Ranking The 12 Most Dominant Tennis Players At Wimbledon During The Open Era

Wimbledon Championships is in full swing this week with the Men’s Singles 4th Round wrapping up on Monday and the Quarterfinals taking place on Tuesday/Wednesday all leading up to the Championship on Sunday. On the women’s side, the Wimbledon Single’s Championship will be held on Saturday.

Aryna Sabalenka is the clear favorite to win it all on the women’s side while Alcaraz and Djokovic are the favorites in the men’s brackets. Should Novak Djokovic find a way to win another Wimbledon Men’s Singles Title, it would be his 8th and he would tie Roger Federer for the 2nd most all-time during the Open Era of tennis. As we get closer to that, today we take a look at the 12 tennis stars with the most Wimbledon Singles Champions Titles in both men’s and women’s tennis.

It is difficult to compare men’s and women’s tennis for reasons far too numerous to list here, but a championship is a championship.

These are the 12 tennis players who have won the most singles champion titles at Wimbledon during the Open Era, which began in 1968. One of the players listed below, Billie Jean King, straddles the Open Era and has 6 total Wimbledon Singles Titles but only 4 during the Open Era and thus she is ranked with 4 here. Now let’s get to the rankings!

12. Boris Becker: 3

Boris Becker won three Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles championships during the 1980s (1985, 1986, 1989), ranking him 12th all-time among men and women during the Open Era. He is the man most often credited with bringing the modern power serve to tennis an revolutionizing the game during his time.

In addition to his 3 Wimbledon titles, the West German has 1 U.S. Open and 2 Australia Open titles. After retiring from Tennis, Boris Becker enjoyed a life as a professional poker player for a while.

11. Chris Evert: 3

Former #1 ranked Women’s Singles player Chrissy Evert has three Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships to her name (1974, 1976, 1981).

The Florida native is one of the all-time greats with 18 majors including 7 French Opens, 6 U.S. Opens, and 2 Australia Opens in addition to her 3 Wimbledon titles.

10. John McEnroe: 3

John McEnroe, my favorite professional tennis player from childhood and the narrator on Never Have I Ever, picked up 3 Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles championships during the early 1980s (1981, 1983, 1984), tying him with Evert and Becker.

In addition to his 3 Wimbledon titles, John McEnroe won 4 U.S. Open Men’s Singles Championships and has had a long and lucrative career as a tennis commentator across all the majors.

9. Billie Jean King: 4 Open Era (6 Total)

Former World #1 ranked women’s singles player Billie Jean King has 6 total Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships but she won 4 of them during the Open Era of tennis (1968, 1972, 1973, 1975) where pros and amateurs compete against one another.

Prior to the Open Era (1986), professionals were often excluded from the most prestigious tournaments in tennis like Wimbledon and the U.S. Open but the Open Era changed that and pros were able to enter the toughest tournaments in tennis.

Billie Jean King has, in addition to her 6 total Wimbledon titles, 4 U.S. Opens, 1 French Open, and 1 Australian Open title to her name.

8. Venus Williams: 5

Had it not been for her sister’s existence, Venus Williams would have been the most dominant player of her era. She has 5 Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008).

Venus Williams also won 2 Australian Opens, 2 U.S. Opens, and 1 French Open. She was also ranked #1 by WTA in women’s singles for 11 total weeks during he peak of her career.

7. Björn Borg: 5

Jumping back over to the men’s side we have Björn Borg who won 5 Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles championships mostly during the latter half of the 1970s (1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980).

Björn Borg spent a whopping 109 weeks ranked #1 by the ATP and was a beast in the majors with 6 French Open titles, and 4 U.S. Opens in addition to his 5 Wimbledon titles. He never could quite figure out the Australian Open though and his best finish there was the Third Round in 1974.

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6. Steffi Graf: 7

Steffi Graf is the first of several tennis stars tied with 7 Wimbledon singles titles. She was a dominant force from the late 80s through the 1990s with 7 total Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996).

Graf spent a whopping 377 weeks ranked #1 by the ATP and finished the year ranked #1 a record-setting 8 times. As expected, she didn’t just clean up at Wimbledon and also has 6 French Opens, 5 U.S. Opens, and 4 Australia Open women’s singles championships in addition to her Wimbledon hardware.

5. Pete Sampras: 7

Pete Sampras was ranked #1 by the ATP for 286 weeks, the third most of any men’s tennis player in history, and his 7 Wimbledon gentlemen’s singles championships are amongst the most in history by any player on the men’s or women’s side.

Sampras was the most dominant men’s tennis player of the 1990s, winning the Wimbledon’s gentlemen’s singles championship in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000. Then came the Federer/Djokovic/Nadal era that would change tennis forever.

4. Serena Williams: 7

Serena Williams was unbeatable when she was at her best. Truly. She could not be beaten when playing her best.

Serena has 7 Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016) over the 14 year span. And overall she won 23 major singles titles which is the most of any woman in the Open Era. Her other major titles include 7 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, and 6 U.S. Opens.

3. Novak Djokovic: 7

As of the time of writing this, Novak Djokovic is the only tennis player in these rankings that is still in contention to win more Wimbledon titles. With 7 Wimbledon championships, he only trails Roger Federer by 1 for the most in men’s tennis history.

Djokovic won his 7 titles during 2011, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2022. He is also headed to the quarterfinals this year where he’ll face Italy’s Flavio Cobolli. In addition to his 7 Wimbledon titles, Djokovic has won 10 Australian Opens, 3 French Opens, and 4 U.S. Opens. Joker has also been ranked #1 by the ATP for 428 weeks spread out over a record-setting 13 years.

2. Roger Federer: 8

Coming in at #2 on the list of the most Wimbledon titles of the Open Era is Roger Federer, the King of the Grass Court, with 8 gentlemen’s singles championships (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2017).

Roger is/was the G.O.A.T. of men’s tennis which is WILD considering he competed in the ear of the ‘Big 3’ with Djokovic and Nadal, two of the greatest of all time. Even against them, Roger managed to win 6 Australia Opens, 1 French Open, and 5 U.S.Opens in addition to his 8 Wimbledon titles. Oh, he was also ranked #1 in the world by the ATP for a record 237 consecutive weeks and 310 weeks overall.

1. Martina Navratilova (USA): 9

Coming in at #1 is the undisputed G.O.A.T. of Wimbledon: Martina Navratilova. She won a record 9 Wimbledon ladies’ singles championships over a 12 year span (1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990).

During her career, Martina was ranked #1 by the ATP for 332 weeks and also ranked #1 in doubles for a record 237 weeks. On top of her record 9 Wimbledon championship titles, Martina Navratilova won 3 Australian Opens, 2 French Opens, and 4 U.S. Opens.

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