The 10 greatest male grass court players of Open Era – ranked!

Grass-court tennis has helped produce some of the greatest tennis champions of all time.

Several ATP Tour icons have thrived and forged incredible legacies on the surface, but who are the greatest of them all?

Factoring in players who competed solely in the Open Era, and looking at Wimbledon success, overall grass-court triumphs, and match wins and win percentage, we rank the 10 greatest male grass-court players of the modern age.

10) Rafael Nadal

Nadal may be the ‘King of Clay’, but he wasn’t half bad on grass courts either.

At the peak of his powers, the Spaniard reached five Wimbledon finals in the space of six years, famously lifting the title in 2008 and 2010.

With further titles in Queen’s and Stuttgart to his name, and a solid win percentage of 79.17% on the surface, Nadal’s success on grass is perhaps underrated.

9) Stefan Edberg

One of the most graceful players of all time, Swedish icon Edberg won four of his six Grand Slam titles on grass.

The former world No 1 triumphed at the Australian Open in 1985 and 1987, the final two tournaments before the switch to hard, while lifting Wimbledon titles in 1988 and 1990.

Edberg was also runner-up at SW19 in 1989 and was a Queen’s champion in 1991, with an impressive win percentage of 78.57% on the surface.

8) Andy Murray

Murray’s Wimbledon triumph remains one of the most iconic, with the former world No 1 ending a 77-year wait for a home men’s singles champion at the All England Club in 2013.

He would go on to win a second title at the tournament in 2016, alongside reaching the final in 2012 and appearing in 10 consecutive quarter-finals from 2008 to 2017.

With a record five titles at the Queen’s Club to his name, alongside his gold medal at London 2012, the Brit cemented his place as not only a leading grass-court of his era, but one of the best of all time.

7) Jimmy Connors

Connors was up against some of the greatest grass-court players of all time during his career, but still amassed a huge amount of success on the surface.

The American’s win percentage of 82.79% is the seventh-highest of the Open Era, with his 178 grass-court wins being the second-highest tally of the modern age.

He reached six Wimbledon finals, lifting the title in 1974 and 1982, and won the 1974 Australian Open title on grass, with his nine titles the joint-third highest tally of the professional age.

6) Boris Becker

This year marks exactly four decades since Becker memorably won his first title at Wimbledon, the tournament that would come to define the legendary German’s career.

Becker would win further Wimbledon titles in 1986 and 1989, and progressed to seven finals in total, alongside an impressive four victories at the Queen’s Club.

The former world No 1 won 116 matches on the surface, with a win percentage of 82.27% across his career.

5) John McEnroe

A player whose game was naturally made for grass, McEnroe achieved a staggering 85.82% win percentage on the surface – the second-highest of the Open Era.

The American famously reached five straight Wimbledon finals from 1980-84, lifting the title in 1981, 1983, and 1984, while he was also a four-time Queen’s winner.

McEnroe won an impressive eight titles overall on grass, picking up an impressive 121 individual match wins.

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4) Bjorn Borg

One of the most iconic figures in tennis history, Borg’s staggering feat of winning five straight Wimbledon titles has only been matched by one man in the 45 years since.

The Swede famously ruled over SW19 from 1976 to 1980, reaching a further final in 1981, and also won a further two titles on grass across his short yet successful career.

Borg won 83.72% matches on the surface, the fifth-highest win percentage of the Open Era, and remains one of the most dominant grass-courters in history.

3) Pete Sampras

Few have dominated on grass quite like US icon Sampras, who won Wimbledon seven times in the space of eight years from 1993 to 2000, only missing out in 1996.

With a further three Queen’s Club titles to his name, ‘Pistol Pete’ won 10 titles on grass courts across his career, a tally only beaten by one man in the Open Era.

Sampras won an impressive 83.47% of his matches on the surface, the sixth highest among male players in the professional age.

2) Novak Djokovic

Few expected Djokovic to ever become a natural grass-courter, though the Serbian has ultimately developed into one of the greatest-ever players on the surface.

The former world No 1 has won eight titles on grass and seven of them have come at Wimbledon, with a further three finals to his name at the All England Club.

Djokovic won four straight SW19 titles from 2018-22 and has won an impressive 120 matches on the surface, while his win rate of 85.71% is the third-highest of the Open Era.

1) Roger Federer

Could anyone else have been at the top of this countdown?

Federer’s haul of eight Wimbledon men’s singles titles, including five straight triumphs from 2003-07, remains an Open Era record, with a further four finals to his name.

The Swiss also won 10 Halle Open titles, and his overall haul of 19 grass-court titles is another Open Era record, as is his win percentage of 86.88% (min. 50 wins), and his 192 total wins on the surface.

With so many grass-court records to his name, Federer is undoubtedly the male grass-court player of the Open Era.

Read Next: The 7 men with the best win percentage on grass: Djokovic 3rd, Federer with 86.9%

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