Steffi Graf
Chris Evert
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Steffi Graf leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Steffi Graf at #5 and Chris Evert at #9.
Head-to-head FAQ
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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 Chris Evert
Evert set standards of consistency that still look unreal. Her career winning percentage of roughly 90 percent — about 1,309 wins against 146 losses — is the highest of the Open Era for either sex, and on clay she won 125 consecutive matches between 1973 and 1979, the longest single-surface streak in the sport's history alongside Nadal's. She reached the semifinals or better at 34 consecutive Grand Slams she entered, and won at least one major every year for 13 straight seasons, from 1974 to 1986, finishing with 18. A pioneer of the two-handed backhand and the ice-cool baseline precision that earned her the nickname the Ice Maiden, she spent 260 weeks at No.1 and captured a then-record seven Roland Garros titles. Her 80-match rivalry with Martina Navratilova, which she trailed 37-43, dragged both women to greater heights and defined the women's game for over a decade. Peak dominance and unmatched reliability place her comfortably inside the all-time top ten.