[justineheninfan]

The other poll without Lenglen, Wills Moody, Seles (big TF fan favorite) didnt really make any sense. So out of the actually legitimate candidates who do you believe is the greatest female player of all time

[Sam L]

IMO

Greatest contribution to the sport: Suzanne Lenglen

Greatest by the numbers: Margaret Court

Greatest by ability at physical peak: Serena Williams

[justineheninfan]

Originally Posted by Sam L

IMO

Greatest contribution to the sport: Suzanne Lenglen

Greatest by the numbers: Margaret Court

Greatest by ability at physical peak: Serena Williams

I actually agree with all of those. Lenglen was the one who made womens tennis popular and worthwhile to people, and without her it would have taken alot longer (the great Wills Moody was relatively boring to most people).

[18majors]

How about Maria who brought women's tennis into main street media?

[tennisvideos]

A much better list and so happy to see Lenglen, Wills and Seles included. I always include these three in my list of GOTEs (of course I give Seles an asterisk as I think she could have gone on to be an all time great except for the tragic stabbing). She deserves to be included in any argument and she is one of my all time favourite players as well.

[Shvedbarilescu]

This really is the ten that belong here. Nicely done justineheninfan.

As for best I'd say it is between Navratilova, Evert and Graf. My vote goes to Navratilova with Martina's skill in doubles being the deciding factor.

[Olórin]

Originally Posted by Sam L

IMO

Greatest contribution to the sport: Suzanne Lenglen

Greatest by the numbers: Margaret Court

Greatest by ability at physical peak: Serena Williams

I agree with these. Splitting it up like this really demonstrates what a subjective and nebulous concept greatness is.

It really is completely up for debate as to who is the greatest.

It's also interesting how many * there are regarding those who aren't quite in the highest echelon (yet - possibly).
Seles - for her stabbing.
Connolly - for her horse-riding accident.
To a lesser extent Serena - her sister's murder which caused depression and had a huge affect on her mentality and game from 2004-2006.
Even Lenglen - if she hadn't turned professional, had played the USO, AO etc.

[BlueTrees]

May I ask why Wozniacki, the current number one, is not included in the poll?

[justineheninfan]

Originally Posted by Olórin

I agree with these. Splitting it up like this really demonstrates what a subjective and nebulous concept greatness is.

It really is completely up for debate as to who is the greatest.

It's also interesting how many * there are regarding those who aren't quite in the highest echelon (yet - possibly).
Seles - for her stabbing.
Connolly - for her horse-riding accident.
To a lesser extent Serena - her sister's murder which caused depression and had a huge affect on her mentality and game from 2004-2006.
Even Lenglen - if she hadn't turned professional, had played the USO, AO etc.

It is interesting to wonder how much the emergence of Wills Moody had to do with Lenglen's decision to turn pro. I am certainly not implying she couldnt have competed with Wills, she won their only match after all. Just that Suzanne was used to winning every match she played, I am not sure how she felt about the prospect of having a close challenger.

Perhaps it was also her health issues which sadly took her life at only 39, which had her leave "amateur" tennis sooner. Especialy perhaps thinking she had better make money as a pro while she was still physically able to even play.

[Olórin]

Originally Posted by justineheninfan

It is interesting to wonder how much the emergence of Wills Moody had to do with Lenglen's decision to turn pro. I am certainly not implying she couldnt have competed with Wills, she won their only match after all. Just that Suzanne was used to winning every match she played, I am not sure how she felt about the prospect of having a close challenger.

Perhaps it was also her health issues which sadly took her life at only 39, which had her leave "amateur" tennis sooner. Especialy perhaps thinking she had better make money as a pro while she was still physically able to even play.

While that is an interesting theory, I don't doubt money was her main motivation. I read she wanted financial security (perhaps the wealth to match her fame?) which she wasn't getting from Grand Slams. When she did turn pro she was the first woman to ever get equal billing with a man during her professional tournaments. Even today, women don't often get equal billing/attention outside the 2nd week of a Grand Slam.

[Marionated]

Navratilova.

[fouc]

Originally Posted by 18majors

How about Maria who brought women's tennis into main street media?

[Excelscior]

I think it's hard to go against the period of domination that particularly Graf and Navritalova exhibited, along with Evert and Court for so many years.

Nobody of the modern era, stands even close to what they did/achieved.

[Novichok]

Originally Posted by 18majors

How about Maria who brought women's tennis into main street media?

Maria who?

[justineheninfan]

I am going to go with Court. She was dominating womens tennis in 1962 and still in 1973, both years which she won 3 of 4 slams. Nobody has ever been the dominant player that long, albeit with brief periods amongst she was either retired or someone was temporarily better. She matches Graf with five years of 3 slams or more, but considering Graf had three 3 slam years after the Seles stabbing, it would be a minor miracle if she still reached 5 under normal circumstances (and no I am not one of those who thinks Seles would have kept dominating had she not been stabbed either so please dont indulge me in that). It would have been interesting had there been some major events on hard courts back then. I honestly think with her all around game hard courts would have been Court's best surface. There was arguably never such a complete all court player who was equally comfortable at net, baseline, midcourt, anywhere, other than quite possibly the great Suzanne Lenglen.

That plus I am pretty sure nearly everyone will go with Graf or Navratilova, so I figure Evert or Court deserve an extra vote.