Steffi Graf
Billie Jean King
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Dead even across the measured categories. Our all-time ranking places Steffi Graf at #5 and Billie Jean King at #12.
Head-to-head FAQ
Who leads more shared metrics?
How do the published ranks compare?
Are these live stats?
The case for Steffi Graf
Graf did the one thing no other player in tennis history has done: the 1988 Golden Slam, winning all four majors plus Olympic singles gold in Seoul in a single season, at age 19. Her 22 Grand Slam titles came with a distribution no one else can claim — she is the only player, man or woman, to win each of the four majors at least four times, proof of true all-surface supremacy in an era when the surfaces played far more differently than today. Her 377 total weeks at No.1 remain the all-time record for either tour, and she finished year-end No.1 eight times. The forehand — 'Fraulein Forehand' — and a knifing slice backhand made her the bridge between the classic and power eras. The honest asterisk: Monica Seles had won 8 of 9 majors entered and led their rivalry when she was stabbed by a Graf fan in April 1993, and Graf won 10 of her 22 majors afterward. Even discounting for that, the Golden Slam and the surface spread put her peak among the three or four highest ever reached.
The case for Billie Jean King
King won 12 Grand Slam singles titles and 39 majors across all disciplines, including a record 20 Wimbledon titles counting singles, doubles and mixed. But her importance dwarfs even those totals. In 1973 she founded the WTA, threatened to boycott the US Open until it became the first major to pay women and men equally, and beat 55-year-old Bobby Riggs in the 'Battle of the Sexes' before an estimated 90 million television viewers — a victory that reshaped public attitudes toward women's sport far beyond tennis. An aggressive serve-and-volley player and ferocious competitor, she reached world No.1 and won titles across grass, clay and hard courts over two decades. No player has done more to build the professional women's game or to win its economic and cultural battles, which is why her place among the immortals rests on a foundation the pure title-counters miss. The tour's premier team competition, the Billie Jean King Cup, now carries her name.