Steffi Graf
Martina Navratilova
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 Martina Navratilova at #7.
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 Martina Navratilova
Navratilova rewrote what a tennis career could contain. Her 167 singles titles are the most by any player in the Open Era, man or woman; add 177 doubles titles and 59 total Grand Slam trophies (18 singles, 31 women's doubles, 10 mixed) and she is the most decorated champion in the sport's history. Her peak was the most dominant sustained stretch ever played: 86-1 in 1983, a 74-match winning streak in 1984 that remains the Open Era record, six consecutive majors across 1983-84, and 331 total weeks at No.1. Her record 9 Wimbledon singles titles included six in a row. Beyond the numbers, she changed the sport's methods — the first champion built on modern strength training, nutrition and sports science, a full decade before it became standard — and her 80-match rivalry with Chris Evert (43-37 Navratilova) is the longest great rivalry tennis has produced. She won her last major, mixed doubles at the 2006 US Open, at age 49.