The Top 101 Male and Female Players of the Open Era--Update at end-2010

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Nadal enters the top 10, Clijsters now #15

As the U.S. Open have run their course, bringing the 2010 grand slam season to an end, it is time to re-consider the top 101 list of open era tennis players.

Rafael Nadal (picture) improves from #13 at end-2009 to #7, upon winning three more grand slam titles and completing a career slam. One more major title and Nadal would be not only #6 but also Dai-Yokozuna (great Grand Champion)--the only 6th male player of the open era making it to that level. On the ladies' side, Kim Clijsters moved into the top 20 (#15) and is now the highest ranked female Ozeki (=Champion).

The biggest jup of the year outside Nadal and Clijsters made French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who was not within the top 100 at end-2009 and is now #45. Slam finalists Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur all made major inroads too.

The top 20 are listed below, the top 101 here.

The Top 20 Male and Female Tennis Players of the Open Era

	Male Players	Highest Rank			Female Players	Highest Rank
1	Rod Laver	Dai-Y		1	Margaret Court	Dai-Y
2	Roger Federer	Dai-Y		2	Steffi Graf	Dai-Y
3	Ken Rosewall	Dai-Y		3	Martina Navratilova	Dai-Y
3	Pete Sampras	Dai-Y		4	Chris Evert	Dai-Y
4	Bjorn Borg	Dai-Y		5	Serena Williams	Dai-Y
6	Ivan Lendl	Y		6	Billie Jean King	Dai-Y
7	Rafael Nadal	Y		7	Monica Seles	Dai-Y
8	Jimmy Connors	Y		8	Evonne Goolagong	Y
9	Andre Agassi	Y		9	Venus Williams	Y
10	John McEnroe	Y		10	Justine Henin	Y
11	Mats Wilander	Y		11	Martina Hingis	Y
12	Boris Becker	Y		12	Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario	Y
13	Stefan Edberg	Y		13	Hana Mandlikova	Y
14	John Newcombe	Y		14	Lindsay Davenport	Y
15	Jim Courier	Y		15	Kim Clijsters	O
16	Guillermo Vilas	O		16	Jennifer Capriati	Y
17	Arthur Ashe	O		17	Ann Haydon-Jones	O
18	Ilie Nastase	O		18	Maria Sharapova	O
19	Lleyton Hewitt	O		19	Virginia Wade	O
20	Marat Safin	O		20	Gabriela Sabatini	O