By Raymond Lee | @Tennis_Now | Friday, January 10, 2025

The Australian Open begins this weekend.

As usual over the last 20 years, Novak Djokovic has entered the tournament. And as we know during the majority of these Australian Opens Novak Djokovic had been one of the favorites to take the title.

More: Opelka Shocks Djokovic

Djokovic has won the Australian an astounding 10 times in 19 attempts. Many of those years he was such an overwhelming favorite that it almost seemed like a done deal that he would win the tournament.

Novak Djokovic is 37 now and will be 38 on May 22nd this year.

Grand Slam king Djokovic currently has 24 majors in his career, the tops on the Men’s side and tied with the Great Margaret Court for the most majors ever at 24. In a sport which demands great speed, reflexes and overall athleticism, it is generally assumed that the younger players have an advantage over players that are over age 30. Djokovic so far have fought the inevitability of Father Time well.



In this article I will spotlight the greatest players in tennis history past the age of 30.

Let’s look at some of the greatest players who accomplished the most after age 30. In this case I will define age 30 as the year the player reached that age.

The Greatest Female Players Over the age of 30

To my mind there are only three competitors in this category: Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams.

Chris Evert

Chris Evert at her best was about as consistent a player that has even lived. She had no weaknesses. Evert’s groundstrokes were hit with power and depth, had the best return and groundstrokes in tennis and never seemed to miss. She owns an unbelievable 125 match winning streak on clay.

Evert won 31 tournaments after age 30 including 3 majors.

Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova, as with many of the players I will discuss, has a very good argument that she is the GOAT of women’s tennis.

The left-hander has won 18 majors, 167 tournaments and has been No. 1 in the world 6 times. She was No. 8 when she first retired in 1994 at age 38.

After age 30, Navratilova won 5 majors and 1 WTA Finals championship among her 56 tournaments won past the age of 30.

Serena Williams

Serena Williams over the years has been known for her powerful first serve, perhaps the greatest in history and her explosive groundstrokes.

However I think what actually sets her apart is her defensive ability. Serena has great mobility and her ability to retrieve shots that seem to be outright winners seems to frustrate her opponents and unnerve them. Serena’s opponent always seem to have to hit another shot against Serena which is psychologically taxing.

After age 30 Serena Williams has won an astonishing 10 majors and 36 total tournaments.

The greatest women’s champion after the age of 30 comes down to: Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. Serena has won the higher number of majors, with 10 to Navratilova’s 5 but Navratilova won 56 total tournaments to Serena Williams’ 36.

Let’s look at the tournament percentages. Navratilova won her 56 tournaments in 103 attempts for 54.37%. Serena won her 36 in 103 attempts which seems to favor Navratilova.

However Serena did have a child in 2017 and was pregnant most of the year. It is very hard to get back in shape. So if you don’t count the post pregnancy record, Serena won 36 tournaments in 71 attempts past age 30 for 50.70%. Let give this category to Navratilova by a bit.

I’m going to say it’s close to tie here between Navratilova and Serena Williams but I’d give the slimmest edge to Serena as the greatest-ever women’s champion over the age of 30.

The Greatest Male Players Over the age of 30

Bill Tilden

Bill Tilden, as I have written numerous times before, is still possibly the greatest player of all time. His record is just unworldly.

To quote Bud Collins’ Tennis Encyclopedia, Tilden who was born in 1893, “As an amateur (1912-1930), Tilden won 138 of 192 tournaments, lost 28 finals and had a 907-62 match record—a phenomenal .936 average. His last major (amateur) triumph, the Wimbledon singles of 1930 gave a total of 10 majors, standing as the male high until topped by Roy Emerson (12) in 1967.”

Now the number of 10 majors may not seem like a huge total by today’s standards but bear in mind that travel conditions were far different in Tilden’s time. People did not have the airplane travel that we have today. Players in those days had to travel by boat. The trip would take many weeks. The players could not stay in shape. Players did not travel nearly as much during those times.

Tilden was virtually invincible from 1920 to 1925, winning 8 out of 8 classic majors played. You could say 9 out of 9 majors considering that Tilden won the 1921 World Hardcourt, which was THE clay court major of the day. Considering the percentage numbers, I would not have been surprised if Tilden won several calendar year Grand Slams during this period. In fact I would have been surprised if he did not win a few Calendar Year Grand Slams if he had the opportunity.

In 1930, when Tilden was 37 years old, he won 18 tournaments, including the Championships of Five Nations! Tilden won Wimbledon, the Italian, the Dutch, the Austrian and German titles among his 18 tournament wins. If memory serves, Tilden had a 120-6 record that year.

In 1931 Tilden turned pro and became the number one professional player in the world by defeating the reigning Professional Champion Karel Kozeluh by 63 to 13.

Tilden held title of Professional No. 1 for several years before he lost to the immensely talented Ellsworth Vines by a score of 47 to 26.

Bill Tilden was still very competitive for many years on the Pro Tour, winning a number of top professional events like the US Pro twice and the French Pro once.

Tilden at age 50 was still a very strong player. Here’s a quote from the January 13, 1975 edition of Sports Illustrated—"During World War II, when Tilden was 50, Gardnar Mulloy organized a tennis exhibition for the Navy. Mulloy was to play Ted Schroeder, the Forest Hills champion, while Tilden, for old time's sake, was scheduled to play a nobody in the preliminary. "Let me play Schroeder," Tilden said to Mulloy.

Mulloy demurred. He was not anxious to see the old guy embarrassed by the world's amateur champion, but Tilden persisted, so Mulloy finally gave in. Tilden went out and pulverized Schroeder 6-2, 6-2.

"How did you do that, Bill?" Mulloy asked, amazed.

"I never lose to people I hate," Tilden snapped, and then he turned and walked off.”

Tilden won 5 majors, 98 total tournaments and 3 World Tours from the year he would reach 30 in 1923.

Tilden clearly belongs as one of the all-time great older players after age 30.

Pancho Gonzalez

Pancho Gonzalez is, in my opinion, the most underrated player of all time. He was arguably the top player in the world for a decade. Even after he reached his decline stage, he was still a magnificent player.

One of the reasons that Gonzalez is so underrated is that you cannot judge him by the simplistic method of counting classic majors. The reason behind this is that he turned professional at a very young age so he was not eligible to play in the classic majors because professionals weren’t allowed to play the majors prior to the Open in 1968. Even at that, Gonzalez did win two US Nationals which is now the US Open.

Pancho was probably the best player in the world for at least 10 years. On the Old Professional Tour they had a different system to determine who was the top player. These was the Old World Championship Head-to-Head Tours. Often, the tours would be against only two players against each other, however they did have World Championship Tours against several players competing against each other.

After Gonzalez won his second US National major he was given an offer by Jack Kramer, the reigning Professional Champion, to play him on a World Championship Tour of an incredible 123 matches over a two-year period! Gonzalez, very inexperienced, was not used to the grind of the tour and lost that tour to Kramer. It would be the last World Championship Tour that he ever lost!

Gonzalez was given a second chance to become the Professional World Championship when Kramer had to give up his crown due to early onset arthritis.

Gonzalez crushed the reigning amateur champion Tony Trabert in 1955, who won three majors in the previous year by a match score of 74-27 to become the Professional World Champion.

Later Gonzalez would defeat greats like Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura, Ashley Cooper, Mal Anderson, Frank Sedgman, Alex Olmedo, Andres Gimeno on tour. Some of these players have been named among the top ten greatest players in history!

The 1959 World Championship Tour was amusing to me in that Gonzalez played other players on this tour. One was the great Lew Hoad and the other two were Mal Anderson and Ashley Cooper. Gonzalez defeated Anderson and Cooper 34 by a combined wins to 0. To put this in perspective, Anderson and Cooper, starting with the US Nationals in 1957, won 4 of the last 5 classic majors! So you could argue that winning one solitary match against Pancho Gonzalez was tougher than winning four majors. This was how tough it was to defeat Pancho Gonzalez. Obviously, Gonzalez won that tour overall.

Pancho Gonzalez was known for his super serve, arguably the best serve in history. He backed up his serve extremely well. I believe Jack Kramer kept unofficial records of Gonzalez’s first serve percentage on break points for about a year, and if memory serves, it was at 87%.

Gonzalez was a great athlete and a smooth mover at 6’3.5” tall. He has been compared to a panther in his movements on the court. He had excellent mobility.

Gonzalez turned 30 in 1958. So from 1958 to 1961 Gonzalez won 4 World Championship Tours. The 1960 Tour was particularly impressive in that he defeated Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura and Alex Olmedo by the amazing match score of 49-8! The main challenger was Ken Rosewall with whom Gonzalez dispatched fairly easily by a score of 20 to 5. Rosewall was a distant second on that tour with a match score of 32-25 followed by Segura at 22-28 and Olmedo at 11-44.

In 1962 and 1963 Gonzalez retired (except for one match in 1963 at the US Pro), leaving the opportunity for Ken Rosewall to become the Profession Champion.

Gonzalez returned to the Professional Tour 1964 at age 36 but while he was still very strong in winning 5 tournaments, he did not have a record as great as Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall.

From 1964 to 1967 Gonzalez won 14 tournaments on the Old Pro Tour. They did not have the system anymore that the World Professional Number would have to have a World Professional Tour. It was closer to the tournament format we have now.

In 1968, at the age of 40 Gonzalez played his first Open major at the French Open. Gonzalez reached the semifinals, defeating among others the defending champion, the great Roy Emerson in the quarters in 5 sets. Gonzalez, most likely spent by his long match against Emerson lost to Laver in the semifinals in straight sets. Although to be fair, Laver also had a 5-set match in the quarters. Still Laver was a decade younger and it is easier to recover.

Perhaps Pancho’s most impressive tournament victory of the Open Era was when he won the 1969 Howard Hughes, which was pretty close to a major if you look at the field. At worst it was at least the equivalent of a Masters 1000 tournament. In this tournament Gonzalez defeated Newcombe, Smith, Rosewall and in the final Arthur Ashe in three straight sets. All these players are in the Hall of Fame and are all time greats. Not bad for a player over age 40.

Here's a bit of Gonzalez playing Newcombe, Rosewall and in the final Arthur Ashe.



I am of the opinion that Gonzalez still has an argument to be the GOAT. Obviously if you are in the conversation for being the greatest you would have a pretty good career after age 30. I think it’s clear that Gonzalez had a superb career after age 30. I think a lot of players would even settle for what Gonzalez accomplished after age 40.

Gonzalez in my opinion, with his enormous athletic ability, movement and his unrelenting will to win would be as great as any player in any era.

Ken Rosewall

Ken Rosewall was one of the greatest returners of all time, with incredible speed and quickness. His volley was one of the best of all time. Despite his lack of height at 5’7” tall he had an excellent overhead.

Many at the time called him “The Doomsday Stroking Machine” because he retrieved everything and his groundstrokes never seemed to end. His footwork was immaculate. He seemed to know where the ball was going before he opponent hit his shot. He had excellent passing shots and a superb lob. Arthur Ashe, I believe, said that by the time you figured out Rosewall lobbed on his forehand, the ball was bouncing on the baseline. Well, at least words to that general effect.

From this description Rosewall seemed like the perfect player. Sometimes it seemed that way. However he did not have a great serve nor did he hit with topspin off his backhand side although there was some slight topspin off his forehand.

Despite the fact Rosewall did not hit with topspin off the backhand, his backhand has been called the best of all time. It was unbelievable on the return. Many shots that seemed to be aces against others often were returned off his backhand for outright winners!

I understand that Rosewall in practice did hit topspin backhands but not in tournaments and top play. So it was not because he was incapable of hitting topspin off the backhand well. I still am amazed even on the old videos some of the angles he could hit off the backhand without topspin.

Here’s a hilarious quote from Vijay Amritraj’s excellent book Vijay!

To set up the quote, Vijay was 19 years old but everyone knew he was a gifted player. Vijay was playing in the 1973 US Open on grass at Forest Hills at the West Side Tennis Club. In the second round Vijay faced perhaps the GOAT of tennis, Rod Laver. Laver was past his prime but still a great player. Amritraj defeated Laver in five sets in a great upset. Vijay reached the quarterfinals against the great Rosewall. Rosewall was known for perhaps having the greatest backhand of all time. Rosewall would be 39 that year.

Pancho Gonzalez, who perhaps had faced Rosewall more than any other player and had an excellent plus record against Rosewall, was Vijay’s coach.

More specifically, Pancho translated this caution in tactical instruction. “Whatever you do,” he told me, “Don’t serve to his backhand.”

“It’s a long walk from the clubhouse to down to the Stadium Court at Forest Hillls and by the time we reached the entrance to the marquee that leads out onto the court itself, the gangways were packed with people. My picture had been in the New York Times that morning and there was no mistaking Pancho and I as we pushed our way through with a little assistance from the security guards. In contrast, little Rosewall, with that unassuming hang dog look of his almost seemed to get lost in the crowd. Hah, did I feel great! Was I ready to conquer the world!

“Remember, don’t serve to his backhand,” Pancho reminded me one last time as we parted company.

“Thanks,” I replied, listening but not listening.

“When we tossed, Kenny won and let me serve first. Strange, I thought. It was a blistering hot day. I had been serving brilliantly against Laver and Stone. Pretty cocky move.

“I took one last look at Pancho who had settled into the seat and even as I prepared to throw the ball up to serve, I remembered his advice. But there was Rosewall, this small figure with limited reach, standing so far over to the forehand side that both his feet were in the alley. You could drive a tank down the backhand side.

“This is ridiculous,” I thought. “This is an extremely fast court, I’ve got a big first serve and if I get it in there’s no way he can even reach it from where he’s standing. No need to blast it. Just a decent pace first serve will do it.”

“So I served to the backhand. Took three paces forwards the net and watched the ball fly past me for a winner. “Fluke,” I thought. At nineteen, you think things like that. You think that when a great player hits a superlative backhand service winner winner off a first serve that it’s a fluke. At least that’s what you tell yourself. So I served three more times to the backhand, never missed my first serve and never touched a volley. They were all past me before I could blink. It was absolutely unbelievable.”

Later in the book, Rosewall was doing awful things to my wonderful serve and by the time he had beaten me 6-3 6-2 6-2 I was very happy to get off the court.

Rosewall from age 30 onward won at least 72 tournaments, including 4 majors. He also won two WCT Championships which were essentially majors during the early Open Era. I recall John Newcombe writing in his book “Newk” that his master plan late in 1974 was to win the WCT finals which the great Newcombe did accomplish in 1974, defeating a young Bjorn Borg in four sets in a very well-played final. This shows how important the WCT Championship was in those days.

Rosewall also won on the Old Pro Tour 1 US Pro and 3 French Pros when he passed the age of 30.

Overall Rosewall in his great career won around 140 to 150 tournaments which included a tremendous number of top-level tournaments over greats like Gonzalez, Laver, Ashe, Newcombe, Emerson, Segura, Trabert, Roche, and Stolle among many others.

Clearly Rosewall is one of the top older players of all time and frankly simply one of the top players ever.

Here’s Rosewall defeating Rod Laver in the 1972 WCT Finals, which was essentially a major in those days.



Rod Laver

Rod Laver has arguably as great a tennis record as any player that has ever lived. Laver won two Calendar Year Grand Slams, in 1962, and the Open Grand Slam in 1969. No one has won the Grand Slam in the men’s field since.

I generally look at different GOAT categories when analyzing the Greatest Players of All Time. One is peak level and another is the career level. Laver is at or near the top in both areas.

Laver turned 30 in 1968, which by coincidence was the first year of the Open Era. Some experts, like the great tennis player Ellsworth Vines, thought Laver was already past his peak. Yet despite that, Laver was the first player of the Open Era to be ranked number 1! Laver won the first Open Wimbledon that year over the immensely talented Tony Roche in straight sets.

The next year, 1969, Laver won the first Open Era Grand Slam! To me, a calendar year Grand Slam showed how truly dominant a player is and to me deserves extra credit when you look at the greatness of a player. Laver was able to accomplish this while being slightly past his peak. This indicates to me an unbelievable top level at his peak.

At this point at the end of 1969, Laver won 5 of the first 7 Open majors played!

Laver won 76 tournaments after he reached the age of 30! All of it was in the Open Era.

Perhaps the greatest tournament Laver ever won was in 1971, at the age of 33 when he won the 1971 Tennis Champion’s Classic. He won 13 matches against some of the greatest players ever, all without a loss.

This tournament was set up with the probability that no player could possibly sweep the field, especially considering how elite the field was.

Laver started by defeating his old nemesis Ken Rosewall in straight sets. He then defeated John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Roy Emerson, Arthur Ashe, Tom Okker, Dennis Ralston, Arthur Ashe again, Roger Taylor, Tom Okker again.

In that last match above that Laver defeated Okker, who incidentally was a gifted player. Laver defeated Okker 6-1 6-4 6-3, losing only 8 games. However that is not the whole story. Okker said after that match that he had played the finest match of his career yet lost decisively!

To quote from the Fireside Book of Tennis “At one point, Okker caught Laver flat footed in the forecourt but Laver, in desperation, raced backwards, caught up with the ball, ran around it and put it away. Okke dropped his racquet in astonishment and the spectators, even the umpire in the chair howled in disbelief and admiration.

“In the locker room, Okker declared flatly that he had played as well as he had ever played, perhaps better than he had ever played. “but I was never even in the match. I couldn’t believe some of those shots. He couldn’t believe them himself.” Okker moaned.

Laver of course won that tournament, which arguably had the toughest field of all time, winning $160,000.

Clearly Laver had one of the greatest records past age 30.

Here’s Laver winning the Grand Slam at the US Open over Tony Roche. Note how bad the grass was. It was almost impossible for good baseline rallies.



Here’s Laver against Jimmy Connors in their challenge match in 1975. Laver would be 37 that year but you can see how competitive he was with Connors even at that age. Connors was clearly the superior player at that point. Connors won the match in four sets in a match with many excellent rallies.



Jimmy Connors

Some people have compared Jimmy Connors to Ken Rosewall. I suppose they have some similarities in style considering that they both have service returns that have been called the best ever and both have incredible backhands. They both had great mobility and footwork.

I do think that during both their peaks Connors hit the returns and overall groundstrokes much harder than even Muscles Rosewall as he was nicknamed.

I’m not sure people realize nowadays how truly dominant Connors was at his peak. For example, in 1974, arguably his best year, Connors, according to some sources, won 99 of 103 matches and three out of three majors he played. Connors tried to enter the French Open in 1974 but was not allowed to because he was playing World Team Tennis. If Connors had won the French Open that year, could he have continued and won the Grand Slam? To me it’s a tragedy that we never got a chance to find out.

At any rate in 1982, when Connors was to become 30, Connors won both Wimbledon over John McEnroe and the US Open over Ivan Lendl. Connors was 78-10 for the year and was the International Tennis Federation World Champion for 1982. Considering that 1978 was the first year for this prestigious award, Connors probably would have be ITF World Champion several times prior to 1978.

While Connors did not win as many tournaments as some past age 30, he did win 3 majors and 20 tournaments. He also was so consistent that he was in the top ten in the world until age 36.

Still at his peak Connors could compete with any player. He was exceptionally gifted and had a will to win that rivaled any player.

Here’s Connors in the 1982 US Open final against Ivan Lendl.

Andre Agassi

Andre Agassi is one of those players who was a tennis prodigy and was a great player until a late age. Agassi was known for his great service return, much like Rosewall and Connors earlier in this article. He had practically perfect groundstrokes. Often off the ground during his peak it seemed like he was standing still and his opponent was always doing the running. Yet when he was younger, he could hit a remarkable amount of low percentage winners.

Andre, when he passed 30 won 16 tournaments, including 3 majors which were all Australian Opens in 2000, 2001 and 2003.

Some have said Agassi moved as well when he was older compared to when he was young. Certainly I disagree with that but he trained hard and held off Father Time very well.



The Big Three

Roger Federer

Roger Federer was acclaimed very early after he became No. 1 to be the GOAT. At the time I did think that he was a brilliant player and potentially a future GOAT but I thought it was a bit early to proclaim him as the all-time greatest.

Now that his career is over, it is not unreasonable for some to consider him to be the GOAT, although it is always subject to debate.

Federer was especially invincible from 2004 to 2008 when he won 12 majors out of 20 attempts, was in the finals of 4 others and the semifinals of 2 others. It seemed at the time that it would just be easier to just put Federer automatically in the final and just wait for the challenger.

Frankly every tournament during those days seemed to have Federer in the final. He was invincible.

After Federer reached 30, he was still great but not quite as dominant, but very few could be. Federer did win 4 majors and 35 tournaments, including the ATP Finals in 2011 after he reached age 30. Federer’s record after he surpassed 30 alone would put him in the Tennis Hall of Fame.

Here’s Federer defeating his eternal rival Nadal in the 2017 Australian Open final in five sets.



Rafael Nadal

What can you say about Rafa Nadal?

Is he the greatest player ever?

Possibly.

Is he the greatest lefty ever.

Also possible.

Does he have a knack for drama?

Most definitely.

Nadal in many ways changed how tennis was played with his incredible topspin, especially off his lefty forehand, which may be as great as any forehand ever. Obviously, his record on clay, especially at the French Open speaks for itself. He was as close as you could get to an unbeatable player at one major. He had a 112-4 record at the French Open and I almost wouldn’t count the last loss because he wasn’t at full strength. These numbers are surreal. It makes no sense yet he did this.

Nadal, after he reached 30, won 8 majors and 25 tournaments. Perhaps his finest moment was in the 2022 Australian Open final in which he won from 2 sets down against Medvedev.

It was called the Miracle in Melbourne. Just a magnificent match from a magnificent player.





The commentator said, “That was the best shot he had ever hit!” at the 4:23 and 50 second mark. It may be a bit of a hyperbole but consider the situation in the match, the fact that Nadal was coming back from injury, that he was down two sets, going to break the record for most majors, the statement was very much appropriate! The emotion in the crowd and from the commentators made this a match to remember.

Incidentally I thought I’d show this point again between Nadal and his great rival Roger Federer.

I think this point is the greatest point in their rivalry and perhaps the greatest point I’ve ever seen.

The magic happens at the three hour, 46-minute mark of this video:



Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic was always a super talented player. That’s stating the obvious but he did not become the dominant Novak Djokovic that we have seen for many years until 2011, at the age of 24, which is relatively late in comparison to many top tennis superstars like a Bjorn Borg or a Carlos Alcaraz for example. Djokovic had his first year in which he won 3 majors in 2011. This would be the first of 3 times that Djokovic won 3 majors in a year. Djokovic also accomplished in late 2015 and early 2016 the extraordinary feat of holding all 4 majors at the same time. This has only been accomplished in the Open Era by Rod Laver on the Men’s side.

Since Djokovic has turned 30, he has won 12 majors, one Olympic Gold Medal—he is the oldest man to win the tennis Olympic gold—two ATP finals among his 33 total tournaments won so far.

Here’s Djokovic playing Nadal in the 2019 Australian Open final. Djokovic seems to own the Australian Open.



In my rankings for ATP Adjusted Points Average Per Tournament, Djokovic is easily ahead of Nadal at No. 2 and then Federer No. 3.

It’s pretty clear in the Open Era at least that Djokovic stands alone for majors won past age 30.

He has been No. 1 in the world 4 times if we include the year he would turn 30.

Conclusion

Assuming that Djokovic is the best after age 30 in the last 40 years, we have to look back at Laver, Rosewall, Gonzalez and Tilden.

Gonzalez was 30 in 1958, he won World Championship tours in 1958 over Lew Hoad, in 1959 over Lew Hoad, Ashley Cooper and Mal Anderson, in 1960 at age 32 he destroyed Ken Rosewall, Pancho Segura and Alex Olmedo (49-8) and finally he won the 1961 World Championship Tour over Gimeno, Hoad, MacKay, Olmedo, Sedgman and Buchholz.

The total of these tours over these 4 years were 281 matches. Despite all this activity on the World Championship tours Gonzalez still had time to win 19 tournaments in that span from 1958 to 1961! Among these tournament victories were 3 US Pro Championships, the Tournament of Champions, and the Geneva Gold Trophy which were all extremely strong Professional Tournaments.

Gonzalez retired essentially for 2 years (he played 1 match in 1963) and then returned at age 36 to play the Pro Tour again. From 1964 on to the Open Era Gonzalez won 25 more tournaments. In the Open Era, when he was past 40, Gonzalez still won 11 more tournaments including the Howard Hughes twice and the Pacific Southwest twice. I would venture to write that these tournaments were the equivalent of Masters 1000 tournaments in recent years.

Gonzalez was the best player in the world four times if we include the year he would turn 30.

Laver won the 1969 Open Grand Slam, 5 total majors and at least 76 tournaments from the year he reached age 30. He won the 1971 Tennis Champions Classic by defeating 13 opponents without a loss, perhaps the toughest tennis field of all-time.

Bill Tilden won 5 majors from age 30 and above and at least 98 tournaments and several World Tours. He was number 1 at least 3 times from 1923 on.

Ken Rosewall was the top player in 1964, perhaps equal with Rod Laver that year. He was perhaps the top player in 1970 and perhaps 1971 with Newcombe by the polls of who is No. 1 in those times. If we look at it by today’s ATP standards, it is pretty clear that Laver, with 15 tournaments, probably would be year-end No. 1 in 1970.

Rosewall did win an amazing 72 tournaments in his career from age 30 onward and 4 majors. You could possibly say 6 majors since Rosewall won the WCT Finals in 1971 and 1972, both over Laver. Some have called the 1972 WCT Finals match the finest match of all time. It was truly a great match but I doubt if it was the best match the two of them played. They were both older and they probably played superior matches when they were younger like the 1964 Wembley Final, one of the top tournaments on the Old Pro Tour. Laver won in five sets, winning the last two sets 8-6 8-6. Laver also trailed 3-5 in the final set before blasting his way out of trouble.

This is very tough. Djokovic has won the most majors past age 30 with 12. Gonzalez won World Championship Tours that could very well be considered more important than majors. Both were number 1 in the world 4 times.

Djokovic has won 33 tournaments from 30 onward, Gonzalez won 41 tournaments from 30 onward including some of the most prestigious Professional tournaments on the Old Pro Tour.

I’m going to call this a tie between Djokovic and Gonzalez.

Both are gifted players, tough in the clutch and great athletes. I have no doubt Gonzalez would have won a great number of majors if he played Open Tennis. Gonzalez on grass at his peak would have been a very daunting task for any top player and 3 of the 4 majors were on grass during his time playing. Gonzalez was also superb on clay so he may have won a number of French Opens also. Let’s not forget he reached the semifinals of the French Open in 1968, the year he would be 40.

I’d say Nadal is third, Laver is fourth (I give Laver some extra credit because of the dominance of his Grand Slam in 1969 at age 31), Tilden fifth, Federer sixth, Rosewall seventh, Agassi eighth and Connors ninth. All of these players have unbelievable records after they reached the age of 30.

Certainly it’s all very close. Tilden for example could be argued easily to be number 1 on this list. Laver very possibly could be ahead of Nadal. Rosewall could be much higher also.

Happy New Year 2025 to all of you and enjoy the upcoming 2025 Australian Open.

Raymond Lee is a Tennis Now contributing writer, tennis historian and avid tennis player who lives in New York. He has written about tennis for decades serving as a contributing writer for Tennis Week Magazine and TennisWeek.com.

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 and The Greatest Men Clay-Court Champions Of All Time