[Purple Rainbow]

To add a little bit of work myself to the greatest tennis player debate, I went out to construct a list of the greatest tennis players of the TMS era. Since it proved very difficult to compare between eras, I've decided to compare results from players since the atp adopted the Masters Series tournaments in 1990. Well, they were still called Super 9 tournaments by then, but the atp calendar has remained roughly the same ever since. Besides, by 1990, the Australian Open wasn't shunned by the top players at was during most of the eighties.


Criteria for inclusion:

A player must have reached at least the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament, or the semifinals of a TMS event. Though results all the way back to 1990 are counted, players reaching the latter stages of big events only in 1991 or 1990 are not included in this list, as I wanted players who were active in the TMS era for at least a few years. This led to the exclusion of the likes of Jimmy Connors, Andres Gomez and Pat Cash, players who were hardly active in the nineties.

These inclusion criteria led to some surprising players in the list. Most notably Andre Sa (one Wimbledon quarterfinal) and Roberto Carretero, who won Hamburg 1996 and achieved nothing else in his career. Some players with decent results have not been included. For example, Oliver Rochus, the more succesful of the Rochus brothers is not in, whereas Christophe did make the list.

Yet, the inclusion criteria are broad enough, proven by the fact that the entire top 30 as I write this is on the list. The highest ranked player not to make it is Kristof Vliegen (ranked 31).


Points allocation:

Players are rewarded for their achievements at Slams and Masters Series (super 9) tournaments. Points allocation went as follows:

Grand Slam:
Win: 100
Final: 70
SF: 45
QF: 25
R16: 15
R32: 7

Masters Event:
Win: 50
Final: 35
SF: 22
QF: 12
R16: 7

TMC/ATP world championship:
RR win: 10
SF win: 20
Final win: 25

Note 2 things about the points allocation. First, the awarded points are similar (well, 1/10th) to the points players gain for their entry ranking total. In 2009, the ranking points system was changed. I will continue this thread and will start a new thread for the era from 2009 onwards. I will start this thread somewhere after the FO.

A second note about the points system, no points are awarded for 1st or 2nd round losses. This is partly because I don't feel players should be rewarded for early losses, partly because 1 and 3 points wouldn't make much of a difference anyway and partly because it was enough work as it was already.

Finally, I've given players points for other titles won. Every "other" title is worth 10 points.

6th best result:

A problem I have with other people making lists like this, is that they count every result a player has had. This way, longevity gets excessively rewarded. In my opinion, a few top results from a player are more important than a lot of 3rd or 4th round exits. I chose to count only the top 6 results from every player at every tournament (Note that apart from top players like Agassi, Sampras or Ivanisevic, not many players have more than 6 good results at their name at any event anyway).
There's one exception to this 6th result rule. In case a player wins the same event more than 6 times, he gets to add to his total. The only player to have won an event more than 6 times is of course Pete Sampras, so he gets 700 points for his Wimbledon achievements.

[Purple Rainbow]

Updated after Madrid 2013, May 13th.

Another clay TMS/1000 title for Nadal.
Andujar, the surprise semifinalist, is a new entry.


1) Federer, Roger............4746
2) Nadal, Rafael...............3812
3) Sampras, Pete...............3710
4) Agassi, Andre................3392
5) Djokovic, Novak..........3132
6) Murray, Andy...............2115
7) Roddick, Andy.................2027
8) Courier, Jim................... 1898
9) Becker, Boris................. 1868
10) Hewitt, Lleyton..........1849

11) Edberg, Stefan..............1777
12) Chang, Michael.............1685
13) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny......1677
14) Ivanisevic, Goran..........1564
15) Muster, Tomas..............1476
16) Ferrer, David..............1383
17) Ferrero, Juan Carlos.....1335
18) Kuerten, Gustavo..........1333
19) Safin, Marat...................1323
20) Moya, Carlos.................1313

21) Davydenko, Nikolay....1230
22) Krajicek, Richard............1210
23) Nalbandian, David......1186
24) Stich, Michael................1185
25) Berdych, Tomas..........1149
26) Rafter, Patrick...............1114
27) Henman, Tim.................1103
28) Ferreira, Wayne............1049
29) Rios, Marcelo................1021
30) Haas, Tommy..............1027

31) Bruguera, Sergi............1001
32) Corretja, Alex.................976
33) Martin, Todd...................967
34) Enqvist, Thomas.............965
35) Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried.....938
36) Gonzalez, Fernando.......881
37) Korda, Petr.....................870
38) Del Potro, Juan Martin..853
39) Robredo, Tommy..........833
40) Grosjean, Sebastian.......791

41) Costa, Albert..................789
42) Medvedev, Andrei............785
43) Gasquet, Richard..........741
44) Ljubicic, Ivan...................736
45) Philippoussis, Mark..........732
46) Pioline, Cedric.................728
47) Coria, Guillermo...............723
48) Soderling, Robin...........694
49) Lendl, Ivan......................680
50) Björkman, Jonas..............656

51) Rusedski, Greg................642
52) Verdasco, Fernando......626
53) Wawrinka, Stanislas.... 621...+3
54) Forget, Guy.....................605...-1
55) Blake, James.................597...-1
56) Kiefer, Nicolas..................593...-1
57) Rosset, Marc....................579
58) Simon, Gilles.................567...+1
59) Johansson, Thomas.........563...-1
60) Youzhny, Mikhail...........550

61) Santoro, Fabrice..............543...-1
62) Almagro, Nicolas...........540
63) Stepanek, Radek...........529
64) Novak, Jiri........................500
65) Fish, Mardy....................499
66) Monfils, Gael.................493
67) Cilic, Marin....................481
68) Hrbaty, Dominik...............476
69) Larsson, Magnus.............468
70) Gaudio, Gaston................459

71) Mantilla, Felix...................451
72) Schüttler, Rainer...........447
73) Gustafsson, Magnus........441
74) Washington, MaliVai........432
75) Berasategui, Alberto........425
76) Schalken, Sjeng...............422
77) Norman, Magnus.............404
78) Canas, Guillermo.............400
79) Lopez, Feliciano...........392
80) Lapentti, Nicolas..........389

81) Novacek, Karel...................383
82) Chela, Juan Ignacio.........382
83) Baghdatis, Marcos...........380
84) Krickstein, Aaron................367
.......Tipsarevic, Janko.............367
86) Melzer, Jurgen.................364
87) Clement, Arnaud..............362
88) Wheaton, David.................360
89) Ancic, Mario........................356
90) Pavel, Andrei......................349

91) Chesnokov, Andrei.............348
92) Sanchez, Emilio..................344
93) Volkov, Alexander..............338
94) Arazi, Hicham......................334
95) Boetsch, Arnaud.................333
96) Clavet, Francisco................315
......Monaco, Juan...................315
98) Spadea, Vince..................313
99) Kohlschreiber, Philipp......312
100) Kucera, Karol....................310

101) Malisse, Xavier..............305
102) Ginepri, Robby.............290
103) Costa, Carlos..................283
104) Mirnyi, Max...................282
105) El Aynaoui, Younes..........277
.........Nieminen, Jarkko.........277
107) Escude, Nicolas...............273
108) Isner, John...................271
109) Hlasek, Jakob..................269
110) Woodforde, Mark............265

111) Mathieu, Paul-Henri.....264
112) Srichaphan, Paradorn.....248
113) Woodbridge, Todd.........242
114) Siemerink, Jan................241
115) Gambill, Jan-Michael.......238
116) Stoltenberg, Jason.........237
.........Karlovic, Ivo................237
118) Haarhuis, Paul...............236
119) McEnroe, John...............229
120) Zabaleta, Mariano..........220
..........Andreev, Igor.............220

122) Yzaga, Jaime..................214
123) Reneberg, Richey...........210
124) Leconte, Henri................200
125) Ulihrach, Bodan..............198
126) Cherkasov, Andrei..........193
127) Llodra, Michael............194
128) Benneteau, Julian........186
129) Massu, Nicolas.............185
130) Nishikori, Kei................182...+1

131) Woodruff, Chris..............180...-1
132) McEnroe, Patrick.............170...-1
133) Prpic, Goran...................169
134) Black, Byron...................167
135) Eltingh, Jacco.................165
136) Sanchez, Javier..............163
........Dosedel, Slava...............163
138) Masur, Wally..................161
.......Mansdorf, Amos..............161
.......Squillari, Franco...............161
.......Mayer, Florian...............161

142) Puerta, Mariano.................159
143) Seppi, Andreas..................155
144) Dolgopolov jr., Aleksandr..154
145) Gaudenzi, Andrea................152
146) Johansson, Joachim..............150
147) Gulbis, Ernests...................144
148) Karbacher, Bernd..................141
149) Meligeni, Fernando...............140
.........Calleri, Agustin.....................140

151) Steeb, Carl-Uwe...................138
152) Furlan, Renzo.......................135
153) Wilander, Mats.....................133
.........Acasuso, Jose.....................133
155) Koubek, Stefan..................131
156) Golmard, Jerome..................129
157) Bergstrom, Christian............126
.........Volandri, Filippo................126
159) Hanescu, Victor.................122
160) Mancini, Alberto...................118

161) Verkerk, Martin....................116
........Chardy, Jeremy..................116
163) Steven, Brett.......................114
164) Kulti, Nicklas........................109
.........Bellucci, Thomaz...............109
166) Tillström, Mikael...................104
167) Alami, Karim..........................96
168) Sanguinetti, David................95
169) Dewulf, Filip..........................90
170) Fognini, Fabio....................89


171) Portas, Albert.......................85
........Pernfors, Mikael....................85
173) Vinciguerra, Andreas........83
174) Filippini, Marcelo..................82
175) Tomic, Bernard.................78
176) Ondruska, Marcos...............72
.......Popp, Alexander...................72
178) Blanco, Galo.........................71
179) Voinea, Adrian.....................70
180) Rochus, Christophe..............65

181) Muller, Gilles.....................61
182) Andujar, Pablo..................56...new
183) Lu, Yen-Hsun.....................53...-1
184) Voltchkov, Vladimir................52...-1
185) Dreekmann, Hendrik.............51...-1
186) Carretero, Roberto...............50...-1
187) Janowicz, Jerny.................49...-1
188) Levy, Harel...........................47...-1
.......Matsuoka, Shuzo...................47...-1
190) Radulescu, Alex....................39...-1

191) Labadze, Irakli..................37...-1
192) Sa, Andre...........................25...-1

Active players in bold.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 20 players at the AO since 1990. Updated after AO 2013.

Novak Djokovic threepeated at the AO and surpasses Sampras.

Murray makes a big jump as well and Ferrer is a new entry.


1) Federer, Roger.............515
2) Agassi, Andre.................490
3) Djokovic, Novak..........450...+1
4) Sampras, Pete...............385...-1
5) Edberg, Stefan...............315
6) Courier, Jim....................310
7) Nadal, Rafael...............290
8) Murray, Andy...............285...+4
9) Safin, Marat...................269...-1
10) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny.....245...-1

11) Becker, Boris................232...-1
12) Roddick, Andy............230...-1
13) Lendl, Ivan...................210
14) Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried...187...+2
15) Ferrer, David.............170...new
16) Chang, Michael............167...-2
17) Tommy Haas..............164...-2
18) Ferreira, Wayne...........160...-1
19) Martin, Todd.................149...-1
20) Hewitt, Lleyton..........145



Dropped out of top 20:


Nalbandian, David.....142


Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Indian Wells since 1990. Updated for 2013.

Rafa capped of an impressive comeback with a win at Indian Wells.


1) Federer, Roger.............244
2) Nadal, Rafael................229
3) Chang, Michael...............191
.....Djokovic, Novak..........191...+2
5) Sampras, Pete................181...-1
6) Agassi, Andre.................166
7) Hewitt, Lleyton.............164
8) Courier, Jim....................143
9) Roddick, Andy.................125
10) Edberg, Stefan.............116


Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Miami/Key Biscane since 1990. Updated for 2013.

A title for Murray and a final for Ferrer.
Djokovic had an early exit but it was just enough to surpass Federer.


1) Agassi, Andre.................300
2) Sampras, Pete................229
3) Djokovic, Novak...........192...+1
4) Federer, Roger.............191...-1
5) Nadal, Rafael................161
6) Roddick, Andy.................158
7) Murray, Andy................157...+1
8) Courier, Jim....................140...-1
9) Ferrer, David................110...new
10) Rios, Marcelo.................93...-1

Dropped out of top 10:

Edberg, Stefan..............88
Krajicek, Richard............88

Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the last event.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Monte Carlo since 1990. Updated for 2013.

Djokovic broke Nadals unreal streak of eight straight wins.

No other movement in the top 10.

1) Nadal, Rafael................400
2) Muster, Tomas................219
3) Djokovic, Novak...........171...+6
4) Ferrero, Juan Carlos....168...-1
5) Moya, Carlos...................163...-1
6) Coria, Guillermo..............154...-1
....Bruguera, Sergi...............154...-1
8) Pioline, Cedric.................149...-1
9) Federer, Roger.............141...-1
10) Rios, Marcelo.................114

Players listed in bold are active
Players in red have added to their total in the last tournament.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Rome since 1990. Updated for 2012.

Rafa is Tafa and that means he's winning the big clay tournaments.
A record sixth title for him.

1) Nadal, Rafael................300
3) Djokovic, Novak..........194...+1
2) Muster, Tomas................171...-1
4) Kuerten, Gustavo...........142
5) Courier, Jim....................138
6) Federer, Roger.............133
7) Corretja, Alex.................113
8) Costa, Albert..................110
9) Ivanisevic, Goran...........108
10) Rios, Marcelo.................97

Players listed in bold are active
Players in red have added to their total in the last event.

[Purple Rainbow]

Top 10 players at Hamburg (1990-2008) / Madrid (2009-) since 1990. Updated for 2013.

The clay is red again, meaning Nadal is winning again.

1) Federer, Roger.............300
2) Nadal, Rafael...............255
3) Medvedev, Andrei..........157
4) Stich, Michael.................136
5) Djokovic, Novak..........118
6) Rios, Marcelo.................101
7) Coria, Guillermo...........97
8) Kuerten, Gustavo...........93
.....Robredo, Tommy..........93
10) Corretja, Alex...............91
......Costa, Albert................91


Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 20 players at Roland Garros since 1990. Updated for 2012.

Nadal won a record seventh French open title.
Djokovic reched his first final in Paris.

No other movers in the top 20, though Ferrer (124) and Murray (117) are close.

1) Nadal, Rafael...............700
2) Federer, Roger............425
3) Kuerten, Gustavo..........365
4) Courier, Jim....................355
5) Agassi, Andre.................335
6) Bruguera, Sergi..............315
7) Ferrero, Juan Carlos....274
8) Djokovic, Novak...........255...+5
9) Corretja, Alex.................250...-1
10) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny......227...-1

11) Costa, Albert.................217...-1
12) Muster, Tomas...............207...-1
13) Moya, Carlos.................205...-1
14) Medvedev, Andrei..........185
15) Röderling, Robin..........172
16) Gaudio, Gaston............159
17) Stich, Michael.................152
18) Davydenko, Nikolay....147
19) Chang, Michael .............142
20) Coria, Guillermo..........137



Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 20 players at Wimbledon since 1990. Updated for 2012.

It took two and a half years, but Federer once again won a Slam, his seventh Wimbledon title.
Murray came close, but failed to become the first British player in ages to win at home turf.

1) Sampras, Pete................700
2) Federer, Roger.............700
3) Nadal, Rafael................417
4) Ivanisevic, Goran............400
5) Agassi, Andre.................330
6) Becker, Boris..................325
7) Roddick, Andy..............295
8) Djokovic, Novak..........275
9) Murray, Andy...............245...+6
10) Hewitt, Lleyton..........235...-1

11) Henman, Tim................230...-1
.......Rafter, Patrick..............230...-1
13) Stich, Michael................217...-1
14) Edberg, Stefan..............215...-1
15) Krajicek, Richard............207...-1
16) Philippoussis, Mark....175
17) Martin, Todd..................170
18) Pioline, Cedric...............160
19) Berdych, Thomas........147
20) Grosjean, Sebastian......144


Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournamet played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Montreal/Toronto since 1990. Updated for 2012.

Djokovic defended his title.

1) Agassi, Andre.................229
2) Federer, Roger.............204
3) Djokovic, Novak...........196...+2
4) Roddick, Andy...............166...-1
5) Nadal, Rafael................163...-1
6) Andy Murray.................144
7) Rafter, Patrick.................121
8) Ferreira, Wayne..............115
9) Chang, Michael...............105
10) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny......100



Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournamet played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Cincinnati since 1990. Updated for 2012.

Federer won the title for a record 5th time and moves ahead of Sampras.

1) Federer, Roger.............262...+1
2) Sampras, Pete................242...-1
3) Chang, Michael...............214
4) Agassi, Andre.................206
5) Roddick, Andy..............191
6) Edberg, Stefan...............154
7) Murray, Andy................153...+1
8) Djokovic, Novak...........152...+2
9) Hewitt, Lleyton............148...-2
10) Rafter, Patrick..............134...-1


Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 20 players at the US Open since 1990. Updated for 2012.

Murray won his first slam and makes a big splash.
Del Potro climbs and Ferrer is a new entry.

1) Sampras, Pete................570
.....Federer, Roger.............570
3) Agassi, Andre.................480
4) Djokovic, Novak..........400
5) Hewitt, Lleyton............330
6) Nadal, Rafael...............300
7) Roddick, Andy.................270
8) Murray, Andy................252...+6
9) Edberg, Stefan...............239...-1
10) Chang, Michael.............225...-1

11) Rafter, Patrick................222...-1
12) Martin, Todd...................197...-1
13) Courier, Jim....................175...-1
......Safin, Marat....................175...-1
15) Del Potro, Juan Martin.164...+1
16) Pioline, Cedric.................151...-1
17) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny........134
......Davydenko, Nikolay......134
......Ferrer, David..................134...new
20) Ferrero, Juan Carlos....129...-1


Dropped out of top 20:

Becker, Boris...................127

Pleyers in bold are active
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Shanghai/Madrid/Essen/Stockholm since 1990. Updated through 2012.

Murray is a three time winner at this tournament and makes a big move.


1) Becker, Boris...................219
2) Murray, Andy................199...+1
3) Federer, Roger.............186...-1
4) Ivanisevic, Goran............156
5) Sampras, Pete................145
6) Nalbandian, David........143
7) Krajicek, Richard.............139
8) Nadal, Rafael................138
9) Djokovic, Novak...........135...+new
10) Agassi, Andre...............125...-1


Dropped out of the top 10:

Kafelnikov, Yevgeny.....115

Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.

[Purple Rainbow]

The top 10 players at Paris since 1990. Updated through 2012.

Ferrer won his first TMS/1000 event, but is short of the top 10 with 93 points.
.

1) Safin, Marat............. ......204
2) Sampras, Pete...............194
3) Becker, Boris..................151
4) Kafelnikov, Yevgeny.......128
5) Agassi, Andre.................124
6) Federer, Roger.............115
7) Davydenko, Nikolay.....110
.....Tomas Berdych.............110...+2
9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.......109...+new
10) Forget, Guy............... ..106...-2



Dropped out of top 10:

Edberg, Stefan.............103

Players listed in bold are active.
Players in red have added to their total in the most recent tournament played.