian, French, Wimbledon, and the United States Championships. If he was able to play those tournaments, there is almost no doubt he would have won a lot of grass court majors.
Once Vines hit his stride, he won most of his grass court tournaments played! In his two peak years which he was younger in 1931 and 1932, Vines won 8 of the 11 grass court tournaments he played in. This included two US Championships and one Wimbledon.
Here’s a few examples of Vines moving the great Henri Cochet around with his great forehand in the 1932 US Championship final.
Vines improved even more in the professional ranks and dominated the pros for years. Vines, due to injuries and being tired of professional tennis, retired from the tour at a very young age.
He actually was practicing more golf than tennis the last few years and became one of the top golfers in the world. A tremendous all-around athlete who was world class in two sports. He is legendary in tennis.
Fred Perry
Fred Perry was a great athlete who had exceptional speed and a forehand many consider to be the greatest ever. He played with a Continental grip and had an ox-like wrist in which he could flick his forehand shots on the rise. He had a decent serve although not great. His backhand was solid and his volley was exceptional. It all revolved around his great forehand with which he could attack his opponents.
Perry won 7 grass court majors including winning Wimbledon 3 years in a row, a record that lasted until Bjorn Borg won 5 Wimbledons in a row decades later.
Perry’s stamina was possibly the best of his time. He won many matches in the 5th set including the 1936 US Championship final in which he defeated Budge 10-8 in the fifth set.
According to some sources, Perry won 89.4% of his grass court matches in his career.
Don Budge
Don Budge’s feats in the tennis world are legendary.
Many tennis history books and historians rank him with Tilden, Vines and some others as perhaps the greatest player ever. Some rank him above all others.
Don Budge was the first champion to capture the calendar Grand Slam—in fact the term “Grand Slam” was created to describe Budge’s feat of winning all four major championships in the same season.
So naturally when I first started researching his record, I expected to see Budge with very few losses, similar to Bill Tilden and Tony Wilding. I suppose part of this can be explained by the powerful tours Budge played on.
Still on one of the tours in 1942 I found it interesting that while Budge won it easily, I felt the 52-18 record was not nearly as impressive as one may think. The players he played were Bobby Riggs, Fred Perry, Les Stoefen, and Frank Kovacs. First of all Fred Perry had a terrible elbow injury in late 1941 that permanently affected his tennis play. Les Stoefen, while a top player was not nearly on the level of a player like Budge. Frank Kovacs, while a gifted player, was not quite ready to play a seasoned pro like Budge.
Riggs, however, was able to stay with Budge in their matches, losing their head-to-head matches by only 10 to 15.
Later, Budge injured his right shoulder on an obstacle course while serving in the armed forces during World War II. That shoulder injury impacted his serve with some contemporaries saying his serve was never the same.
Riggs on the other hand was also in the Armed Forces but played tennis regularly and improved many aspects of his game. Riggs improved his serve to the point where some, like Ellsworth Vines, thought Riggs had a superior serve to Budge even when Budge was 100% healthy. Riggs’ could serve with pace but in Vines’ opinion Riggs’ variety with his service game gave him the advantage in this area. Riggs’ volley also improved.
Riggs later defeated Budge on two separate Profession Tours to become the number one professional. While Budge’s serve was affected by the shoulder injury, I don’t see how it would affect his great service return yet I have read accounts of Riggs aceing Budge numerous times in defeating him in big matches. By record Riggs was by far the No. 1 player in 1946. The gap was huge, Riggs won 14 tournaments and Budge only 3 tournaments in finishing a very distant second on the tour!
Age and especially injuries can do that. Most experts consider Budge to be the superior player overall to Riggs in their respective career, especially since Budge won the Grand Slam in 1938.
However the levels of play in their careers in my opinion were relatively close. I believe that if even if Budge wasn’t injured Riggs still would have been battling him tooth and nail after the war for the number one position in the pros.
Don Budge at his peak had arguably the greatest backhand return ever. His backhand was regarded as the best ever. It was said that you couldn’t serve to his backhand and come in or else the player would be eaten alive.
Hall of Famer Gene Scott famously wrote: “Nobody—and I mean nobody—served to Budge’s backhand until he was well into his 50s.
Therefore the only choice was to serve to his forehand and stay back. Budge also had a solid volley and excellent serve.
Budge had good mobility although it wasn’t at the level of a Tilden, Riggs, or a Vines. In his career Budge won 73.47% of his grass court matches. Good but not exactly the level of many of the top players.
Of course we are discussing peak level and he did win the calendar year Grand Slam in 1938. Even there I have some problems because he did not face Vines, Tilden, von Cramm, Nusslein and Perry in his Grand Slam year. Vines, Tilden, Nusslein and Perry were in the pros and unable to play the majors. Von Cramm was in jail.
Bottom line is that Budge was a fantastic grass court player at his peak with tremendous power and consistency. One of the all-time greats, especially on grass.
Here’s Budge against Austin in the 1938 Wimbledon final.
Jack Kramer
Jack Kramer’s career is very hard to evaluate. So many players who faced him considered him to be the greatest player they’ve seen. I remember having a fairly long conversation with Hall of Famer Vic Braden, the great tennis coach and former professional player shortly before Braden passedaway.
Braden still considered Kramer to be the greatest he had ever seen. Bear in mind that he passed away in 2014 so Braden had seen the Big Four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray!
Jack Kramer was one of the greatest serve and volleyers of all time. Very few in the history of tennis have had a superior volley to him. His serve was one of the greatest serves ever. Kramer was so accurate with his serve that he could consistently hit the ball through rings placed at various points over the net. Kramer had a great overhead. He had to have a great overhead to overcome Bobby Riggs, who had a super lob.
Here’s an example of Kramer serving on a United States Television show called You Asked for It.
The speed that they measured Kramer’s serve would be considerably faster now because they now measure it off the racquet, not when it crosses the net. Let’s not forget that this was an exhibition and not in tournament play so I am fairly certain that Kramer was not using his top serving speed.
Kramer still owns the Wimbledon men’s record for fewest games lost in the tournament. He won three grass court majors which, are two US Nationals and one Wimbledon. He probably would have won far more grass court majors if not for World War II preventing some majors from being played and unfortunate injuries.
Obviously in order to have the record for fewest games lost at Wimbledon you would have to have a great return and excellent groundstrokes. Kramer had both. His forehand was one of the finest in history. His backhand was consistent and strong. He had a sidespin approach shot on the forehand side that could pull his opponent off the court. According to Vic Braden, Kramer could hit a slice serve in the deuce shot as sharply as any player he had seen.
Kramer had an ideal game for grass courts. He had a great game for all surfaces when he reached his peak level.
Pancho Gonzalez
Some feel Pancho Gonzalez had the ideal physique to play tennis. While I am not certain what the ideal physique to play tennis is, I do know that Gonzalez had all the strokes to play powerful grass court tennis. He was a tremendous athlete with great mobility.
Gonzalez’s service game, as with a few other players I am discussing in this article, is one of the greatest ever. Many believe his first serve was the best ever. His second serve was extremely strong and he could approach the net on his second serve. Gonzalez was known for putting a very high percentage of powerful first serves in pressure situations.
Gonzalez’s volley was very strong. His range at the net was excellent and his overhead was fantastic. Gonzalez, while he had a very good return, did not have the offensive return of a Laver, Vines, Connors, Djokovic, or Borg. That being said, I think he would have had a more aggressive return if he played with the racquets of today.
One thing is for certain, players like Gonzalez and Kramer rarely had their services broken. All their opponents would have to do was to make one mistake and the set would be over. The Gonzalez game almost seemed effortless and his mobility was of the highest level. They have described Gonzalez as moving like a panther on the court because of his smoothness.
Jack Kramer is of the opinion that if Gonzalez was allowed to play Wimbledon and the US Open that he would have won those two tournaments alone 14 times! It’s not an unreasonable opinion considering that Gonzalez was a top player for over 20 years. He won tournaments from the 1940s to the 1970s!
Here’s Gonzalez at his peak playing on grass against Ken Rosewall at the Old West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, New York. The West Side Tennis Club was the former home of the US Open until 1977. The US Open was played on grass there until 1975, when they changed it to Har Tru.
Rod Laver
Rod Laver’s career, like Pancho Gonzalez, Ken Rosewall and many others spanned the Pre-Open Era and the Open Era. Unlike Gonzalez, Laver was at, or at least near the peak of his powers when Open Tennis started in 1968. Laver spent the top years of his career in the professional ranks and was not allowed to play the majors like Wimbledon, the French or the US Nationals.
Laver, despite his years in the pros, still won 11 majors in his career. Nine of these were played on a grass court.
The Rocket, as Laver was called, had a super game for grass court tennis. His lefty tennis serve was excellent and allowed him to use his powerful volley either to win the point outright or at least to set him up for the putaway winner.
Laver’s left arm and wrist were huge. Laver’s left forearm was as large as the World Heavyweight Champion at the time and his left wrist was mammoth also. This enabled Laver, who was a relatively small man to flick shots at great speeds and spin like he was playing ping pong. This is even with the smaller and heavier racquets of those days compared to today. Laver was also able to take the ball on the rise, almost on the half-volley at times to rob his opponents of time.
Laver, aside from the great power that he was capable of, could hit with heavy topspin and heavy slice. He had a great variety of ways to play and defeat whoever he was playing.
Laver’s speed and footwork on a grass court were excellent. He also carried equipment like spiked shoes that could be used on grass at that time. This was very helpful in Laver’s defeat of Tony Roche at the 1969 US Open Final that allowed Laver to win the first and only male Open Grand Slam.
Laver is the only player to win the Grand Slam twice, in 1962 and in the Open Era in 1969. It has not happened since on the men’stTour although I would rate Djokovic’s non-calendar year holding of all four majors as equivalent to a Grand Slam as an achievement.
In those two Grand Slam years, Laver won 8 majors, 6 of them were on grass. Laver won 31 consecutive matches on grass at Wimbledon. The years were 1961, 1962, which were the last years he was an amateur, and in the first two years of the Open Era in 1968 and 1969. If you include the Wimbledon Pro Champs in 1967 which consisted only of the professionals, Laver won 34 straight matches at Wimbledon.
Laver won 44 tournaments on grass in his career spread over the Amateur era, the Old Pro Tour, and the Open Era. He won about 78.98% of his grass matches in his career. While they doesn’t sound super impressive, it actually is considering that he played on the old Pro Tour for years which had elite level of competition with players like Gonzalez, Rosewall Sedgman, Hoad, Segura, Olmedo, Cooper, Anderson, Buchholz etc.
At Laver’s peak he was clearly the best in the world on grass and all surfaces. Considering his two Calendar Year Grand Slams it is very clear that very few, if any were more overpowering than Rod Laver on a grass surface.
Ken Rosewall
All the players I mentioned earlier in this article had excellent serves. Ken Rosewall had just an adequate serve but he was terrific on a grass surface due to his great return, groundstrokes, volley and speed. Rosewall’s backhand is considered to be one of the all-time great one-handed backhands. It was hit mostly flat, with a bit of slice. It wasn’t as powerful as Laver’s one-handed backhand nor did Rosewall hit with topspin on the backhand like Laver or an Edberg could.
However he rarely made an error on the backhand side, and, due to his great footwork and speed, was able to disguise his shots off that side. His service return, especially on the backhand was great. Serves that may go for aces against others would often be returned for an outright winner if they played against Rosewall.
Rosewall was a great counter puncher who took the opportunity to approach the net when he had a short ball on grass. Rosewall’s volley was considered by many to be the best in the game. His overhead was very solid, despite his relatively small size at 5’7” tall.
Rosewall won 41 grass court tournaments in his career, including 6 majors.
Here’s a video on Rosewall explaining his game and greatness.
John Newcombe
During the early 1970s John Newcombe was considered by many to be the best grass court player in the world. During that time, he won 2 Wimbledons, 2 Australian Opens and 1 US Open.
Newcombe had a super serve and volley game, as did many of these players in this article. He had a great first serve and his second serve had been called the best in tennis history. He had a fantastic volley and overhead plus an excellent return.
Sometimes in watching Newcombe at his best I would get the feeling he was almost a serve and volley machine. Even if a player hit a fantastic return, Newcombe would hit a great volley off the return right into the corner and win the point.
He also seemed to thrive in five set matches on big occasions. He defeated Ken Rosewall in five sets at the 1970 Wimbledon final, Stan Smith in five sets in the 1971 Wimbledon final, Jan Kodes in five sets in the 1973 US Open final and Stan Smith again in five sets in the key opening match of the 1973 Davis Cup final. The 1973 Davis Cup match was not played on grass.
Newcombe of course did not win every big match against top opponents in five sets. Newk defeated Rosewall in the 1971 Wimbledon semifinal by an amazing score of 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. He defeated Jimmy Connors in straight sets in the 1973 US Open quarters by 6-4, 7-6, 7-6. That match with Connors was actually ridiculously close despite the straight set result. In each of the tiebreaks, the points were tied at 4. In those days whoever got to 5 points in the tiebreaker won the set so it was simultaneous set point for both players. Newcombe won both points and the match in straight sets. If Connors won both points at 4 all in the tiebreaker, Connors would have led 2 sets to 1. There was only 1 service break in the match, which is unbelievable considering it was Jimmy Connors returning serve, arguably the greatest service returner ever.
In this match you had one of the greatest serve and volleyers of all time versus one of the greatest service returners of all time. Truly a marquee matchup.
Newcombe won 7 majors. All of them on grass. It’s very probable in my opinion that Newcombe would have won more grass court majors if there weren’t so many boycotts of majors in those early days of the Open Era.
Here’s Newcombe against Kodes in the 1973 US Open Final. Note how poor the grass was because of all the play during the tournament. It was extremely hard to rally from the baseline and to return serve.
Jimmy Connors
Jimmy Connors in many ways changed men’s tennis in the 1970s. Most of the top players were serve and volleyers, especially on grass. Connors, however, had such great powerful deep groundstrokes and mobility that he could easily dictate play by staying back and approaching the net which he had the opportunity. Of course he could serve and volley if needed.
Connors had a good serve that he got in at a very high percentage. He did not serve many aces like a Gonzalez, Sampras or Ivanisevic but he held serve at a very high percentage and isn’t that the main point? Connors rarely double faulted and had good placement on his serve. It was not an extremely powerful serve but rarely could players attack it because it was fairly flat and stayed so low and because he could put more pace on his serve if needed. Being a lefty was a great advantage of course on serve.
Connors arguably had the greatest service return in history. He would often devour serve and volleyers. Often the powerful returns would zoom pass net rushers or they would forced into a weak volley which Connors would swoop in and pass his opponent on the next shot. Connors, also had an excellent lob, especially off the backhand side. Connors’ groundstrokes generally were relatively flat and with great depth. His two-handed backhand was his best groundstroke. It was one of the greatest backhands in tennis history, arguably as good as any backhand in history. His forehand, while not as good as his backhand, was a very strong stroke.
The thing that characterized Connors’ play in the eyes of his many fans was his unrelenting desire to win. He never gave up and would pull out matches in which you never thought he had a chance.
Here’s Connors against Rosewall in the 1974 US Open Final. Rosewall was an excellent player even in 1974 but he stood no chance against Connors at his peak. People talk about matches which a player is in the zone, meaning playing unbelievable tennis, well Connors was in the zone here.
Bjorn Borg
Bjorn Borg was possibly the greatest athlete I’ve seen in tennis, bearing in mind that I did not see many of the other players I’ve previously mentioned at their peak. Many experts thought Borg was just going to excel just on clay courts and not do well on grass. That opinion was, to say the least, incredibly inaccurate!
The thing many did not realize was that Borg played on a lot of grass court growing up in Sweden.
“You are a complete tennis player only if you can handle all surfaces,” Borg once said. “ It was not easy, no, but the fact that I played a lot in Sweden which has lots of indoor clay courts, and also great grass courts outdoors, was an advantage, that did help me. I used to play for long periods on both surfaces. I would think though that grass is my surface, I love playing on grass and I think I play very well on that surface.”
So while many thought that Borg was the greatest clay court player of all time, Borg calls grass his surface. Certainly at Borg’s peak he was almost unbeatable on grass in winning 41 straight matches at Wimbledon and winning 5 Wimbledons in a row! That is still the longest winning streak in Wimbledon history. I would tend to agree with Borg’s comment that he plays well on that surface. That’s probably one of the understatements of the century.
Even on the grass at Wimbledon in those days, which were less suited for baseline play, Borg was able to move well and play well at the baseline when required.
Borg’s serve was extremely underrated. It was a tremendous serve which he could hit for aces. He seemed to be able to put in huge serves regularly at crucial moments, much like Pancho Gonzalez. His serve and volley game was excellent and his return was up there with Jimmy Connors as the best in the game.
Borg was able to hit with great power and consistency from the baseline, even on grass. Of course he had to get used to the grass after playing during the clay season. That made the French Open and Wimbledon wins so fantastic in those days, the grass had more bad bounces than the current grass at Wimbledon. Borg won the French Open and Wimbledon three years in a row from 1978 to 1980. He probably would have won it four years in a row if he entered the 1977 French Open in my opinion.
Borg’s stamina is perhaps unparalleled in tennis history. He has said he never tired in a match. This clearly gave him a huge advantage in long drawn-out matches. Borg would be fresh while his opponent would be exhausted. This is one of the reasons Borg won so many five set matches.
Here’s Borg vs. Connors in the 1978 Wimbledon final. Borg was at his peak. A very high-level match by both players.
John McEnroe
John McEnroe was in many ways the most unique serve and volleyer ever. He had a great serve, unbelievable hands at the net for any time of volley. He was legendary for his ability to turn a blistering passing shot into a feathery touch drop shot. His anticipation at the net was second to none and his overhead was excellent.
McEnroe’s movement on grass was superb. He didn’t have the consistent power of a Connors and a few others off the ground but he also robbed his opponents of time by taking the ball so early.
McEnroe was in the Wimbledon final for 5 years in a row from 1980 to 1984, winning 3 Wimbledon titles in 1981, 1983, and 1984. McEnroe had a career winning percentage on grass of 85.82 with a 121-20 record.
Boris Becker
There have been a number of great players who either never won Wimbledon or won it late in their career. Examples include Ken Rosewall, who despite being in numerous finals never was able to win Wimbledon. Another example was Jaroslav Drobny, who won Wimbledon when he was in his 30s over the aforementioned Rosewall in 1954.
Boris Becker didn’t have to wait long at all to win Wimbledon. Becker won Wimbledon at the unbelievably young age of 17 as an unseeded player. Becker won Wimbledon that year in 1985 over Kevin Curren. Curren, with his huge serve, was in the zone for much of the tournament.
Curren defeated top seeded John McEnroe in the quarterfinals in straight sets and third-seeded Jimmy Connors also in straight sets to reach the finals against Becker.
Becker, whose nickname was Boom Boom Becker perhaps even had a bigger serve than Curren and arguably the best of that time.
Becker won the 1985 Wimbledon final over Curren 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4. To prove it wasn’t a fluke, Becker repeated as Wimbledon Champion the next year over Ivan Lendl 6-4, 6-3, 7-5.
Overall Becker was champion of Wimbledon three times. He won in 1985, 1986 and 1989. Becker was upset by Peter Doohan in 1987 in the second round after being the top seed. After that Becker and Stefan Edberg began a three-year span where it seemed that it was inevitable that both would reach the final. Edberg won the final in 1988 and 1990 and Becker won the final in 1989.
Becker reached the final again in 1991 but was defeated by his compatriot, the immensely gifted Michael Stich in four sets. Becker reached the Wimbledon final for the last time in 1995, unfortunately he found his opponent to be Pete Sampras, who was at his peak. Becker lost the final in four sets.
Overall Becker was 116-25 on grass surfaces and 71-12 at Wimbledon. At his best, on grass Becker would be a danger to defeat any player in history.
Stefan Edberg
At a time when it seemed all the Swedish players would dominate with two-handed backhands and invulnerable baseline play, Stefan Edberg came around and became No. 1 with what was then the traditional serve and volley game. While Edberg’s forehand was continental grip, it was his backhand that stood out. Edberg had one of the finest one-handed backhands of all time. It ranks with any backhand in history. If memory serves one well known player said words to the effect that hitting to Edberg’s backhand was like hitting to another forehand.
Edberg’s volley was perhaps the greatest in tennis history. He never seemed to miss a volley at his peak. His serve was excellent and his kick serve was legendary. He did not have the pure power on serve that Boris Becker or Pete Sampras had overall since he used his serve to approach the net.
Edberg was 49-12 at Wimbledon for 80.33%. Overall Edberg was 101-28 on grass or 78.29%.
Here’s Edberg’s 1990 Wimbledon victory over his archrival Boris Becker 6-2, 6-2, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4.
Pete Sampras
Pete Sampras, while he was learning to play top level tennis admired many of the great Australian players. The great Australian lefty, Rod Laver, was perhaps the player Sampras admired the most. While Sampras was too young to see Laver at his best he did see many videos of the great champion.
Sampras surpassed Rod Laver’s great record at Wimbledon with 7 Wimbledon victories in 14 attempts. Sampras had incredible weapons to play on grass. His serve is arguably the greatest ever along with a few others. The Sampras volley was superb as was his forehand. His backhand, while relatively speaking was not of the level of his forehand it still was an excellent shot for grass.
Sampras was a tremendous athlete. He moved extremely well and his running forehand was one of tennis’ great weapons. Movement on grass is very important and Sampras was extremely smooth with his mobility on grass.
Here’s Sampras against Rafter in the 2000 Wimbledon final.
Roger Federer
Roger Federer at his peak seemed almost unbeatable on just about any surface. However on grass he seemed to reach another level. Federer at his best was not the traditional serve and volleyer that many of the top grass players were although he could serve and volley. With the different mixture of grass at Wimbledon it was more prudent for Federer to use his incredible attacking weapons to set up his volley winners or perhaps to hit outright winners from the baseline.
Federer is another top grass player that had a superb serve. Federer is No. 6 all-time in percentage of holding serve on grass at 92.51%! He is just behind Sampras who is No. 5.
The only other playes ahead of Federer holding serve on grass are Ivo Karlovic, Milos Raonic, John Isner, and Andy Roddick.
I do think relatively speaking, Sampras’ serve was more dominant for its time. Sampras led the ATP in percentage of holding serve most of his career. It was easier to break serve at that time than it is now, at least that seems to be the case of the leaders in percentage of holding serve.
Federer backs his serve up not just with his excellent volley but his powerful forehand that is basically the equivalent of a powerful volley. Any weak return by Federer’s opponent is often dispatched with ease by the Federer forehand.
Federer has an excellent percentage in breaking serve on grass. His 23.77% is No. 41 of all-time since they have been keeping records.
When you combine Federer’s great ability to hold serve on grass and his superb grass returns it is no wonder that Federer has won a record 8 Wimbledon championships in only 22 attempts.
Overall Roger Federer is 192-29 on a grass court with 19 tournaments won in 48 attempts. Here’s Federer’s great 5-set match victory over his great rival Rafael Nadal in 2007.
Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal’s record on grass for his career is not of the level of Federer or Djokovic, his great rivals. However, at his peak on grass, he was at worst in the finals of Wimbledon for 5 consecutive years that he entered, winning 2 Wimbledon titles. He lost to Federer in 2 excellent matches in 2006 and 2007. I don’t think he was quite ready to defeat Federer on grass at that point yet so these are excellent results.
Nadal’s obvious breakthrough on grass was his incredible victory in the 2008 Wimbledon Final, a match many have called the greatest match ever. Nadal at that point looked like he would win many more than 2 Wimbledons but as of now it seems not to be. Nevertheless Nadal at his best was a great grass court player. He was won 4 grass court tournaments in his career with a 79.17 winning percentage. Nadal’s record at Wimbledon is 58-12 for 82.86%.
Here’s the match many call the greatest tennis match ever.
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic, since 2011 is a regular visitor to any major final. That would be expected since he is the all-time record holder for total majors won with 24. Djokovic won his first Wimbledon in 2011. Since 2011 Djokovic has won Wimbledon 7 times and has been in the final 9 times, losing only to Andy Murray in 2013 and Carlos Alcaraz in 2023.
Overall Djokovic has a 92-11 record at Wimbledon and has won this legendary grass court tournament 7 times in 18 attempts. Djokovic arguably has the greatest return of all time and this serves him well also on a grass court. Djokovic has won 26% of his return games on grass which is excellent for that surface.
He also has improved his serve which gives him far more free points. Djokovic is 115-19 on grass which is an 85.82 percentage. He has won 8 grass court tournaments in 26 attempts.
Here’s Djokovic’s astounding 5 set victory over Roger Federer in 2014 and the epic 2019 final.
Conclusion
There have been a tremendous number of exceptional men’s grass court champions.
In my view, the Top Tier are: Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzalez, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
For example, Tilden won 88.04% of his grass court matches. He won 10 grass court majors and was virtually unbeatable at his peak.
Laver of course won 4 straight Wimbledons that he played. Laver won 31 consecutive Wimbledon matches from 1962 to 1970. You could even argue Laver won 5 straight Wimbledons and 34 straight Wimbledon matches if you include the Wimbledon Pro titles that Laver won over Gimeno, Stolle and Rosewall, all great players.
Pete Sampras of course often looked like he would or could not ever been broken on serve at Wimbledon. During these times, which was probably most of the years he played Wimbledon you thought he could never lose on a grass court. From 1993 to 2000 Sampras won Wimbledon 7 out of the 8 years, losing only to Richard Krajicek in 1996. Krajicek went on to win Wimbledon that year.
Many of the players of recent times have not played that many grass court tournaments simply because there aren’t many grass court tournaments anymore. So let’s try to use a process of elimination—identifying the greatest grass-court champions of Pre-Open Era, Open Era and those whose careers spanned both eras.
I believe this is the most fair and effective way to measure Grass GOATS because, as we’ve pointed out, the grass itself changed over the course of tennis history—grass-court bounces are much higher and truer now than in pre Open Era—and because obviously the equipment changed from smaller, heavier wood racquets strung with gut to today’s modern racquets and polyester strings.
Grass GOAT Candidates: Pre-Open Era
The candidates have to be Tilden, Vines and Kramer. Budge doesn’t come close to having the percentage record of Tilden and his Grand Slam was not against all the top players. Kramer has a super record and his style was tremendous but his record on grass is not that of Tilden or Vines mostly due to injuries. It’s arguable that Kramer was the best on grass but the record isn’t quite there to match the other two.
So it comes down to Tilden versus Vines for players only in the Pre-Open Era. Tilden has a slightly superior percentage record on grass to Vines but a lot of that was due to Vines starting out so young. Vines turned pro early also so he was not able to play the majors as long.
Subjectively Vines had a superior serve and superior power forehand on grass. He also had the superior volley and overhead. I’m going with Vines here as Pre-Open Era Grass GOAT. I think Vines’ relentless attack would overcome the great Tilden on grass.
Pre-Open Era Grass GOAT: Ellsworth Vines
Grass GOAT Candidates Who Spanned Pre-Open and Open Era
In my view, the only true candidates here are Pancho Gonzalez and Rod Laver.
Gonzalez of course had arguably the greatest serve of all time. It was clearly easily superior to that of Laver’s serve. Laver, however, did have a great serve. Both had super volleys and both were very mobile on grass.
I would say the Laver return was superior and overall his groundstrokes were better. Laver had a superior record on grass due to the fact he could play more grass court tournaments. Gonzalez did win two US Nationals as an amateur and it’s clear he would have been dominant on grass just a few years later if he didn’t turn pro. Gonzalez played mainly in the professional ranks with fewer grass court tournaments.
Still, I’m picking Gonzalez mainly because Pancho Gonzalez had perhaps the greatest serve in history.
Grass GOAT Who Spanned Pre-Open and Open Eras: Pancho Gonzalez
Grass GOAT Candidates: Open Era
It comes down to Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as Open Era Grass GOAT.
Why not John McEnroe, you may ask? Well while he won 3 Wimbledons and ended Borg’s 41 straight match streak at Wimbledon he was not as consistent as Borg. He lost to Connors in the Wimbledon final in 1982 and lost to Kevin Curren in 1985 in the quarterfinals.
Pete Sampras was about as invincible as you could get on grass for a period of 8 years in which he won 7 Wimbledons. Pete Sampras never lost a Wimbledon final and was one of the greatest major match final players in Open Era history.
Since the early 2000s, Wimbledon has been dominated by the Big 4 of Federer, Djokovic, Nadal and Murray. They have won every Wimbledon since 2003 until last year when Carlos Alcaraz defeated Novak Djokovic in 5 sets.
The Bjorn Borg Dilemma
As I wrote earlier, it is very tough to rank some players because many of the male greats on grass have a reasonable case for that player to be in the top tier of grass players.
Bjorn Borg is one of them.
Borg won 5 consecutive Wimbledons and 41 Wimbledon matches in a row. Both of these are still records although Federer has come close with 40 consecutive Wimbledon matches in a row.
Bjorn Borg is a very interesting case to examine. He was perhaps as dominant as any player in the Open Era at his best on all surfaces. His Games Won Percentages at his best were basically so far superior to any player that it’s laughable. Only McEnroe in 1984 comes close to Borg.
Borg was 51-4 at Wimbledon for a percentage of 92.73!
Let’s remember: This was on the old grass with uneven bounces where upsets were perhaps a greater possibility. Let’s not forget that Borg used a tiny and heavy (compared to today’s racquets) that did not allow players to easily hit with heavy topspin, yet Borg was able to do that.
Borg obviously moved extremely well on grass. He was one of the fastest tennis players in history. Borg won those 5 Wimbledons in only 9 appearances. Is Borg one of the greatest on grass of the Open Era?
Of course he is but the problem is that he retired very early while a player like Federer continued to play Wimbledon and won 3 more Wimbledons.
So for this reason, I am eliminating the great Borg despite his almost unparalleled Wimbledon record. As dominant as Borg was, the other Open Era Grass GOAT candidates did it longer.
Federer was also competitive with Novak Djokovic in 3 Wimbledon finals, taking Djokovic to 5 sets in 2 of the finals. The last Wimbledon final in 2019 that the pair played went to Djokovic, who saved championship points on Federer’s serve, by a score of 7-6 1-6 7-6 4-6 13-12. Federer won 36 games and Djokovic won 32. Djokovic was better in all the tiebreakers and won the match. Many felt Federer outplayed Djokovic overall in the match.
Federer won Wimbledon every year from 2003 to 2007 and reached the final in 2008, losing to Rafael Nadal in 5 sets. Federer won 40 consecutive matches at Wimbledon, second only to Bjorn Borg who won 41 in a row.
Federer’s game is great for today’s grass. He has one of the greatest serves ever plus an excellent volley and overhead. Federer’s movement is excellent on grass. Federer’s backhand approaches on a grass court work very well and of course his forehand on grass is even a more dangerous weapon
Djokovic has won 7 Wimbledons and is going for more. He has a 3 to 1 edge over Federer on grass. All their matches played on grass were at Wimbledon with Djokovic winning the finals in 2014, 2015 and 2019. Federer won in the semifinals in 2015 which oddly enough was perhaps Djokovic’s best year.
It comes down to Federer and Djokovic for the top position on grass for the Big 4. Federer has won more grass tournaments but Djokovic hasn’t played as many grass tournaments. Federer has 1 more Wimbledon but Djokovic leads at Wimbledon matches 3 to 1 head-to-head.
As of now I think I’d have to give an edge to Federer but that could change since Djokovic is still playing. It’s very possible that Djokovic’s peak is superior to Federer’s peak but as of now I will go with Federer.
So if we look at Sampras against Federer, it’s a fact Federer defeated a declining Sampras in 5 sets in 2001. Sampras was only the sixth seed that year.
Federer was not at his best yet so I don’t think this match is really an indication of how good they were on grass at their respective peaks. Federer has also had some upset losses at Wimbledon. He lost in 2010 as the top seed to Tomas Berdych in 4 sets. Federer was age 28 at that point. It may depend on the type of grass Wimbledon uses if they played each other at their respective peaks.
Today’s Wimbledon grass may favor Federer more and the older grass may favor Sampras more. I noticed that once the grass was changed that Sampras did not have the same success at Wimbledon that he used to have. This could be a coincidence because he was not winning as much as in past years anyway.
My choice for Open Era Grass Goat is Roger Federer, though if Novak Djokovic wins an eighth Wimbledon crown to equal Federer’s mark, I believe that would put Novak ahead of Roger given his head-to-head superiority.
Grass GOAT Open Era: Roger Federer
So to review:
Grass GOAT Pre-Open Era: Ellsworth Vines
Grass GOAT Who Spanned Pre-Open and Open Eras: Pancho Gonzalez
Grass GOAT Open Era: Roger Federer
That's our list, who did we miss?
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Raymond Lee is a Tennis Now contributing writer, tennis historian and avid tennis player who lives in New York. He has written about professional tennis for decades serving as a contributing writer for Tennis Week Magazine and TennisWeek.com before joining Tennis Now.
Check out Raymond Lee's Articles: Star Turns: Top Tournament Performances in Tennis History, One for One: Who is the GOAT for One Match? Celebrating 50th Anniversary of John Newcombe's 1973 US Open Win, Why Novak Djokovic Can Win 30 Slams and Holy Grail: Why Winning the Calendar Grand Slam is Toughest Task in Sport.