World number 1 ranked male tennis players

World number one male tennis player rankings is a year-by-year listing of both the male tennis player who, at the end of a full year of play, has generally been considered to be the best overall player for the entire year, and of the runner-up for that year.

Before the open era of tennis arrived in 1968, rankings for amateur players were generally compiled only for a full year of play. Professional players were ranked by journalists, promoters, and players' associations usually at the end of the year. Even for amateurs, however, there was no single official overall ranking that encompassed the entire world. Instead, nation rankings were done by the national tennis association of each country, and world rankings were the preserve of tennis journalists. It was only with the introduction of computerized rankings in the open era that rankings were issued more frequently than once yearly. Even the end-of-year amateur rankings issued by official organizations such as the United States Lawn Tennis Association were based on judgments made by men and women and not on mathematical formulas assigning points for wins or losses.

In 1938, for instance, when Don Budge won the amateur Grand Slam, it was easy to conclude that Budge was not only the U.S. No. 1 but also the World No. 1 amateur player. It was far more difficult, however, to decide who was the best overall player, amateur or professional, for that year because both Ellsworth Vines and Fred Perry, now professionals, were still at the top of their form. Two different sources, however, carefully studied the performances of the players for that year and both concluded that Budge was the best overall player, with Vines a close second. For the previous year, 1937, one of these same sources concluded that all three players, Perry, Vines, and Budge, deserved to be called the co-World No. 1 players.

Another example was 1947. Bobby Riggs, a professional, had clearly established himself as the best player in the world the year before. In 1947, he was still the best professional player but Jack Kramer had a sensational amateur year. The following year, 1948, Kramer turned professional and defeated Riggs decisively in a long series of matches. It is feasible to argue, therefore, that Riggs and Kramer were the co-World No. 1 players for 1947.

1948 was the last year in which an amateur player turned professional and then went on to beat the defending professional champion. Therefore, it is generally acknowledged that the World No. 1 in every year since 1948 has been the best professional player.

Even here, however, some years present difficulties. Kramer was perhaps the world's best player in 1950 and 1951 when he crushed first Pancho Gonzales and then Pancho Segura in head-to-head tours but was dominated in tournaments by those same players. In 1952, there was no long, headline tour. Instead, there were short tours between different players and several professional tournaments, with the result that none of the professionals played extensively. The short-lived Professional Lawn Tennis Association published an end-of-the-year list in which Segura was ranked the best player in the world, with Gonzales second. During the year, however, Gonzales had defeated Segura 4 matches to 1. Segura had also won a number of important tournaments; so, it is probable that Segura and Gonzales were co-World No. 1 players for the year.

The following year, 1953, Kramer narrowly defeated the top amateur-turned-professional, Frank Sedgman, in their tour during the first half of the year and so reestablished himself as World No. 1, at least for that period. But then, because of injuries, he did not play the second half of the year. As a result, Kramer was now in semi-retirement.

In 1954, there were a number of round-robins as well as shorter tours, from which it is clear that Gonzales had now established himself as the best player in the world, the first year in a run of seven consecutive years as the World No. 1. But, given the spotty and often contradictory record-keeping of the professional results since 1926, it is frequently difficult to make a clear, objective judgment as to who was the best player in any number of years.

The first professional tour was held in North America in 1926 with Suzanne Lenglen as the main attraction.^[1] Before then, there were numerous teaching professionals, that is, players who gave lessons for money at private clubs and public parks. Because they accepted money in return for their services, they were not allowed to participate in amateur tournaments. They did, however, create a number of relatively small professional tournaments for players like themselves, primarily in Europe.

Some of the oldest professional matches known are those between Irish player George Kerr and American Tom Pettitt. In 1889, Kerr beat Pettitt three times in four meetings. In June 1890, Kerr won all three matches against Pettitt in Dublin.

In April 1898, a professional, round-robin tournament was played in Paris on covered courts. Both Thomas Burke (tutor of the Tennis Club de Paris, former teacher of Joshua Pim who won Wimbledon twice) from Ireland and Kerr (Fitzwilliam Club) defeated Tom Fleming (Queen’s Club), and Burke defeated Kerr 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

During the 1900 Paris Exhibition, a professional tournament was held on clay, with Burke finishing ahead of both Kerr and the Englishman Charles Hierons.

In the spring of 1903 in Nice on clay, Reggie Doherty, the leading amateur, defeated the leading professional, Burke, 1-6, 6-1, 6-0, 6-0.

Burke was reportedly as good a player as the leading amateurs ^[2], but he is totally forgotten today, as was later Charles Haggett, the best English teaching professional. In 1913, Haggett settled in the United States, invited by the West Side Tennis Club of Forest Hills, New York and became the coach of the American Davis Cup team. In practice matches, he beat the leading amateurs Tony Wilding, Wimbledon winner and Maurice McLoughlin, Wimbledon All Comer's winner.^[3]

In the 1920s, Karel Koželuh, Albert Burke (son of Thomas Burke), and Roman Najuch were probably the most notable, as well as the best, of these players. The Bristol Cup, held at Beaulieu or at Cannes on the French Riviera and won seven consecutive times by Koželuh, was "the world's only significant pro tennis tournament."^[4] Koželuh went on to become one of the very best of the touring professionals in the 1930s; so, it is easy to imagine that he, Burke, and probably other forgotten teaching professionals were among the top 10 amateur and professional players in any given year before 1928, which is the first year for which any of the sources cited here give a ranking for all the top players of that year. All top 10 rankings for the years before 1928 were for amateurs only.

Tradition on the pro circuit was non-existent before 1968 because the event hierarchy could change each year. Some major tournaments, however, stood out at different times, as the Wikipedia article Major professional tennis tournaments before the Open Era explains.

Elite events that lasted only a few years (mostly because of financial collapse) included:

• Bristol Cup: 1920s,
• Queen's Club Pro: 1928
• Southport tournament: 1935-1939
• World Pro Championships in Berlin: 1930's
• U.S Pro hardcourt: 1945
• Philadelphia: 1950-1952
• Tournament of Champions: 1956-1957
• Masters Pro Round Robin: 1957-1958
• Australian Pro: 1954, 1957-1958
• Madison Square Garden Pro: 1966, 1967
• Wimbledon Pro: 1967
• Bonnardel Cup: 1930s
• Kramer Cup: 1961-1963

Three major tournaments held a certain tradition and usually had the best of the leading players. They were called "Championship Tournaments." The most prestigious of the three was generally the London Indoor Professional Championship. Played between 1934 and 1990 at Wembley Arena in the United Kingdom, the tournament was unofficially and usually considered the world's championship until 1967. The oldest of the three was the United States Professional Championship, played between 1927 and 1999. Between 1954 and 1962 it was played indoors in Cleveland and was called the World Professional Championships. The third major tournament was the French Professional Championship, played between 1934 and 1968, generally at Roland Garros. The British and American championships continued into the open era but devolved to the status of minor tournaments. The winner and runner-up in each of these tournaments will be shown for the years in which they were played.

These three tournaments (Wembley Pro, French Pro and U.S. Pro) through 1967 are sometimes referred to as the professional Grand Slam tournaments by tennis historians. In any particular year, another tournament, such as the Forest Hills Pro or the Masters Pro, could have had a better field. But over the decades, these were the three "majors" that all professional players sought.

Other years dating back to 1913 also present difficulties and ambiguities. The rankings below, however, all come from various sources that are as authoritative as can be found. There are eighteen sources:

• The United States Tennis Association Official Encyclopedia of Tennis (1981).^[5] This book has annual rankings for the top 10 players as compiled every year from 1914 through 1980. These rankings were made annually by various tennis experts at a London newspaper, The Daily Telegraph: Wallis Myers (1913-1938), John Olliff (1939-1951), and Lance Tingay (1952-1967). These rankings, however, included only amateur players. Beginning with the 1920s, some of the best players in the world were professionals. Once they became professionals, as Bill Tilden did in 1931, they were no longer included in these annual lists.

• History of the Pro Tennis Wars, by Ray Bowers, is a website^[6] associated with the Tennis Server website. In thirteen chapters, Bowers gives a very detailed account of the first twenty years of the professional tennis tours, from a modest beginning in 1926 with Suzanne Lenglen and Vincent Richards as the main attractions, on through 1945. He also gives detailed results of some of the tournaments played by professionals in addition to the main head-to-head tours. In his summing-up for each year since 1928, he gives his rankings for the best players of that year, combining both amateurs and professionals, with the number of players ranked varying from year to year. In all cases prior to 1940, his rankings coincide with those of The Daily Telegraph as far as amateurs are concerned.

• Total Tennis: The Ultimate Tennis Encyclopedia (2003), by Bud Collins.^[7] This massive work has year-by-year chapters in which Collins gives a brief summation of the pro tour results, often with personal comments about the players. It also has somewhat more complete rankings from the early years of the Daily Telegraph. The combined amateur-professional rankings for 1968 through 1972 are those of Collins himself. Beginning with 1973, the Association of Tennis Professionals began issuing computer-generated weekly rankings. Collins shows the top 10 players in these rankings for the last week of every calendar year through 2002.

• The History of Professional Tennis (2003), by Joe McCauley. This book was published in the United Kingdom and is a year-by-year account of the professional tours and tournaments between 1926 and 1968. The book has 80 pages of year-by-year results for as many tournaments, tours, and head-to-head matches as the author, a long-time writer for World Tennis magazine, could find.

• Professional Lawn Tennis Association (PLTA). The PLTA was composed of a group of professional players in the late 1940s and early 1950s and, for several years, issued its own official rankings of professional players at the end of each year. The PLTA was also apparently called the Professional Players Association (PPA) in at least 1946.

• The Game, My 40 Years in Tennis (1979), by Jack Kramer.^[8] Kramer's autobiography has information about the 1954 professional tour that is somewhat different from the other sources but that must be considered authoritative in that Kramer himself was the tour promoter that year.

• Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The ATP has issued its own year-end ranking of the top male players every year since 1973.

• Tennis Is My Racket (1949), by Bobby Riggs. Riggs's autobiography has information about the 1946 professional tour that is slightly different from the other sources. He also writes at length about his 1948 tour with Kramer but says nothing about his playing record in 1947, about which there is much conflicting information.

• The Last Sure Thing: The Life & Times of Bobby Riggs (2003), by Tom LeCompte.^[9] This biography published after Riggs's death jibes with his own information for 1946 but is at odds with other sources about Riggs's record in 1947.

• Vainqueurs 1946-2003 (2003), by Michel Sutter (Winners 1946-2003 in English). Apparently based mostly on information drawn from the French sports magazine L'Équipe, this is an updated edition of his earlier book Vainqueurs 1946-1991. Both books list the winners of many professional tournaments and matches for the years shown in their titles, but the earlier book also listed the runner-ups, scores, and the exact dates as well as some commentary, in French and in English, by the author for each year.

• Histoiredutennis.com ("History of tennis"). This is a French website that has much interesting information, particularly in its extended chapters with the history of tennis. Some of its information about the professional tour in 1954, however, seems to conflict with other sources. The 1954 information may actually be for 1953.

• Der Grösste Meister. Die denkwürdige Karriere des australischen Tennisspielers Kenneth Robert Rosewall (1999), by Robert Geist. This is a detailed account of Ken Rosewall's career with many statistics and, in particular, his annual rankings during his professional career.

• Anthony Wilding A Sporting Life (2005), by Len and Shelley Richardson.

• Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club: 100 Years in Australian Tennis, by Richard Yallop.^[10]

• Modern Tennis (1915), by P.A. Vaile (second edition).

• Lawn Tennis (1889), by Methven Brownlee (Arrowsmith, Bristol)

• Kings of the court. The story of lawn tennis. by E.C. Potter. (Barnes and Company, New York, 1963.) A very good tennis history book, has many details about the pre-WWI players.

• Fifty years of Wimbledon. by Wallis Myers. (The Field, London, 1926.) Each year of Wimbledon is examined, although it does not contain Top10 world rankings.

However there are sometimes contradictions between all these sources.

A good example of the occasional lack of authoritative material about the early years of the professional players is the somewhat surprising fact that the very existence of the 1936 and 1938 Wembley tournament is in question. Two sources, Collins and McCauley, give results for the Wembley tournament in each year. Bowers, however, is adamant that neither took place and offers some evidence to support his view.

Another example is 1947. Collins says that Riggs beat Budge in a tour; McCauley says that there was no long tour, only a short one between Riggs and Frank Kovacs. Tom LeCompte says that there was a small tour with Riggs overcoming Budge 12-6 followed by the short Riggs-Kovacs tour (4-3, but 11-10 according to McCauley).

Other examples : the French Pro until 1933. McCauley says that the first year of the French Pro is unknown but begins his list in 1930 whereas Ray Bowers doesn't talk about any French Pro before 1934 (even in 1934 he doesn't use the expression "French Professional Championships" but writes a three-day tournament at (Roland) Garros, September 21-23). For example in 1933, the supposed Tilden-Cochet final (6-2 6-4 6-2) listed by McCauley was just according to Bowers a singles match (with a slightly different score 6-3 6-4 6-2) of a USA-France meeting (in the Davis Cup format) at Roland Garros (where Cochet defeated Bruce Barnes, Tilden beat Plaa and Cochet and Barnes overcame Plaa and the US won the doubles).

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (December 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (September 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Before 1973 there was no computer rankings but only journalists or officials (on their personal behalf) or promoters or players themselves who listed their own annual rankings.

In 1973 the ATP listed his own rankings every fortnight and some years later (probably in 1977) every week but they had many imperfections because in the seventies and the eighties they didn’t take into account such events as the Davis Cup, the WCT Finals and the Masters (later called the Singles Championship and in the 2000’s the Tennis Masters Cup). Nowadays the Tennis Masters Cup give ATP points. (See : List of ATP number 1 ranked players).

Therefore other rankings proposed by tennis experts or by the players themselves could be more accurate because they included these events : From 1973 to 2006 this list sometimes differs from the ATP list because it shows journalists (or even players) rankings and not computer rankings. In particular Connors has been ranked #1, at the end of the year, from 1974 to 1978 by the ATP but the majority disagreed the computer rankings : for instance in 1975 all the journalists (among them John Barrett, Bud Collins, Barry Lorge, Judith Elian) ranked Arthur Ashe as the number 1 in the world while his ATP ranking was only 4th; in 1977, no one, except the ATP ranking, considered that Connors was the best player in the world, and everyone thought that Borg and Vilas were tennis kings; and in 1978 everyone and in particular the ITF recognized that the Swede was the World Champion. In 1982 and in 1989 respectively Connors and Becker both winners of Wimbledon and the US Open were considered as World Champions even though the ATP ranked respectively McEnroe and Lendl as number 1. Since the mid-90s the ATP rankings had been more or less accepted by many as the official rankings (but in 1999 many considered Sampras as the second best player in the world while the ATP ranked Kafelnikov 2nd). Finally since 1978 the ITF (represented at the beginning by Sedgman, Hoad and Trabert) has designated his World Champion.

Before 1913 very few sources are available but Richard Yallop in Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club 100 Years in Australian Tennis stated that Norman Brookes was the champion of the world in 1907 and Len and Shelley Richardson in Anthony Wilding A Sporting Life cite A.E Crawley's (a British journalist at the beginning of the XXth century) and Anthony Wilding's (the New Zealander tennis player) opinions

A. = Amateur P. = Professional

Year	Number 1 Player	Runner-up Player	Source of Ranking
1877	Spencer Gore A. (GB)		Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis Gore is the Wimbledon champion
1878	Frank Hadow A. (GB)		Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis Hadow is the Wimbledon champion
1879	John Hartley A. (GB)		Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis Hartley is the Wimbledon champion
1880	John Hartley A. (GB)		Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis Hartley wins the only match he plays, against Lawford in the Wimbledon final.
1881	William Renshaw A. (GB)		R. Osborn (he ranked the Top7 British players), as reported by Tingay in his encyclopedia William Renshaw is the Irish and Wimbledon champion.
1882	William Renshaw A. (GB)	Ernest Renshaw A. (GB)	Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis William Renshaw is the Irish and Wimbledon champion, his brother Ernest is the challenger both times.
1883	William Renshaw A. (GB)	Ernest Renshaw A. (GB)	Methven Brownlee: Lawn Tennis William Renshaw has won the only singles match he played at Wimbledon against Irish champion Ernest Renshaw.
1884	William Renshaw A. (GB)	Herbert Lawford A. (GB)	The Pastime classification of British players: 1. W. Renshaw 2. Lawford William Renshaw has won the only singles match he played at Wimbledon against Irish champion Lawford.
1885	William Renshaw A. (GB)	Herbert Lawford A. (GB)	The Pastime classification of British players: 1. W. Renshaw 2. Lawford William Renshaw has won the only singles match he played at Wimbledon against Irish champion Lawford.
1886	William Renshaw A. (GB)	Herbert Lawford A. (GB)	The Pastime classification of British players: 1. W. Renshaw 2. Lawford William Renshaw has won the only singles match he played at Wimbledon against Irish champion Lawford.
1887	Ernest Renshaw A. (GB) - Herbert Lawford A. (GB)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1-2. Lawford, E.Renshaw Lawford beat Ernest Renshaw at Wimbledon and lost to him at the Irish. Neither of them has shown as good a form as William Renshaw last year who is absent because of injury.
1888	Ernest Renshaw A. (GB)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1. E. Renshaw 2-4. W. Renshaw, Hamilton, Lewis Ernest Renshaw is the Irish and Wimbledon champion. Hamilton is the Irish challenger, and the Northern England champion.
1889	Willoughby Hamilton A. (IRL) - William Renshaw A. (GB)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1-2. W. Renshaw, Hamilton Hamilton has beaten William Renshaw (once again Wimbledon champion) at the Irish, won the Northern England title as well, but lost at the Wimbledon semis to Harry Barlow.
1890	Willoughby Hamilton A. (IRL) - Joshua Pim A. (IRL)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1-2. Hamilton, Pim Hamilton wins Wimbledon, but loses to Pim in Liverpool and Lewis in Dublin (although he is the Irish champ, he had severe defeats by Pim and G. Chaytor).
1891	Ernest Lewis A. (GB) - Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB) - Joshua Pim A. (IRL)	all 3 ranked equally	The Pastime classification of British players: 1-3. W. Baddeley, Lewis, Pim Lewis is the Irish, Baddeley the Wimbledon champion, but they have not met. Both of them have beaten Pim, although Pim also beat Baddeley at the Northern Champ.
1892	Ernest Renshaw A. (GB) - Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1-2. E. Renshaw, W. Baddeley Ernest Renshaw is the Irish, Baddeley the Wimbledon champion (in the absence of Renshaw), but they have not met.
1893	Joshua Pim A. (IRL)	Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB)	The Pastime classification of British players: 1. Pim 2. W. Baddeley Pim wins Wimbledon, the Irish and Northern England titles as well (no one has won all these three big titles in the same year yet). He twice defeats Baddeley.
1894	Joshua Pim A. (IRL)	Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB)	The Pastime classification of British players: 1. Pim 2. W. Baddeley Pim defends his Wimbledon and Irish titles. Wilfred Baddeley is the Wimbledon challenger and wins the Northern England title beating Pim and also beats him at an international match.
1895	Joshua Pim A. (IRL)- Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB)		The Pastime classification of British players: 1-2. W. Baddeley, Pim Pim is the Irish champion demolishing Wilberforce Eaves, but is absent from Wimbledon that Baddeley wins from a weaker field narrowly beating Eaves.
1896	Wilfred Baddeley A. (GB)	Harold Mahony A. (IRL)	The Lawn Tennis classification of British players (in alphabetical order, foreign and covered court tournaments were not taken into account): 1. W. Baddeley scratch 2. Mahony Baddeley has beaten Mahony both at the Irish and Northern England Championships, but lost to him at Wimbledon.
1897	Reggie Doherty A. (GB) - Wilberforce Eaves A. (GB) - Robert Wrenn A. (USA)	all 3 ranked equally	The Lawn Tennis classification of British players (in alphabetical order, foreign and covered court tournaments were not taken into account): 1. W. Baddeley, R. Doherty, Eaves scratch US rankings: 1. Wrenn 2. Larned 3. Eaves There is very little difference between the top players. Wimbledon champion Doherty was beaten by Irish champ Eaves in Dublin, by Baddeley at the Northern England Championships and by Mahony at the international match, however he has beaten all of them at Wimbledon. Wrenn beats Eaves at the US but loses to Larned in Boston.
1898	Reggie Doherty A. (GB)	Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty A. (GB)	The Lawn Tennis classification of British players (in alphabetical order, foreign and covered court tournaments were not taken into account): 1-5. G. Chaytor, L. Doherty (he was probably the most consistant), R. Doherty, W. Eaves, S. Smith Wimbledon champ Reggie Doherty loses to Irish Mahony in Dublin. Laurie Doherty defeats Mahony at Wimbledon, but loses the challenge round to his brother.
1899	Reggie Doherty A. (GB)	Sidney Smith A. (GB)	The Lawn Tennis classification of British players (in alphabetical order, foreign and covered court tournaments were not taken into account): 1. R. Doherty scratch 2. S. Smith 1/6 US rankings: 1. Whitman Reggie Doherty wins both the Wimbledon and the Irish titles and has an unbeaten season. Charles A. Voigt from Boston classified the national champions in this order: R. Doherty, Smith (of Wales), Whitman. Whitman wins all the important US tournaments, and according to Potter (in his Kings of the court book)he played magnificiently.
1900	Reggie Doherty A. (GB) - Malcolm Whitman A. (USA)		British author Jackson ranked the British players in the American Outing as follows: 1. R. Doherty 2. Smith 3. Gore US rankings: 1. Whitman Reggie wins both the Wimbledon and the Irish titles. Whitman wins all the important US titles and demolishes Gore in Davis Cup.
1901	Reggie Doherty A. (GB) - Arthur Gore A. (GB) - William Larned A. (USA)	all 3 ranked equally	Wallis Myers: Fifty years of Wimbledon Reggie (still Irish champ) is in poor health and loses his Wimbledon title to Gore. Larned is the best American in the absence of Whitman.
1902	Reggie Doherty A. (GB) - Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty A. (GB) - William Larned A. (USA)	all 3 ranked equally	The Lawn Tennis and Croquet classification of British players (some continental tournaments were also taken into account): 1. L. Doherty, R. Doherty scratch US rankings: 1. Larned 2. Whitman Irish and Wimbledon champ Laurie was not selected for Davis Cup. US champ Larned was 1-1 with Reggie, who did not play singles anymore in England.
1903	Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty A. (GB)	William Larned A. (USA)	Anthony Wilding; DeWitt C. Regrave,Jr. in "World Tennis" November 1955 (Volume 3 Number 6) Laurie was definitely the best, winning Wimbledon, the US Championship and Davis Cup. Larned nearly beats Laurie at Davis Cup.
1904	Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty A. (GB)		The Lawn Tennis and Badminton classification of British players (by the eminent handicapper Simond): 1. L. Doherty, 2. R. Doherty scratch US rankings: 1. Ward Wimbledon champ Laurie has only one loss at the end of the season. US1 Ward loses to Larned in Boston.
1905	Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty A. (GB)	Beals Wright A. (USA)	The Lawn Tennis and Badminton classification of British players and the American and Australian visitors: 1. L. Doherty 2. Wright 3. Brookes 4. Smith US rankings: 1. Wright Doherty is the Wimbledon champion. US champion Wright twice beats Wimbledon challenger Brookes, but loses to Gore at Wimbledon.
1906	Lawrence Doherty A. (GB)		Wallis Myers: Fifty years of Wimbledon Doherty is the Wimbledon champion. Brookes has won the Victorian Championships against Wilding but has not played outside Australia. US champion Clothier loses in Boston.
1907	Norman Brookes A. (Aus)		Richard Yallop Brookes was undefeated in Great Britain and won there in particular Wimbledon and the Davis Cup preliminary and challenge rounds; DeWitt C. Regrave,Jr. in "World Tennis" November 1955 (Volume 3 Number 6). Larned is the US and Boston champion in weak fields (without Clothier or Wright).
1908	William Larned A. (USA)		E.C. Potter: Kings of the court Larned is the US and Boston and wins his Davis Cup matches. In his book Anthony Wilding judged Brookes the best, however the actual results contradict his assertion. Brookes has lost to US No 2 Wright in Davis Cup and could only narrowly beat Alexander. Gore is the Wimbledon champion in a weak field.
1909	William Larned A. (USA)		E.C. Potter: Kings of the court Larned is the US and Boston and wins his Davis Cup matches. Wilding has defeated Brookes at the Victorian Championships. Gore is the Wimbledon champion in a weak field.
1910	William Larned A. (USA)	Anthony Wilding A. (NZ)	E.C. Potter: Kings of the court Larned is once again US and Boston champ (he was named the best player of the world next April by a British expert, A. Crawley). Wilding wins Wimbledon but Wright nearly beats him in the all-comers’ final.
1911	Norman Brookes A. (Aus) - Anthony Wilding A. (NZ)		E.C. Potter: Kings of the court; Anthony Wilding Wilding has barely defended his Wimbledon title. Brookes has won in Davis Cup and won the Australasian Championships (also beating Heath). Larned (US and Boston champ), suffering from rheumatism, lost to Heath. In his book Anthony Wilding judged Brookes the best, but based on their last encounter in 1909 they were probably equal
1912	Anthony Wilding A. (NZ) - Maurice McLoughlin A. (USA)		E.C. Potter: Kings of the court; A.E. Crawley listed the world's ten best singles players in three classes : in the first Brookes and André Gobert the two most brilliant stroke makers; second class Wilding; third class five USA players William Larned,Beals Wright,Maurice McLoughlin,William Clothier,R. Norris Williams and two British players Charles Dixon (tennis) and Arthur Gore. Yet Crawley conceded that if the world's best were brought together in a round robin tournament on a perfect court, Wilding would win. Wilding is the Wimbledon champion, but lost on wood to Gobert and Dixon. McLoughlin is undefeated in America in the absence of Larned. The high placement of Brookes cannot be justified this year as he lost a critical Davis Cup match to Parke (in fact, Brookes has not beaten a world class player since 1907). Gobert was brilliant, but lost at Wimbledon to Gore and in Davis Cup to Dixon.

From 1913 sources are more detailed and better documented.

Year	Number 1 Player	Runner-up Player	Source of Ranking
1913	Tony Wilding A. (NZ)	Norman Brookes A. - Maurice McLoughlin A. (USA)	Arthur Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Wilding, Brookes & McLoughlin tied for 2nd, Jim Cecil Parke, R. Norris Williams, Percy Dixon, Otto Froitzheim, Stanley Doust, André Gobert, Max Décugis. Myers must have ranked Brookes that high only on reputation. Brookes only played in Australia and gave a walkover in the final of the Victorian Championships (then the most important tournament in Australia even ahead the Australasian Championship).
1914	Maurice McLoughlin A. (USA)	Norman Brookes A. (Aus.) - Tony Wilding A. (NZ)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were McLoughlin, Brookes & Wilding tied for 2nd, Froitzheim, Williams, Parke, Arthur Lowe, F. Gordon Lowe, Heinrich Kleinschroth, Décugis. P.A. Vaile disagreed, arguing that James Cecil Parke had a stronger claim to the top ranking than McLoughlin's. However, Vaile also credited Brookes with having the greatest season in tennis history up to that time. Parke had no important wins in 1914, he played better in 1913.
	1915-1918	World War I, no world rankings
1919	Gerald Patterson A. (Aus.) - Bill Johnston A. (USA)	both ranked equally	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Patterson & Johnston tied for 1st, Gobert, Bill Tilden, Brookes, Algernon Kingscote, Williams, Percival Davson, Willis Davis, William Laurentz.
1920	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	Bill Johnston A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Tilden, Johnston, Kingscote, Parke, Gobert, Brookes, Williams, Laurentz, Zenzo Shimidzu, Patterson.
1921	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	Bill Johnston A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Tilden, Johnston, Vinnie Richards, Shimidzu, Patterson, James Anderson, Brian Norton, Manual Alonso, Williams, Gobert.
1922	Bill Johnston A. (USA) - Bill Tilden A. (USA)		Capt. H. Liddel Hart who ranked the amateurs as 1. Johnston, Tilden, 3. Vincent "Vinnie" Richards, 4. Anderson, 5. Patterson, 6. Kingscote, 7. Williams, 8. Henri Cochet, 9. Alonso, 10. Gobert; New York Times (1 Tilden, 2 Johnston, 3 Richards, Patterson, 5 Alonso, 6 Williams, 7 Anderson, 8 Pat O'Hara Wood, 9 Kingscote, 10 Gobert); A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph (Tilden, Johnston, Patterson, Richards, Anderson, Henri Cochet, Pat O'Hara Wood, Williams, Kingscote, Gobert). Myers ranked Tilden ahead Johnston because he thought that Tilden was more intelligent on a tennis court than his countryman but Johnston beat Tilden three times in four meetings that year.
1923	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	Bill Johnston A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Tilden, Johnston, Anderson, Williams, Frank Hunter, Richards, Norton, Alonso, Jean Washer, Cochet.
1924	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	Vinnie Richards A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Tilden, Richards, Anderson, Johnston, René Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Howard Kinsey, Patterson, Cochet, Alonso.
1925	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	Bill Johnston A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Tilden, Johnston, Richards, Lacoste, Williams, Borotra, Patterson, Alonso, Norton, Takeichi Harada.
1926	René Lacoste A. (Fr.)	Jean Borotra A. (Fr.)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; the top 10 amateurs rankings were Lacoste, Borotra, Cochet, Johnston, Tilden, Richards, Harada, Alonso, Kinsey, Jacques Brugnon; the promoter Charles C. Pyle signed Richards, Harvey Snodgrass, Kinsey, and Paul Féret for the first professional tour, which toured the United States and Canada in the fall of 1926; the headliner, however, was the French female player Suzanne Lenglen (against Mary Kendall Browne) and there are only scattered records of the men's matches. Karel Koželuh won the only significant pro tournament of the time : the Bristol Cup at Cannes.
1927	René Lacoste A. (Fr.)	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; the top 10 amateur rankings were Lacoste, Tilden, Cochet, Borotra, Alonso, Frank Hunter, George Lott, John Hennessey, Brugnon, and Jan Koželuh; Richards beat Kinsey in the first U.S. Pro; Bowers ranks Karel Koželuh, the older brother of Jan Koželuh, and Richards as being tied for #1 among the few professional players, but does not make a joint amateur-professional ranking.
1928	Henri Cochet A. (Fr.)	René Lacoste A. (Fr.)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; Cochet won the French and U.S. Championships, Lacoste won Wimbledon, Borotra won the Aust. Championships; Koželuh, the winner of the Bristol Cup at Beaulieu, def. Richards 15 matches to 5 in a North American head-to-head tour; Richards beat Koželuh in the U.S. Pro; Robert Ramillon beat Edmund Burke at the Queen's Club Pro; Bowers ranks the top eight, in merging his pro list into Myers's amateur list, as being Cochet, Lacoste, Tilden, Koželuh, Richards, Hunter, Borotra, and George Lott, with Koželuh and Richards being the only professionals.
1929	Henri Cochet A. (Fr.)	René Lacoste A. (Fr.)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; Lacoste won the French Championships, Tilden won the U.S. Championships, Cochet won Wimbledon, John Colin Gregory won the Aust. Championships; Koželuh beat Richards in the U.S. Pro and Albert Burke at the Bristol Cup at Beaulieu; Koželuh apparently beat Richards 5 matches to 2 in the course of the year; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Cochet, Lacoste, Borotra, Tilden, Karel Koželuh, Hunter, Lott, and Richards, with Koželuh and Richards being the only professionals.
1930	Henri Cochet A. (Fr.)	Bill Tilden A. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; Cochet won the French Championships, John Doeg won the U.S. Championships, Tilden won Wimbledon, Edgar Moon won the Aust. Championships; Koželuh beat Roman Najuch at Beaulieu; Richards beat Koželuh in the U.S. Pro; Koželuh perhaps beat Albert Burke in the first French Pro (probably not held because Bowers didn't account it); Koželuh apparently beat Richards 4 matches to 2 in the course of the year; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Cochet, Tilden, Richards, Karel Koželuh, Borotra, Doeg, Frank Shields, and Wilmer Allison, with Koželuh and Richards being the only professionals. In October Richards announced his retirement.
1931	Bill Tilden P. (USA)	Henri Cochet A. (Fr.)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; McCauley; Borotra won the French Championships, Ellsworth Vines won the U.S. Championships, Sidney Wood won Wimbledon, Jack Crawford won the Aust. Championships; Tilden, aged 38, turned professional and, in a head-to-head tour, def. Koželuh either 63 matches to 13 (McCauley) or 50 to 17 according to Tilden himself in the North American part of the tour (see Bowers) but the two players also competed in the first European tour with Martin Plaa, Albert Burke, Frank Hunter and Hans Nüsslein : many results are unknown nevertheless Tilden lost only one match against all these opponents (Koželuh at Amsterdam); Tilden also def. Richards, who had abandoned his retirement, either 12-1 over the year (McCauley) or 10 to 0 (Bowers); Tilden beat Richards in the U.S. Pro; Martin Plaa perhaps beat Robert Ramillon in the French Pro(probably not held because Bowers didn't account it); Koželuh def. Albert Burke at Beaulieu; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Tilden, Cochet, Bunny Austin, Vines, Fred Perry, Karel Koželuh, Richards, and Shields, with Tilden, Koželuh, and Richards being the only professionals; this was the first year a professional was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2.
1932	Ellsworth Vines A. (USA)	Bill Tilden P. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Bowers; Collins; McCauley; Vines, a 20-year-old, won Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships; Cochet won the French Championships, Crawford won the Aust. Championships; in the pros Tilden beat Vinnie Richards 12-1 and, according to Collins, was 60-40 against the young German Hans Nüsslein; McCauley mistakenly says Tilden and Nüsslein played about 150 or 160 matches, with Tilden winning "about two-thirds" of them;[11] Koželuh beat Nüsslein in the U.S. Pro and beat Plaa at Beaulieu; Bowers, however, writes that a "tally" made just before their first encounter in 1934 showed that Tilden and Nüsslein had played 163 times to that point (so from their first meeting in 1931 through 1933 included), with Tilden winning 116 matches to 47, so the Collins figure is undoubtedly correct for 1932; Ramillon perhaps beat Plaa in the French Pro, although Bowers is unable to account for this tournament; Plaa won the World Pro Championship tournament in Berlin over Tilden; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Vines, Tilden, Cochet, Karel Koželuh, Borotra, Plaa, Allison, and Nüsslein, with Tilden, Koželuh, Plaa, and Nüsslein being professionals.
1933	Jack Crawford A. (Aus.)	Fred Perry A. (GB)	Bowers; A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Collins; McCauley; Crawford had a sensational amateur year, winning 13 consecutive tournaments, including the first 3 of the Grand Slams, the Aust. Championships, the French Championships, and Wimbledon, finally losing in 5 sets to Perry in the 4th, the U.S. Championships ; the professional picture was murky: Cochet, aged 31, turned pro; neither Tilden, aged 40, Koželuh, 38, nor the younger Nüsslein, Cochet, Richards, or Plaa was able to establish any clear superiority; Richards beat Frank Hunter in the depleted U.S. Pro; Nüsslein won the World Pro Championship tournament in Berlin by far the year's most significant pro tournament; data from more than half of the Tilden-Nüsslein tour in America (January-early May) indicates that Tilden won 2/3 of their meetings; Vines ranked the top pros as being Tilden, Cochet, Koželuh, Richards; Albert Burke, however, ranked them as being Nüsslein, Tilden, Koželuh, and Plaa; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Crawford, Perry, Nüsslein, Tilden, Karel Koželuh, Jiro Satoh, Austin, and Vines, with Nüsslein, Tilden, and Koželuh being the only professionals.
1934	Fred Perry A. (GB)	Ellsworth Vines P. (USA)	Bowers; A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Collins; McCauley; Perry had a sensational amateur year winning the Aust. Championships, Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, Gottfried von Cramm won the French Championships; Vines, aged 22, turned pro; in their initial head-to-head tour, Vines def. Tilden 11 matches to 9; in subsequent tours Tilden beat Plaa 10-0 and Cochet 8-2 and Vines beat Cochet 10-0 and Plaa 8-2; Bowers says that by the end of May, having played somewhat more than 50 matches, Vines led Tilden by 19 wins; Nüsslein beat Koželuh in the U.S. Pro; Vines beat Nüsslein in the first Wembley Pro and in the Paris Indoor (not to be confused with the French Pro); Tilden beat Plaa in the French Pro; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Perry, Vines, Crawford, von Cramm, Nüsslein, Tilden, Austin, and Allison, with Vines, Nüsslein, and Tilden being the only professionals.
1935	Fred Perry A. (GB) - Ellsworth Vines P. (USA)	both ranked equally	Bowers; McCauley; A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; Crawford won the Aust. Championships, Allison won the U.S. Championships, Perry won Wimbledon and the French Championships; Vines beat Tilden in the Wembley Pro and in the Southport Pro; Vines beat Nüsslein in the French Pro; Tilden beat Koželuh in the U.S. Pro; Vines beat Les Stoefen 25-1 in a head-to-head tour while Tilden was beating George Lott 20-4 with one tie; after Stoefen fell ill, Vines beat Nüsslein in another tour about three-quarters of the time (and also Tilden in their few meetings); Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Perry and Vines tied for #1, then Crawford, von Cramm, Tilden, Nüsslein, Allison, and Austin, with Vines, Tilden, and Nüsslein, being the only professionals; in April the French amateur tennis association ranked the top six as being identical to Bowers's except that Vines was ahead of Perry.
1936	Fred Perry A. (GB) - Ellsworth Vines P. (USA)	both ranked equally	Bowers; McCauley; A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; L'Auto; Donald Budge; Bill Tilden; Adrian Quist won the Aust. Championships, von Cramm won the French Championships, Perry won Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships; in the American tour Vines easily defeated Les Stoefen (finals standings are unknown but on March 29, Vines led 33-5) and in the Asian tour Vines led Tilden 8-1 at the end of the Japanese part of the tour); Joe Whalen beat Charles Wood in a depleted U.S. Pro; Cochet defeated Robert Ramillon in the French Pro without the three top pro players (Vines, Nüsslein, Tilden); Nüsslein won Southport Pro over Cochet; Vines beat Tilden in the Wembley Pro according to McCauley, but Bowers is categorical that the Wembley tournament did not take place that year, cancelled because Vines did not come from California; Bowers also states that a) Vines and Nüsslein never met between the French Pro in 1935 and the Wembley Pro in 1939 and b) Vines didn't enter any tournament from 1936 to 1938 included; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Perry, Vines, von Cramm, Nüsslein, Don Budge, Tilden, Quist, and Cochet, with Vines, Nüsslein, Tilden, and Cochet being the only professionals; Bowers also writes that three evaluators, L'Auto, Budge and Tilden ranked Vines ahead Perry for the year.
1937	Fred Perry P. - Ellsworth Vines P. - Don Budge A. (USA)	all 3 ranked equally	Bowers; A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; McCauley; Henner Henkel won the French Championships, Budge won Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, Vivian McGrath won the Aust. Championships; Vines def. Perry in the North American head-to-head tour 32-29 while Perry won a short British Isles tour 6-3; Perry def. Tilden 4-3 in America; Vines and Perry didn't enter any tournament; Koželuh beat Bruce Barnes in a depleted U.S. Pro (also, that year, called the U.S. Open); in the absence of Vines and Perry Nüsslein swept all the big tournaments beating Tilden in the Wembley Pro and in the World 's Pro Indoors at Paris and also winning the French Pro over Cochet; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Perry, Vines, and Budge tied for #1, with von Cramm and Nüsslein being tied for #4, then Henkel, Austin, and Tilden, with Perry, Vines, Nüsslein, and Tilden being the only professionals.
1938	Don Budge A. (USA)	Ellsworth Vines P. (USA)	A. Wallis Myers of London's The Daily Telegraph; McCauley; Bowers; Budge had a sensational amateur year, winning all 4 of the Grand Slams; in the pros, Vines def. Perry 49-35 (or 48-35); the next year, as a pro, Budge narrowly defeated Vines, indicating that even as an amateur he might have been the World No. 1 for 1938; Vines still didn't enter any tournament as probably in 1936 and surely in 1937; Perry played his first (and single in 1938) pro tournament at the U.S. Pro beating Barnes; Nüsslein beat Tilden in the Wembley Pro; Bowers, however, in Chapter IX of his history, says there was no tournament at Wembley; Nüsslein beat Tilden in the French Pro and at Southport Pro; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Budge, Vines, Perry and Nüsslein tied for #3, Austin, John Bromwich, Bobby Riggs, and Tilden, with Vines, Perry, Nüsslein, and Tilden being the only professionals.
1939	Don Budge P. (USA)	Ellsworth Vines P. (USA)	John Olliff of London's The Daily Telegraph; McCauley; Bowers; Don McNeill won the French Championships, Riggs won Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships, John Bromwich won the Aust. Championships; Budge def. Vines 22-17 in the North American tour and also def. Perry 28-8; Vines beat Perry in the U.S. Pro; Budge beat Vines in the French Pro and beat Nüsslein, Vines, and Tilden in the Wembley Pro; Nüsslein def. Tilden at Southport; Budge, Vines, Tilden, and Stoefen competed in a spring-summer European tour that was mainly a succession of 4-man tournaments; Budge was the winner, in particular beating Vines 15-5; Bowers ranks the top eight, both amateur and pro, as being Budge, Vines, Nüsslein, Perry, Riggs, Bromwich, Quist, and Tilden, with Budge, Vines, Nüsslein, Perry, and Tilden being professionals, the first time that 5 of the top 8 were pros.
1940	Don Budge P. (USA)	Fred Perry P. (GBR)	Collins; McCauley; Bowers; The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis; Quist won the Aust. Championships; McNeill won the U.S. Championships; the French Championships and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; Budge beat Perry in the U.S. Pro; there were no more world rankings by the Telegraph but Bowers ranks the top 4 as being Budge and Perry, followed by the American amateurs McNeill and Riggs, then goes on to say that in spite of uncertainty because of the war the next four are probably the 4 top American amateurs as shown in the Official Encyclopedia, Frank Kovacs, Joe Hunt, Frank Parker, and Jack Kramer; however, he also says that the Australians Bromwich and Quist could plausibly be included in the top 8.
1941	Perry P. (USA) — Bobby Riggs A. (USA)	both ranked equally	Collins; McCauley; Bowers; The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis; Riggs won the U.S. Championships; the Aust. Championships, the French Championships, and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; Both Collins and McCauley say that Budge def. Tilden 51-7 in their head-to-head tour, but Bowers says that by his count the outcome was most probably 46-7 plus one tie, with 49 matches being fully documented for a result of 43-5 plus 1 tie; Perry completely dominated Tilden in a summer tour; Perry won 5 pro tournaments out of 5 including the U.S. Pro over Dick Skeen; Skeen was runner-up to Perry in 4 tournaments; Budge entered 3 tournaments and lost all of them; there were no more world amateur rankings because of the war but Bowers ranks the top 6 as being amateur Riggs and pro Perry in a tie for first place with amateur Kovacs third, while amateur Parker and professional Skeen are tied for fourth; Budge is sixth.
1942	Don Budge P. (USA)	Bobby Riggs P. (USA) - Wayne Sabin P. (USA)	Ray Bowers; Collins; McCauley; The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis; Ted Schroeder won the U.S. Championships; the Aust. Championships, the French Championships, and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; Riggs and Kovacs turned pro; in round robin matches Budge was the winner, 52-18; Riggs was 36-36, Kovacs 25-26, Perry 23-30, Stoefen 2-28; Budge beat Riggs in U.S. Pro; because of the war the only significant amateur rankings were American: Schroeder was #1, followed by Parker, Gardnar Mulloy, Pancho Segura, Bill Talbert, Sidney Wood, Seymour Greenberg, George Richards, Vic Seixas, and Ladislav Hecht; Ray Bowers ranks the top 8 as: Budge, Riggs and Sabin tied for number 2, Kovacs fourth, Perry fifth, the top five pros ahead amateurs Schroeder #6 and Parker #7, professional Skeen being #8 (the USPLTA ranked the best pros as Budge, Riggs, Sabin, and Kovacs in that order).
1943 – 1944 - 1945 World War II so very limited tennis activity	Bobby Riggs P. (USA)	Don Budge P. (USA)	Ray Bowers; Joe McCauley; The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis; 1943 : Joe Hunt won the U.S. amateur Championships (Forest Hills); the Australian amateur Chps., the French amateur Chps., and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; the USLTA ranked the top 10 American amateurs as being Hunt, Kramer, Segura, Talbert, Greenberg, Wood, Bob Falkenburg, Parker, James Brink, and Jack Tuero; in the pro ranks Budge, Kovacs, Skeen and Perry probably didn't play any match because they were under the Army service, after having won an exhibition against Wayne Sabin, Riggs joined in his turn the U.S Navy; the only pro tournament, without all these players, was the U.S. Pro where Bruce Barnes overcame John Nogrady; 1944 : McCauley; The Official Encyclopedia of Tennis; Parker won the U.S. amateur Championships (Forest Hills); the Australian amateur Chps., the French amateur Chps., and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; the USLTA ranked the top 10 American amateur as being Parker, Talbert, Segura, Don McNeill, Greenberg, Falkenburg, Jack Jossi, Charles W. Oliver, Jack McManis, J. Gilbert Hall; there was almost no pro tournament but many matches for War efforts or the Red Cross benefits opposing US professionals and US amateurs only if the pros were in the Army and if the amateurs were authorized by the USLTA to play (in a 1945 meeting with Tilden, Richards, Pauline Betz all pros and amateur Segura, the latter played against major Vincent Richards but couldn't play with or against civilian Tilden) : for instance Budge (pro) met Kramer (amateur) twice in 1944 and each one won a match; 1945 Parker won the U.S. amateur Championships (Forest Hills); the Australian amateur Chps., the French amateur Chps., and Wimbledon were not played because of World War II; the USLTA ranked the top 10 American amateur as being Parker, Talbert, Segura, Elwood Cooke, Wood, Mulloy, Shields, Harold Surface, Greenberg, and McManis; in the pro circuit the business return was slow : Riggs defeated Budge in the biggest pro tournament of the year, The US Pro harcourt Championships held at the Los Angeles Tennis Club; on December 27-30 Riggs won a second tournament, the Santa Barbara Invitational Pro Tournament, California, defeating Perry; Kovacs def. Welby Van Horn in San Francisco; Welby Van Horn def. Nogrady in a depleted U.S. Pro without Riggs nor Budge; in the summer before the soldiers came back to civilian life a 5-meeting series under the Davis Cup format was held between the US Army Air Corps, with Budge (pro) and Parker (amateur), and the US Navy, with Riggs (pro) and Sabin (pro), Riggs overcame Budge 3-2 and amateur Parker 3-2, thus indicating that Riggs was probably the best player in the world in 1945; as Ray Bowers wrote "The limited tennis activity over the last three years of the war dictates a single ranking list covering the entire period" he ranked the best eight players in the world for the entire 1943-1945 period  : 1. Riggs, 2. Budge, 3. Parker, 4. Kramer, 5. Kovacs, 6. Van Horn, 7. Quist, 8. Yvon Pétra.
1946	Bobby Riggs P. (USA)	Don Budge P. (USA)	Bud Collins; Joe McCauley; Bobby Riggs; Collins says Riggs def. Budge 18-16 on the head-to-head tour,[12] while McCauley says Riggs def. Budge 23-21;[13] Riggs himself says twice in his autobiography that he def. Budge 24-22;[14] Tilden organized a series of 31 tournaments: Riggs won 14 of them, Kovacs 7, Perry 4, Budge 3, Van Horn 2, and Skeen 1; Riggs beat Budge in U.S. Pro; the top 10 "Official PPA" rankings for the year were Riggs, Budge, Kovacs, Perry, Van Horn, Wayne Sabin, Carl Earn, Jossi, John Faunce, and Jack March;[15] in the amateur circuit Kramer was undefeated in Davis Cup and won the U.S. Championships, in his book "The Game" page 50 he wrote "...I don't think I was mature enough to beat him (Budge) in '46." Kramer then thinks that Riggs and Budge were probably better than him in 1946.
1947	Bobby Riggs P. (USA) - Jack Kramer A. (USA)	both ranked equally	Joe McCauley; Bud Collins; Tilden was imprisoned for sexual offenses and his series of tournaments fell apart; Collins says that Riggs def. Budge 24-22 on a head-to-head tour,[16] but McCauley disputes that, saying that the only tour was a short USA Challenge Series between Riggs and Kovac that Riggs won 11 matches to 10, while Earn defeated March "easily" in preliminary matches;[17] Kramer had a sensational amateur year, winning 8 of 9 tournaments and 48 of 49 matches (among them his two singles in the Challenge Round of the Davis Cup);[18] Riggs beat Budge both in U.S. Pro and in U.S. Pro Indoor.
1948	Jack Kramer P. (USA)	Bobby Riggs P. (USA)	Collins; McCauley; Kramer def. Riggs 69-20 on the head-to-head tour after being led 8-5 and then having equalized at 14-14; in the preliminary matches Dinny Pails beat Pancho Segura 41-31 according to Kramer;[19] Kramer beat Riggs in U.S. Pro.
1949	Jack Kramer P. (USA)	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Joe McCauley; Bud Collins; in the pro circuit Kramer was clearly the best winning Wembley Pro over Riggs and Scarborough Pro over Budge; Riggs def. Budge in U.S. Pro without Kramer and Segura; in the amateur circuit Ted Schroeder and Gonzales won together Davis Cup and shared the two greatest tournaments Wimbledon for the former and the U.S. Championships for the latter; then Gonzales played his first pro match against Kramer on October 25 on the head-to-head tour (ended on May 21, 1950) : at the end of November Kramer still led 22-4 proving he was undoubtedly the best player in the world.
1950	Jack Kramer P. (USA) - Pancho Segura P. (Ecuador-USA)	both ranked equally	Joe McCauley; PLTA; Kramer finished beating Gonzales on the head-to-head tour ended on May 21 (begun on October 25, 1949) 96-27 (97-26 according to Kramer himself); Segura beat Frank Parker "comfortably" in the head-to-head preliminary matches;[20] Kramer dominated Segura in the next tour begun on October 28 (finished in March 1951) : mid-November Kramer led 10-4; in tournaments Segura beat Kramer in Paris and once again in the semifinals of the U.S. Pro before overcoming Kovacs in the final; Gonzales beat Kramer at Philadelphia Pro and Van Horn in a depleted Wembley Pro without Kramer and Segura; the PLTA released "Official" pro rankings for the year but McCauley writes: "It is difficult to understand how the following rankings were arrived at:" Segura, Kramer, Kovacs, Riggs, Van Horn, Parker, Carl Earn, Jimmy Evert, Nogrady, Joe Fishbach, Jack Rodgers, Joe Whalen, Al Doyle, Robert "Junior" Stubbs, Jimmy Adler, March, Faunce, Vivian McGrath, Pierre Pellizza, Bill Kenney.[21] How indeed Gonzales can be omitted from this PLTA ranking ? McCauley thought Kramer was the number one because of Kramer's domination in tour whereas PLTA probably thought Segura was the best because he had dominated the tournaments circuit and among them the U.S. Pro.
1951	Jack Kramer P. (USA)	Pancho Segura P. (Ecuador-USA)	Joe McCauley; PLTA; Kramer finally def. Segura 64-28 (58-27 according to Kramer in his book, page 187) on the head-to-head tour finished in March (begun on October 28, 1950);[22] Kramer beat Segura and Gonzales in Philadelphia Pro; Segura beat Gonzales in U.S. Pro; Gonzales beat Segura in Wembley Pro; the PLTA "Official" rankings for the year were Segura, Gonzales, Kovacs, Riggs, Van Horn, Earn, Parker, Jimmy Evert, Bob Rogers, Jack Rodgers, Fishbach, Nogrady, Adler, Elwood Cooke, McGrath, Doyle, Harris Everett, Len Hartman, Norman Copeland, Mitchell Gornto; "Kramer and Budge were not ranked due to insufficient data".[23]
1952	Pancho Gonzales A. (USA) - Pancho Segura P. (Ecuador-USA)	both equally ranked	Joe McCauley; Budge in McCauley's book page 57 : "the PLTA ranked Segura #1; Kramer was semi-retired; Budge and Gonzales played only sporadically". In his book McCauley has traced only 9 tournaments and a small US tour, among these 9 tournaments 2 seemed to be domestic Nationals (British Pro and German Pro) so there left 7 tournaments for the leading pros. Segura entered the 7 and Gonzales played 5 of them and won 4 and reached 1 final. Moreover Gonzales defeated Segura 5 times out of 6. In the 1953 July edition of "Sport" magazine Budge declared :"In the past two years Pancho (Gonzales) has won the majority of all the big pro tournaments. He has to be considered the best, at least until somebody proves otherwise." In particular Gonzales def. Segura (and Kramer) in Philadelphia Pro and Gonzales def. Kramer in Wembley Pro; Segura overcame Gonzales in U.S. Pro; in the amateur circuit Frank Sedgman won the Davis Cup with Ken McGregor and the Australian also reached the four finals of the Grand Slam tournaments, winning the last (chronologically) two, Wimbledon and the U.S. Championships. It is very hard to compare Gonzales, Segura, Kramer with Sedgman the best amateur : next year the Australian, turned pro, was dominated by Kramer and Segura but he defeated Gonzales 3 times (later Gonzales regularly beat Sedgman). Then it is possible that Gonzales and Segura were very slightly superior to Sedgman in 1952 but without any certainty.
1953	Jack Kramer P. (USA)	Frank Sedgman P. (Aus.)	Bud Collins; Joe McCauley; in the course of 1953 Lance Tingay wrote that it was very difficult to establish a hierarchy because Gonzales hadn't still met one of the top pros : in fact a) Kramer retired on July 9 and never met Gonzales that year and b) Gonzales met Segura and Sedgman for the first time of the year only in November. Kramer def. Sedgman 54-41 on the head-to-head tour while Segura def. McGregor 71-25 in the head-to-head preliminary matches; during tour breaks these four men played three 4-man tournaments with Kramer winning two of them; Kramer's whole 1953 record was 56-41 to Sedgman and 1-1 to Segura; the Ecuadorian won 5 tournaments (more than any other pro); Sedgman beat Gonzales in Wembley Pro, in Paris (probably not a French Pro as stated elsewhere) and in Lyon but the Australian trailed Segura 3-7 in head-to-head meetings; Gonzales not chosen for the world tour played until November in tournaments without the three other greats and then won a depleted U.S. Pro over Budge. Knowing that Sedgman won the greatest pro tournament, Wembley, and that he was beaten by Kramer in tour a possible, but not sure at all, 1953 pro ranking is 1) Kramer, 2) Sedgman; Tony Trabert, the best amateur of the time, was probably less good than the four best pros.
1954	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Frank Sedgman P. (Aus.) — Pancho Segura P. (Ecuador-USA)	Joe McCauley; Jack Kramer; in 1953-1954 the sources are still conflicting : it would seem that there was only one Australian tour during these two years and that it happened in November-December 1954 and that Gonzales won it (16-9 to Sedgman; 4-2 to Segura; 15-0 to McGregor); the American also won, at the beginning of the year, the U.S. tour, a succession of 4-man tournaments : he overcame Sedgman 30-21 (or 30-20) and Segura 30-21 (or 30-20) (Segura def. Sedgman 23-22 and Budge (replaced by Carl Earn in March) won only a few matches against the others); in autumn Segura, Gonzales, Sedgman and Kramer, coming back in singles, after his 20-month retirement, toured in the Far East with Segura's record as being Segura-Gonzales 1-1, Segura-Sedgman 2-1 and Segura-Kramer 4-0; in tournaments Gonzales def. Sedgman in U.S. Pro and Sedgman def. Segura in the first Australian Pro of tennis history; the amateur circuit was dominated by the duet Tony Trabert/Jaroslav Drobny, the American won with Seixas the Davis Cup and captured the French Championships while Drobny won at last Wimbledon; nevertheless these two players seemed a little rank below the trio Gonzales-Sedgman-Segura.
1955	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Pancho Segura P. (Ecuador-USA)	Bud Collins; Joe McCauley; even though the USA lost the Davis Cup, Tony Trabert had a sensational amateur year, winning 3 of the 4 Grand Slams, but was never a consistent winner upon turning professional; Gonzales-Trabert head-to-head tour began in Dec and Gonzales overcame Trabert since the first match; Gonzales dominated the pros beating Segura in U.S. Pro; Sedgman has played very little in 1955 and in particular underwent a surgery of appendicitis; Lawn Tennis and Badminton ranked the top 12 professionals as Gonzales, Segura, Kovacs, Sedgman, Riggs, Earn, Budge, Parker, Pails, Perry, Doyle, and Sam Match.[24]
1956	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Frank Sedgman P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley, page 72; Gonzales def. Trabert 74-24 on the American head-to-head tour, Segura def. Rex Hartwig 56-22 (5 even) in the head-to-head preliminary matches; Gonzales beat Segura in U.S. Pro; Gonzales beat Sedgman both in the Pro Tournament of Champions, in Los Angeles, and in Wembley Pro; Trabert beat Gonzales in French Pro; as Trabert in 1955, Hoad made a "Little amateur Slam" but he was probably under the best pros as his pro debut, next year, proved it; Jack March, promoter of the Cleveland tournament ranked the pros as follows : 1 Gonzales, 2 Sedgman, 3 Segura, 4 Trabert, 5 Hartwig, 6 Kovacs, 7 Earn, 8 Riggs, 9 Budge, 10 Pails.
1957	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Gonzales def. Rosewall 50-26 in the World head-to-head tour, Segura def. Dinny Pails 51-8 in the head-to-head preliminary matches; Rosewall probably (to confirm) won a small European tour over Hoad, Segura and Kramer; Rosewall won an Australian tour over Hoad, Sedgman and Segura; Segura beat Sedgman in Australian Pro; Gonzales beat Segura in U.S. Pro; Gonzales also won the Pro Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills and the Masters Round Robin Pro in Los Angeles; Rosewall beat Segura in Wembley Pro; in the amateur circuit Hoad won Wimbledon easily, losing just one set and then he turned pro right after, regularly beaten by the best pros in the first three months.
1958	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Lew Hoad P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Jack March; Robert Geist; Gonzales def. Hoad 51-36 in the world tour and in the preliminary matches Trabert def. Segura 34-31; Gonzales beat Rosewall in the Pro Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills; Gonzales beat Hoad in U.S. Pro; Sedgman beat Trabert both in Wembley Pro and in the Australian Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in French Pro; Jack March's pro ranking : 1 Gonzales, 2 Hoad, 3 Segura 4 Trabert 5 Rosewall 6 Sedgman 7 Parker 8 Kovacs 9 Riggs 10 Pails; Geist's (pro-amateur combined) ranking : 1 Gonzales, 2 Hoad, Rosewall.
1959	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Lew Hoad P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Jack Kramer; L'Équipe; Mal Anderson; Frank Sedgman; Ashley Cooper; McCauley page 97; American round robin results: : Gonzales 47-15, Hoad 42-20, Ashley Cooper 21-40, Mal Anderson 13-48; Hoad, however, def. Gonzales 15-13 during the round robin; Hoad beat Gonzales in the Pro Tournament of Champions at Forest Hills; Gonzales beat Hoad in U.S. Pro; Mal Anderson beat Segura in Wembley Pro; Trabert beat Sedgman in French Pro; Frank Sedgman proposed the following ranking : 1 Gonzales, 2 Hoad, 3 Rosewall; Ashley Cooper confirmed Sedgman's opinion but suggested that Sedgman should be the #4; Mal Anderson writing in World Tennis, stated that Kramer established a tournament points system to decide the best players in the world : 14 tournaments chosen with all the same points which was unfair to the major tournaments more important than others (7 points for the winner, 4 for the runner-up, 3 for 3rd place, 2 for 4th and 1 for each quarterfinalist), the final positions were : 1 Hoad, 2 Gonzales (only 11 tournaments played), 3 Rosewall, 4 Sedgman, 5 Trabert, 6 Anderson, 7 Segura, 8 Cooper; Kramer's own pro ranking (different from the points ranking) : 1 Gonzales, 2 Sedgman, 3 Rosewall, 4 Hoad, 5 Trabert, 6 Segura, 7 Cooper, 8 Anderson, 9 Rose, 10 McGregor, 11 Hartwig; L'Équipe (Robert Roy) pro-amateur combined ranking : 1 Gonzales, 2 Sedgman, 3 Rosewall, 4 Trabert, 5 Hoad, 6 Segura, 7 Kramer, 8 McGregor, 9 Hartwig, 10 Cooper, 11 Rose (for the first time L'Équipe ranked pros and amateurs together); Robert Barne (Kramer's Australian manager) 's pro ranking : 1 Hoad, 2 Gonzales, 3 Rosewall, 4 Sedgman, 5 Trabert, 6 Segura, 7 Cooper, 8 Anderson, 9 Rose.
1960	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA) - Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	both ranked equally	Joe McCauley; L'Équipe; Robert Geist; McCauley p57 World Series Round Robin matches for the world championship among 4 players: Gonzales 49-8, Rosewall 32-25, Segura 22-28, Alex Olmedo 11-44; just after Gonzales won a small tournament and then shortly retired; Olmedo beat Trabert in a depleted U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Segura in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in French Pro; once again Kramer ranked Gonzales & Sedgman 1 and 2 for the year but Sedgman didn't win as much as in 1959; L'Équipe ranked Rosewall No. 1 because of European results; in his book "DER GRÖSSTE MEISTER Die denkwürdige Karriere des australischen Tennisspielers Kenneth Robert Rosewall" Robert Geist co-ranked Gonzales & Rosewall #1.
1961	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Pancho Gonzales P. (USA)	Joe McCauley; L'Équipe, Robert Geist; there were 47 World Series Round Robin matches for the world championship among 6 players, followed by 28 head-to-head matches between the top 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 to determine the final champion; Rosewall, however, took several long vacations and played very little in the first half of the year; substitutions were permitted for injured players in the round robin: Gonzales-(Segura) 33-14, Andres Gimeno 27-20, Hoad-(Trabert, Cooper, Sedgman) 24-23, Barry MacKay 22-25, Olmedo 18-29, Butch Buchholz 16-31; #1 Gonzales then def. #2 Gimeno 21-7, #3 Sedgman (who definitely replaced Hoad) def. #4 MacKay 15-13; in tournaments Gonzales beat Sedgman in a depleted U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Gonzales in French Pro; at the end of the year (October 25) Gonzales retired once again for 20 months (back in the circuit on June 27, 1963); L'Équipe once again ranked Rosewall No. 1 (2) Gonzales, 3) Hoad, 4) Trabert, 5) Segura, 6) Gimeno, 7) Cooper, 8) MacKay, 9) Olmedo, 10) Buchholz, 11) Laver, 12) Anderson, 13) Emerson, 14) Pietrangeli, 15) Santana, 16) Ayala, 17) Krishnan, 18) Sangster, 19) Lundquist, 20) McKinley, 21) Darmon, ... 23) Neale Fraser) primarily because of European results in second half of year; McCauley's 1961 chapter is entitled: Gonzales Still World Champion but says in the text that Rosewall had a good claim to being No. 1;[25] Geist ranked Rosewall #1 alone.
1962	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Lew Hoad P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Ken Rosewall; no American tour, very little tennis for first 6 months; Rosewall had a sensational pro year winning 10 tournaments including the big European tournaments; Butch Buchholz beat Segura in a depleted U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Hoad in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Gimeno in French Pro; Rod Laver had a sensational amateur year, winning with Emerson the Davis Cup, and alone all 4 of the Grand Slams, but was severely beaten for his pro debut in 1963, suggesting that the pros were still the best players; Rosewall announced his Pro rankings at the end of 1962, omitting Segura then semi-retired : #1 Rosewall, #2 Hoad, #3 Gimeno, #4 Laver, #5 Buchholz.
1963	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Frank Sedgman; Rosewall on Australasian grass dominated the new pro recruit Rod Laver, 11 victories to 2 and Hoad was omnipotent, winning 8-0 against Laver; then the World Championship Series was held in the USA with 6 players, two local players Buchholz and MacKay, one Spaniard Gimeno, one Chilian Ayala and only two Australians Rosewall and Laver (if Hoad had been selected there would have been too many Aussies in the US) : in the first phase Rosewall ended first (31 wins - 10 losses) ahead Laver (26- 16), Buchholz (23-18), Gimeno, MacKay and Ayala. In the second (and final) phase Rosewall won the tour, beating Laver 14-4, and Gimeno won 3rd place, beating Buchholz 11-7. Then Rosewall captured five tournaments including the 3 majors of that year and Laver reached the finals of two majors and also won 5 tournaments making him undoubtedly the vice-king; Rosewall def. Laver in U.S. Pro; Rosewall def. Laver in French Pro; Rosewall def. Hoad in Wembley Pro; in January 1964 Sedgman clearly stated that Laver was second to Rosewall and a real threat to his elder.
1964	Rod Laver P. (Aus.) - Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	both ranked equally	Joe McCauley; Robert Geist; Laver won 11 tournaments and Rosewall 10; Laver beat Rosewall 12-3 in head-to-head matches; Gonzales unretired and won two great tournaments; Laver, rather modest in his speech, is quoted by McCauley as saying: "I ... would like to be the World's No. 1 ... I am not that yet — Ken is. I may have beaten him more often than he has beaten me this year but he has won the biggest tournaments... I've lost to other people but Ken hasn't";[26] A point system for 19 pro tournaments (excluding at least 10 other tournaments) also resulted in Rosewall being No. 1 to Laver's No. 2 but that system granted each tournament the same points and then was unfair to the big events where Laver was superior to Rosewall : Laver beat Rosewall & Gonzales in U.S. Pro; Laver again beat Rosewall in Wembley Pro; Rosewall beat Laver in French Pro; McCauley's 1964 chapter is entitled: Rosewall Tops Again But Only Just[27] but Robert Geist co-ranked Laver & Rosewall #1 (in his book "DER GRÖSSTE MEISTER Die denkwürdige Karriere des australischen Tennisspielers Kenneth Robert Rosewall").
1965	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; though Rosewall has won 2 of the 3 very major tournaments, Laver was the new undisputed king of tennis, winning 15 tournaments, including Wembley Pro, to Rosewall's 6; Laver also beat Rosewall 13-5 in head-to-head matches; Rosewall beat Laver in U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Laver in French Pro; Laver beat Gimeno in Wembley Pro.
1966	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; this was the year of the greatest rivalry between Laver and Rosewall; they shared all the major tournaments with Laver slightly ahead : in the world circuit played by the leading pros, Laver won 15 tournaments including Forest Hills Pro, the U.S. Pro and Wembley Pro over Rosewall runner-up the three times, Rosewall won 9 tournaments including Madison Square Garden Pro and the French Pro over ... Laver finalist both times, Gimeno won 6 tournaments, Gonzales won 1; Laver beat Rosewall 7-6 in head-to-head matches.
1967	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.)	Joe McCauley; Laver probably was at the peak of his whole career, at least on fast courts, winning 18 tournaments including all the majors : the Madison Square Garden Pro, the U.S. Pro, Wimbledon Pro, the French Pro and Wembley Pro; Rosewall stayed the n°2 in the world capturing 7 tournaments and reaching 3 majors finals in Madison Square Garden Pro, Wimbledon Pro and Wembley Pro; Gimeno was very close to Rosewall winning 3 tournaments and runner-up in two majors, the U.S. Pro and the French Pro; in head-to-head matches Laver beat Rosewall 8-5 and Gimeno 12-4, Rosewall and Gimeno were equal, 7-7.
1968	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Arthur Ashe A. (USA)	Bud Collins; Joe McCauley; Lance Tingay; first year of Open era; at least 10 open tournaments were played, with professionals winning 8 and amateurs 2; of 244 matches, professionals won 199, amateurs 45.[28] Laver beat Tony Roche in Wimbledon Open; Arthur Ashe beat Tom Okker in the U.S. Open; Ken Rosewall beat Laver in the French Open; Laver beat Rosewall in the Pacific Southwest Open (Los Angeles); Laver beat John Newcombe in U.S. Pro; Rosewall beat Newcombe in Wembley Pro; Laver beat Newcombe in French Pro, the last one of tennis history (again at Roland Garros on clay after a 5-year interval at Stade Pierre de Coubertin on wood); Okker and Clark Graebner shared the Queen's title; in World Tennis magazine, McCauley ranked the top 10, professional and amateur, as being Laver, Ashe, Tom Okker, Rosewall, Newcombe, Tony Roche, Clark Graebner, Cliff Drysdale, Gonzales, Dennis Ralston;[29] Lance Tingay ranked the best players as being Laver, Ashe, Rosewall, Okker, Roche, Newcombe, Graebner, Ralston, Drysdale, Gonzales; and Collins proposed Laver, Ashe, Rosewall, Roche, Okker, Newcombe, Graebner, Ralston, Drysdale, Gonzales; a panel of 17 journalists, mostly Europeans, ranked the best players as being 1) Laver, 2) Ashe, 3) Rosewall, 4) Okker, 5) Newcombe, 6) Roche, 7) Graebner, 8) Drysdale, 9) Ralston, 10) Gonzales
1969	Rod Laver P. (Aus.)	Tony Roche P. (Aus.)	Bud Collins; Lance Tingay; Laver won 18 tournaments including small tournaments and in particular did the Grand Slam Open with all the best players present at last and he also won the South African Open, the U.S. Pro over Newcombe, Wembley Pro over Roche. Though the latter has won 5 matches over Laver in 9 meetings, Laver has always won the real important ones. That year Laver was the best on every surface; a panel of the SID (Sport Informations-Dienst) by Ulrich Kaiser, with 17 journalists (mostly from European newspapers including Hellberg, Mezzanotte, Grau, Bellamy, Tingay, De Bie, etc..., and also McCauley) proposed the following ranking : 1) Laver (170), 2) Roche (153), 3) Newcombe (134), 4) Okker (109), 5) Ashe (104), 6) Rosewall (87), 7) Gonzales (39), 8) Drysdale (34), 9) Gimeno (33), Stolle (33 tied), 11) Emerson (28).
1970	Rod Laver P. (Aus.) - Ken Rosewall P. (Aus.) - John Newcombe P. (Aus.)	all 3 ranked equally	Joe McCauley; Bud Collins; Lance Tingay; The panel of the 'Martini and Rosso' award; The WCT panel; Robert Geist; in the two biggest events, by far, of the year Newcombe won Wimbledon (over Rosewall) and Rosewall beat Newcombe and Roche in succession in the U.S. Open; Smith beat Laver in the Masters; if Laver greatly failed in Grand Slam tournaments he also greatly succeeded in tournaments less important but nevertheless big ones as Philadelphia (over Roche), Dunlop Sydney Open (over Rosewall), the Pacific Southwest Open (Los Angeles) (over Newcombe) and Wembley Pro (over Cliff Richey); Roche beat Laver in U.S. Pro. Then with no player really dominating the circuit, different arguable opinions can be given to designate the World Champion : The panel of experts for the 'Martini and Rosso' Cup, ranked Rosewall number 1 in the world narrowly over Laver; Judith Elian from L'Équipe placed Rosewall first ahead Newcombe, Roche and Laver; Lance Tingay, Joe McCauley and Bud Collins each ranked Newcombe ahead Rosewall; the panel of journalists which made the WCT draw for 1971 ranked Laver #1, Rosewall #2, Newcombe #3; and Robert Geist co-ranked Rosewall, Laver and Newcombe #1, summarizing all the opinions.
1971	Stan Smith P. (USA) - John Newcombe P. (Aus.)	both ranked equally	Lance Tingay; Bud Collins; Martini-Rossi award; Judith Elian; Ilie Năstase; Newcombe beat Smith in Wimbledon; Smith beat Kodes in U.S. Open; Rosewall beat Ashe in Australian Open; Rosewall beat Laver in the WCT Finals; Laver beat Kodes in the Italian Open; Kodes beat Năstase in the French Open; Năstase beat Smith in the Masters; Rosewall beat Drysdale in U.S. Pro; Ilie Năstase beat Laver in Wembley Pro; Tingay and Collins ranked Newcombe #1 ahead Smith; the Martini-Rossi award was given jointly to Smith and Newcombe; Judith Elian co-ranked Newcombe and Smith equal; Năstase's ranking : 1) Smith, 2) Newcombe, 3) Kodes; Robeist Geist co-ranked Smith, Newcombe and Rosewall equal.
1972	Stan Smith P. (USA)	Ilie Năstase P. (Rom.)	Judith Elian; Lance Tingay; Joe McCauley; Bud Collins; the WCT players were not allowed to play the French Open, Wimbledon, or the Davis Cup because of the ILTF ban; Năstase def. Ashe in U.S. Open in the only tournament of the year with all the best players in the world; Rosewall def. Laver in WCT Finals (Dallas); Smith has won the two tournaments with the best fields after the U.S. Open : the Pacific Southwest Open in Los Angeles (Roscoe Tanner runner-up) and Stockholm Open (Okker finalist); Ashe won the Autumn WCT Finals in Rome; Smith def. Năstase in a depleted Wimbledon; Gimeno def. Patrick Proisy in a depleted French Open; Bob Lutz def. Tom Okker in U.S. Pro; Richey def. Clark Graebner in Wembley Pro; Judith Elian, Tingay and McCauley all three ranked Smith #1, Năstase #2 and Rosewall #3; Collins disagreed and ranked Rosewall ahead of Năstase.
1973	Ilie Năstase P. (Rom.)	John Newcombe P. (Aus.)	ATP; Tennis (US magazine); Newcombe def. Kodes in U.S. Open the only tournament of the year with all the best players (except Emerson); Năstase def. Nikola Pilic at the French Open the only other Grand Slam tournament which deserved this label that year; Năstase def. Okker in the Masters; Smith def. Ashe in the WCT Finals; about 13 out of the 20 best players in the world tried to be selected in the first Davis Cup Open of tennis history : Laver was undefeated in 4 singles matches (and two doubles); Năstase won 17 tournaments; Jimmy Connors beat Ashe in U.S. Pro; Tennis (US magazine) ranked Năstase #1 and Newcombe #2 as the ATP computer.
1974	Jimmy Connors P. (USA)	John Newcombe P. (Aus.)	Tennis (US magazine); Connors, who has lost only 4 matches, has won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open over Rosewall each time; Newcombe has captured 10 tournaments including the WCT Finals; Björn Borg has won the French Open (Manuel Orantes runner-up), the Italian Open in Rome (Năstase finalist) and the U.S. Pro (Okker runner-up); Guillermo Vilas prevented Nastase to capture a fourth Masters in a row; Tennis (US magazine) ranked Connors #1 and Newcombe #2 as the ATP computer (if every expert undoubtedly ranked Connors #1, the second place was more disputed : Elian ranked Borg #2 while Tingay chose Rosewall and Collins proposed Vilas).
1975	Arthur Ashe P. (USA)	Björn Borg P. (Swe.) - Jimmy Connors P. (USA) - Manuel Orantes P. (Spain) probably all equal	Bud Collins; Judith Elian; Barry Lorge; Lance Tingay; World Tennis; Steve Fink; ATP Awards; Ashe, who won 9 tournaments, def. Connors in Wimbledon; Orantes def. Connors in the U.S. Open; Ashe def. Borg in the WCT Finals; Năstase def. Borg in the Masters; Borg beat Vilas at both the French Open and the U.S. Pro; Collins, Elian and Lorge all ranked Ashe #1 and Borg #2; Tingay ranked Ashe #1, Orantes #2, Connors #3, Borg #4; World Tennis ranked Ashe #1, Connors #2, Borg #3, Orantes #4; Steve Fink ranked Ashe #1, Orantes #2, Borg #3, Connors #4 (very different from the ATP ranking) and the ATP itself awarded Ashe "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking.
1976	Jimmy Connors P. (USA)	Björn Borg P. (Swe.)	Bud Collins; Lance Tingay; John Barrett; Peter Bodo; Judith Elian; Joe McCauley; ATP Awards; Tennis Magazine (France); Connors won 10 tournaments including the U.S. Open (Borg runner-up), the U.S. Pro Indoor in Philadelphia (Borg finalist), Palm Springs and Las Vegas; Connors has beaten Borg 4 times out of 4; Borg def. Năstase in Wimbledon, Vilas in the WCT Finals and Harold Solomon in the U.S. Pro; Adriano Panatta won the French Open over Solomon and the Italian Open in Rome over Vilas; Collins, Tingay, John Barrett, Peter Bodo, McCauley and Judith Elian all ranked Connors #1 and Borg #2; Collins, Barrett, McCauley, Elian ranked Nastase #3; a minority of journalists ranked Borg #1, among them Tennis Magazine (France) and the ATP itself which awarded Borg "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking.
1977	Björn Borg P. (Swe.) - Guillermo Vilas P. (Arg.)	both ranked equally	Tennis Magazine (France); World Tennis; Michel Sutter; ATP Awards; Borg won Wimbledon over Connors who also lost the U.S. Open against Vilas; Connors captured both the Masters beating Borg and the WCT Finals (Dick Stockton runner-up); Vilas also won a depleted French Open without Connors, Borg, Vitas Gerulaitis, Orantes and Stockton; Orantes beat Eddie Dibbs in the U.S. Pro; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Borg #1 because he won Wimbledon and he had also defeated Vilas 3 times out of 3; while World Tennis or Michel Sutter considered Vilas the best one because among other reasons he won 46 matches in a row (even 50 including the Rye tournament excluded in ATP statistics) and 16 titles (or 17 Rye included); the ATP itself awarded Borg "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking (Connors N° 1).
1978	Björn Borg P. (Swe.)	Jimmy Connors P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF (International Tennis Federation); ATP Awards; Borg def. Connors at Wimbledon; Borg def. Vilas at the French Open; Connors def. Borg at the U.S. Open; Vilas won a depleted Australian Open; John McEnroe def. Ashe in the Masters; Connors won the U.S. Pro Indoor; Orantes beat Solomon in U.S. Pro; the ITF awarded Borg as World Champion; the ATP itself awarded Borg "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Borg #1 and Connors #2.
1979	Björn Borg P. (Swe.)	John McEnroe P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Borg has done a sort of Little Slam at the time winning Wimbledon (Tanner runner-up), the French Open (Victor Pecci finalist) and the Masters (Gerulaitis finalist) which was in 1979 the real 4th tournament in the world; the Australian Open having a very weak field without any of the great grasscourt players as Borg, McEnroe, Connors or Tanner (Vilas repeat the victory of 78); McEnroe def. Gerulaitis in the U.S. Open; Jose Higueras beat Hans Gildemeister in the U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Borg as World Champion; the ATP awarded Borg "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Borg #1, McEnroe #2 and Connors #3.
1980	Björn Borg P. (Swe.)	John McEnroe P. (USA.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; not only Borg repeated his performance of the previous year winning again Wimbledon (McEnroe runner-up), the French Open (Gerulaitis finalist) and the Masters (Ivan Lendl runner-up) but he also reached the final of the U.S. Open won by McEnroe (after a dubious call in the fifth set); Dibbs beat Gene Mayer in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Borg as World Champion; the ATP awarded Borg "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Borg #1, McEnroe #2 and Connors #3 as previous year.
1981	John McEnroe P. (USA)	Björn Borg P. (Swe.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; McEnroe won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open beating each time Borg; Borg captured the French Open beating Lendl; Lendl def. Gerulaitis in the Masters; Jose-Luis Clerc def. Gildemeister in the U.S. Pro; after his defeat to Tim Gullikson in October in the second round of Tokyo indoor, Borg semi-retired; ITF awarded McEnroe as World Champion; the ATP awarded McEnroe "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked McEnroe #1, Borg #2.
1982	Jimmy Connors P. (USA)	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	L'Équipe; Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Connors won both Wimbledon (McEnroe runner-up) and the U.S. Open (Lendl finalist); Mats Wilander def. Vilas at the French Open; Lendl made one of his best and strongest performances of his whole career in decisevely beating McEnroe 6-4 6-4 6-2 in the Masters final; Vilas beat Mel Purcell in U.S. Pro; small anecdote : though retired of the official circuit, Borg played in many invitational tournaments or exhibitions and he was able to win 2 matches out of 6 against Connors and he beat Gerulaitis, McEnroe and Lendl in the Sydney Akai Gold Challenge; ITF awarded Connors as World Champion; the ATP awarded Connors "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking; L'Équipe and Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Connors n°1 player in the world ahead of Lendl n°2 and McEnroe n°3 also strongly contradicting the ATP ranking.
1983	John McEnroe P. (USA)	Mats Wilander P. (Swe.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; McEnroe def. Chris Lewis in Wimbledon; Connors def. Lendl at the U.S. Open; Yannick Noah overcame Wilander at the French Open final; for the first time since 1971 the Australian Open deserved the "Grand Slam tournament" label because great players came back (McEnroe, Lendl and Wilander entered the tournament) : Wilander def. Lendl; McEnroe beat Lendl both in the Masters and in the WCT Finals; Clerc beat Jimmy Arias in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded McEnroe as World Champion (against Wilander); the ATP awarded McEnroe "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked McEnroe #1 and Wilander #2.
1984	John McEnroe P. (USA)	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; McEnroe lost 3 matches in 1984 but two were very important : the final of the French Open won by Lendl and his match against Henrik Sundström in the Davis Cup won by Sweden and moreover McEnroe was deprived of the Australian Open, won by Wilander over Kevin Curren, because of his suspension following his ugly behaviour in the Stockholm tournament; however McEnroe played the best tennis of his life in 1984 : according to his autobiography the best tournament he has ever played was the Brussels tournament in March where he never lost more than 3 games in a set, and his performance in the Wimbledon final against Connors is one of the greatest; McEnroe def. Lendl both in the U.S. Open and in the Masters (the last great win of the US citizen); Aaron Krickstein beat Clerc in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded McEnroe as World Champion; the ATP awarded McEnroe "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) approved it.
1985	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Mats Wilander P. (Swe.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Lendl won the U.S. Open over McEnroe and the Masters over Boris Becker; Mats Wilander beat Lendl at the French Open and Martin Jaite in U.S. Pro; Boris Becker def. Curren in Wimbledon; Stefan Edberg beat Wilander in the Australian Open; Tim Mayotte overcame Scott Davis in the ATP tournament (considered at the time as the 6th tournament in the world (with fields between 96 and 128 players) after the Grand Slam tournaments and the Masters : it was created by Earl "Butch" Buchholz (probably about the sixth or fifth player in the world in 1962 and in 1963) and held at Delray Beach in 1985, at Boca West in 1986, and since 1987 at Key Biscayne (it has become in the 2000s the ATP Masters Series Miami)); ITF awarded Lendl as World Champion; the ATP awarded Lendl "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Lendl #1 and Wilander #2.
1986	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Boris Becker P. (Ger.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Lendl has won a sort of "Little Slam" in winning the U.S. Open (Miloslav Mecir runner-up), the French Open (Mikael Pernfors runner-up) and the Masters (Becker finalist) because there was no Australian Open that year given the tournament dates had been delayed for one month (from December 1986 to January 1987); Becker def. Lendl in Wimbledon and has won 3 tournaments (Sydney indoor, Tokyo indoor, Paris-Bercy indoor) in 3 weeks on 3 continents; Lendl def. Wilander in the "ATP tournament" at Boca West; Andres Gomez beat Jaite in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Lendl as World Champion; the ATP awarded Lendl "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Lendl #1 and Becker #2.
1987	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Stefan Edberg P. (Swe.)	ITF; ATP Awards; Lendl won U.S. Open, French Open and the Masters each time against Wilander; Pat Cash def. Lendl in Wimbledon; Edberg def. Cash in the Australian Open; Mecir def. Lendl in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Wilander beat Kent Carlsson in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Lendl as World Champion; the ATP awarded Lendl "Player of The Year".
1988	Mats Wilander P. (Swe.)	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Wilander won the "Little Slam" defeating Cash at the Australian Open, Henri Leconte at the French Open and Lendl at the the U.S. Open; Wilander also won the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne over Connors; Edberg def. Becker in Wimbledon; Becker def. Lendl in the Masters; Thomas Muster beat Lawson Duncan in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Wilander as World Champion; the ATP awarded Wilander "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Wilander #1 and Lendl #2.
1989	Boris Becker P. (Ger.)	Ivan Lendl P. (Cze.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Becker has been impressive in 1989 by winning Wimbledon over Lendl and Edberg and the U.S. Open over Lendl; Becker was also undefeated in Davis Cup beating such players as Andre Agassi, Wilander and Edberg; Lendl won the Australian Open (Mecir runner-up) and the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne (Thomas Muster runner-up); Michael Chang has become the youngest winner of the French Open (Edberg finalist); Edberg def. Becker in the Masters; Gomez beat Wilander in the U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Becker as World Champion; the ATP awarded Becker "Player of The Year" contradicting its computer ranking; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Becker #1 and Lendl #2.
1990	Stefan Edberg P. (Swe.)	Andre Agassi P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ATP Awards; Edberg def. Becker in Wimbledon; Pete Sampras won his first Grand Slam tournament in the U.S. Open over Agassi who also lost the French Open final against Gomez; Lendl def. Edberg who defaulted in the third set of the Australian Open final; Agassi won the Singles Championship (the ex-Masters and the future Tennis Masters Cup) and the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne beating Edberg in both tournaments; Jaite beat Libor Nemecek in the U.S. Pro; this is the only time when the ITF award was strongly criticized : the ITF had punished Edberg for he didn't want to play the Grand Slam Cup, a Chatrier's invention to fight the new ATP circuit (the ITF wrongly designated Lendl); the ATP awarded Edberg "Player of The Year" confirming its computer ranking but contradicting the ITF; Tennis Magazine (France) rightly ranked Edberg #1 and Agassi #2 (Lendl was only ranked #3).
1991	Stefan Edberg P. (SWE)	Jim Courier P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Michael Stich beat his countryman Becker in Wimbledon; Edberg, probably playing the best match of his whole career, def. Jim Courier in the U.S. Open; Courier def. Agassi at the French Open and David Wheaton in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Becker def. Lendl in the Australian Open; Sampras def. Courier in the Singles Championship; Gomez beat Andrei Cherkasov in U.S. Pro; ITF this time correctly awarded Edberg as World Champion; the ATP awarded Edberg "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Edberg #1 and Courier #2.
1992	Jim Courier P. (USA)	Stefan Edberg P. (SWE)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Agassi won his first Grand Slam tournament in his less expected site at Wimbledon over Goran Ivanišević; Courier beat Edberg at the Australian Open and Petr Korda at the French Open; Edberg won his last Grand Slam tournament at the U.S. Open over Sampras; Becker def. Courier in the Singles Championship; Chang beat Alberto Mancini (2006 captain of the Argentinian Davis Cup team) in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Ivan Lendl beat Richey Reneberg in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Courier as World Champion; the ATP awarded Courier "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Courier #1.
1993	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Jim Courier P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Sampras began his reign by triumphing in Wimbledon over Courier, in the U.S. Open over Cédric Pioline and in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne over MaliVai Washington; Sergi Bruguera def. Courier at the French Open; Courier def. Edberg at the Australian Open; Michael Stich def. Sampras in the Singles Championship; Lendl beat Todd Martin in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Sampras #1 and Courier #2 (Stich was #2 in the ATP ranking).
1994	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Andre Agassi P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Sampras won the Australian Open over Todd Martin, his 3rd Grand Slam tournament in a row but was beaten by Courier in the quarters of the French Open where Bruguera retained his crown, defeating Alberto Berasategui in the final; Sampras also won Wimbledon over Ivanisevic, the Singles Championship over Agassi and Becker in the final and the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne over Agassi; Agassi def. Stich in the U.S. Open and Lendl beat MaliVai Washington in the U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Sampras #1 and Agassi #2.
1995	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Andre Agassi P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Sampras def. Becker in Wimbledon; Sampras def. Agassi at the U.S. Open; Thomas Muster def. Michael Chang at the French Open; Agassi def. Sampras at the Australian Open and in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Becker won the Singles Championship over Chang; the U.S. Pro not completed because of rain; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Sampras #1 and Agassi #2.
1996	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Michael Chang P. (USA)	ITF; ATP Awards; Sampras has got difficulties to retain his world crown because he had to save match point in the quarters of the U.S. Open against Alex Corretja, finally Sampras def. Chang in the final; Richard Krajicek, winner of Sampras, def. MaliVai Washington in an unusual final of Wimbledon; Yevgeny Kafelnikov def. Stich at the French Open; Becker won his last Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open over Chang; Sampras def. Becker in the Singles Championship; Agassi def. Ivanisevic in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; the U.S. Pro not held; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year".
1997	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Patrick Rafter P. (Aus.)	ITF; ATP Awards; Sampras def. Pioline in Wimbledon, Carlos Moya in the Australian Open and Kafelnikov in the Singles Championship; Gustavo Kuerten won his first French Open beating 3 titlists, Muster in the 3rd round, Kafelnikov in the quarters and Bruguera in the final; Patrick Rafter won the U.S. Open over Greg Rusedski; Muster def. Bruguera in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Sjeng Schalken beat Marcelo Rios in U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year".
1998	Pete Sampras P. (USA)	Patrick Rafter P. (Aus.)	ITF; ATP Awards; Tennis magazine (USA); Sampras def. Ivanisevic in Wimbledon; Rafter retained his U.S. Open title over Mark Philippoussis; Moya def. Corretja at the French Open; Petr Korda (not to confuse with Pavel Korda who played in the Davis Cup in the 60's) def. Rios in the Australian Open; Corretja def. Moya in the Singles Championship; Rios def. Agassi in the ATP tournament at Key Biscayne; Michael Chang beat Paul Haarhuis in the U.S. Pro; ITF awarded Sampras as World Champion; the ATP awarded Sampras "Player of The Year"; generally considered as the best player in the world, Sampras however was not called player of the year by Tennis magazine (USA) who chose Rafter though the Australian was only #4 in the ATP ranking.
1999	Andre Agassi P. (U.S.)	No consensus among the sources: Pete Sampras P. (U.S.) Yevgeny Kafelnikov P. (Russia)	Tennis Magazine (France); International Tennis Federation (ITF); Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) awards. Pete Sampras won Wimbledon and the ATP Tour World Championship (defeating Andre Agassi in both finals). Agassi won the French Open (defeating Andrei Medvedev in the final) and the US Open (defeating Todd Martin in the final). Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the Australian Open (defeating Thomas Enqvist in the final). Sampras won four of five matches with Agassi. The ITF named Agassi as its World Champion. The ATP named Agassi "Player of The Year." Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Agassi first, Sampras second, and Kafelnikov third. The ATP ranked Agassi first, Kafelnikov second, and Sampras third.
2000	Gustavo Kuerten P. (Brazil)	Marat Safin P. (Russia)	Tennis Magazine (France); International Tennis Federation (ITF); Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) awards. Pete Sampras won Wimbledon (defeating Patrick Rafter in the final). Gustavo Kuerten won the French Open (defeating Magnus Norman in the final) and the Tennis Masters Cup (defeating Andre Agassi in the final). Marat Safin won the US Open (defeating Sampras in the final). Agassi won the Australian Open (defeating Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the final). The ITF named Kuerten as its World Champion. The ATP named Kuerten "Player of The Year." Tennis Magazine (France) confirmed the ATP year-end ranking: Kuerten first, Safin second, Sampras third.
2001	Lleyton Hewitt P. (Aus.)	Gustavo Kuerten P. (Bra.)	Tennis Magazine (France; ATP Awards; ITF; Lleyton Hewitt (not to confuse with the good Australian then South African player, Bob Hewitt) def. Sampras in the U.S. Open and Grosjean in the (Tennis) Masters Cup; Ivanisevic won at last in Wimbledon over Rafter losing his second final in a row; at the end of the year, after the Davis Cup final, the last great serve and volley player of tennis history (to date, in 2006) retired; Kuerten recorded his last great victory, defeating Corretja at the French Open; Agassi def. Arnaud Clément at the Australian Open; ITF awarded Hewitt as World Champion; the ATP awarded Hewitt "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) confirmed the ATP ranking : 1) Hewitt, 2) Kuerten, 3) Agassi.
2002	Lleyton Hewitt P. (Aus.)	Andre Agassi P. (USA)	Tennis Magazine (France; ATP Awards; ITF; Lleyton Hewitt def. David Nalbandian in Wimbledon and Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Tennis Masters Cup; Sampras def. Agassi in the U.S. Open : this was the last meeting between the two players, Sampras then reaching the record of 14 Grand Slam tournaments but not THE ABSOLUTE RECORD OF MAJOR TOURNAMENTS, including a) the Grand Slam Amateur tournaments before 1968, b) the Grand Slam Open tournaments since 1968 and also c) the 3 major Pro tournaments before 1968 (Wembley Pro, the U.S. Pro, the French Pro), HELD BY Ken Rosewall WITH 23 TOURNAMENTS (this record takes into account depleted tournaments and simultaneously forgets greater tournaments, see Tennis male players statistics); Albert Costa (previously Alberto Costa) def. Ferrero at the French Open; Thomas Johansson def. Safin at the Australian Open; ITF awarded Lleyton Hewitt as World Champion; the ATP awarded Hewitt "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) confirmed the ATP ranking : 1) Hewitt, 2) Agassi, 3) Safin.
2003	Andy Roddick P. (U.S.)	Juan Carlos Ferrero P. (Spain)	Tennis Magazine (France); International Tennis Federation (ITF); Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) awards. Roger Federer began his Wimbledon reign, defeating Mark Philippoussis in the final. Andy Roddick won six tournaments, including three in a row, two Tennis Masters Series tournaments, and the US Open over Juan Carlos Ferrero. At the French Open, Ferrero defeated Martin Verkerk in the final. Andre Agassi won his last Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, defeating Rainer Schuttler in the final. Federer ended the year by winning the Tennis Masters Cup, defeating Agassi in the final. The ITF named Roddick as its World Champion. The ATP named Roddick "Player of The Year." Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Roddick first, Ferrero second, Agassi third, and Federer fourth. (The magazine ranked Federer only fourth because of his results in Grand Slam tournaments other than Wimbledon, even though the ATP ranked him second.)
2004	Roger Federer P. (Switzerland)	Lleyton Hewitt P. (Australia) Andy Roddick P. (U.S.)	Tennis Magazine (France); International Tennis Federation (ITF); Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Awards. Roger Federer won the Australian Open (defeating Marat Safin in the final), Wimbledon (defeating Andy Roddick in the final, the U.S. Open (defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final), and the Tennis Masters Cup (defeating Hewitt in the final). Gaston Gaudio won the French Open (defeating Guillermo Coria in the final). The ITF named Federer as its World Champion. The ATP named Federer "Player of The Year." Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Federer first, Hewitt second, and Roddick third. The ATP ranked Federer first, Roddick second, and Hewitt third.
2005	Roger Federer P. (Sui.)	Rafael Nadal P. (Esp.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP Awards; Federer reached four semifinals in the Grand Slam tournaments, winning Wimbledon over Roddick and the U.S. Open over Agassi; Safin def. Lleyton Hewitt in the Australian Open; Rafael Nadal def. Mariano Puerta at the French Open; Nalbandian won his first great tournament, the Tennis Masters Cup over Federer, recovering two sets down on score; ITF awarded Federer as World Champion; the ATP awarded Federer "Player of The Year"; Tennis Magazine (France) ranked Federer #1, Nadal #2, Lleyton Hewitt #3 and Roddick #4 (ATP ranking : Federer #1, Nadal #2, Roddick #3, Lleyton Hewitt #4 : as in 2004 the magazine privileged the stronger performances of Hewitt than those of Roddick in the great events).
2006	Roger Federer P. (Sui.)	Rafael Nadal P. (Esp.)	Tennis Magazine (France); ITF; ATP; as in 2004 Federer has done a Little Slam and even slightly better : only 5 defeats and wins in the Australian Open (Marcos Baghdatis runner-up), in Wimbledon (Nadal finalist), in the U.S. Open (over Roddick) and in the Tennis Masters Cup (James Blake runner-up); the Swiss also reached the French Open final won by Nadal; probably no one will contest the ATP Race hierarchy: 1) Federer 1674 points, 2) Nadal 894 points, the two players having completely dominated the circuit until Wimbledon before the Spaniard both physically tired and improving his technique, let the Swiss capture all the big titles. Federer said that his Tennis Masters Cup final match against Blake was probably the best of his entire career (in 2006); Tennis Magazine (France), privileging the great events, ranked Federer #1, Nadal #2, Nikolay Davydenko #3, Nalbandian #4, Roddick #5, Marcos Baghdatis #6, Ivan Ljubicic #7, Blake #8, Tommy Robredo #9, Mario Ancic #10, Tommy Haas #11, Hewitt #12, Fernando Gonzalez #13, Tomas Berdych #14, Novak Đoković #15 (ATP ranking : Federer #1, Nadal #2, Davydenko #3, Blake #4, Ljubicic #5, Roddick #6, Robredo #7, Nalbandian #8, Ancic #9, Gonzalez #10, Haas #11, Baghdatis #12, Berdych #13, David Ferrer #14, Jarkko Nieminen #15).
2007	Roger Federer P. (Sui.)	Rafael Nadal P. (Esp.)	ITF; Tennis Magazine (France); ATP; as in 2004 and 2006 Federer has done a Little Slam with wins in the Australian Open (Fernando Gonzalez runner-up), Wimbledon (Nadal finalist like last year), the U.S. Open (Novak Đoković runner-up); he also captured the Tennis Masters Cup (David Ferrer runner-up). Nadal wins the French Open (again) over Federer. Roger Federer became the first player ever to win (at least) three Grand Slam singles titles in a year on three occasions. Tennis Magazine (France), taking into account mainly the great events contradicts a little the ATP hierarchy by placing for instance Roddick ahead of Ferrer, and proposes the following ranking : 1) Federer, 2) Nadal, 3) Novak Đoković, 4) Nikolay Davydenko, 5) Andy Roddick, 6) David Ferrer, 7) Fernando Gonzalez, 8) Richard Gasquet, 9) David Nalbandian, 10) Tommy Haas, 11) Andy Murray, 12) Tommy Robredo, 13) James Blake, 14) Tomas Berdych, 15) Marcos Baghdatis (ATP rankings : 1) Federer 1436 points, 2) Nadal 1147 points and 3) Đoković 894 points).

(Earliest first for those with identical numbers; (probably) undisputed No. 1 year in Boldface and Co-No. 1 year in normal characters) :

• 8 years Pancho Gonzales, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
• 7 years William Renshaw, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889
• 7 years Bill Tilden, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931
• 7 years Rod Laver, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970
• 6 years Reggie Doherty, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902
• 6 years Jack Kramer, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953
• 6 years Ken Rosewall, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1970
• 6 years Pete Sampras, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
• 5 years Joshua Pim, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1894, 1895
• 5 years William Larned, 1901, 1902, 1908, 1909, 1910
• 5 years Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906
• 5 years Fred Perry, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1941
• 5 years Don Budge, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942
• 4 years Wilfred Baddeley, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1896
• 4 years Ellsworth Vines, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1937
• 4 "periods" Bobby Riggs, 1941, 1943-1945, 1946, 1947 (Riggs has been considered as the best player for the entire period of 1943-1945 when the tennis activity was very limited because of war; this is why a ranking year by year would have been possibly inadequate : Riggs in particular played just one match in 1943, none in 1944 and about twenty in 1945)
• 4 years Björn Borg, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
• 4 years Roger Federer, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• 3 years Ernest Renshaw, 1887, 1888, 1892
• 3 years Wilfred Baddeley, 1891, 1892, 1896
• 3 years Joshua Pim, 1893, 1894, 1895
• 3 years Anthony Wilding, 1911, 1912, 1913
• 3 years Henri Cochet, 1928, 1929, 1930
• 3 years Jimmy Connors, 1974, 1976, 1982
• 3 years John McEnroe, 1981, 1983, 1984
• 3 years Ivan Lendl, 1985, 1986, 1987
• 2 years John Hartley, 1879, 1880
• 2 years Willoughby Hamilton, 1889, 1890
• 2 years Ernest Lewis, 1890, 1891
• 2 years Malcolm Whitman, 1899, 1900
• 2 years Norman Brookes, 1907, 1911
• 2 years Maurice McLoughlin, 1912, 1914
• 2 years Bill Johnston, 1919, 1922
• 2 years René Lacoste, 1926, 1927
• 2 years Pancho Segura, 1950, 1952
• 2 years John Newcombe, 1970, 1971
• 2 years Stan Smith, 1971, 1972
• 2 years Stefan Edberg, 1990, 1991
• 2 years Lleyton Hewitt, 2001, 2002
• 1 year Spencer Gore, 1877
• 1 year Frank Hadow, 1878
• 1 year Herbert Lawford, 1887
• 1 year Wilberforce Eaves, 1897
• 1 year Robert Wrenn, 1897
• 1 year Arthur Gore, 1901
• 1 year Gerald Patterson, 1919
• 1 year Jack Crawford, 1933
• 1 year Ilie Năstase, 1973
• 1 year Arthur Ashe, 1975
• 1 year Guillermo Vilas, 1977
• 1 year Mats Wilander, 1988
• 1 year Boris Becker, 1989
• 1 year Jim Courier, 1992
• 1 year Andre Agassi, 1999
• 1 year Gustavo Kuerten, 2000
• 1 year Andy Roddick, 2003

• 1870s - John Hartley, 1879, 1880
• 1880s - William Renshaw, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886 & Ernest Renshaw, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1892
• 1890s - Reggie Doherty, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902 & Wilfred Baddeley, 1891, 1892, 1895, 1896
• 1900s - Hugh Lawrence "Laurie" Doherty, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1906 & Joshua Pim, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1894, 1895
• 1910s - Anthony Wilding, 1911, 1912, 1913
• 1920s - Bill Tilden, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1931
• 1930s - Ellsworth Vines, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1937 & Fred Perry, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1941 & Don Budge, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1942
• 1940s - Bobby Riggs, 1941, 1943-1945, 1946, 1947 & Jack Kramer, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953
• 1950s - Pancho Gonzales, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960
• 1960s - Ken Rosewall, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1970 & Rod Laver, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970

Open-Era

• 1970s - Jimmy Connors, 1974, 1976, 1982 & Björn Borg, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980
• 1980s - John McEnroe, 1981, 1983, 1984 & Ivan Lendl, 1985, 1986, 1987
• 1990s - Pete Sampras, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998
• 2000s - Roger Federer, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

• History of the Pro Tennis Wars, by Ray Bowers
  • Chapter I: Suzanne Lenglen and the First Pro Tour
  • Chapter II, Part 1: The eminence of Karel Kozeluh and Vincent Richards 1927-1928
  • Chapter II, Part 2: Deja vu 1929-1930
  • Chapter III: Tilden's Year of Triumph in 1931
  • Chapter IV: Tilden and Nusslein, 1932-1933
  • Chapter V: The Early Ascendancy of Vines, 1934
  • Chapter VI: Vines's Second Year: 1935
  • Chapter VII: Awaiting Perry, 1936
  • Chapter VIII: Perry and Vines, 1937
  • Chapter IX: Readying for Budge, 1938
  • Chapter X: Budge's Great Pro Year, 1939
  • Chapter XI: America, 1940-1941
  • Chapter XII: America, 1942