Wimbledon Men’s Tennis Champions

There are three men, who over the years have proved that they are indeed the true champions of the All England Club. They have set and broken records, and during their time on-court there was no other active men’s tennis player who could compete consistently at their high levels. They are Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Roger Federer, the current world number one.

Pete Sampras

“Pistol” Pete Sampras is the outstanding champion of Wimbledon. He claimed no fewer than seven Wimbledon men’s singles titles, and if Richard Krajicek had not come along in 1996 to spoil the party, Sampras would have won eight consecutive Wimbledon crowns.

The American won 14 Grand Slams in his career, was the number one in the world for an amazing six consecutive years, claimed the US Open title an incredible five times , the Australian Open twice, but never managed to tame the clay courts of the French Open.

He broke record after record, becoming the youngest player ever to win a Grand Slam at 19 years and 28 days and he crushed all the top men’s players of the time with ease – the likes of Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe and Jim Courier fell to the strength and power of the Sampras serve and court craft.

The Wimbledon men’s tennis champion loved the fast-playing grass courts of the All England Club and of his 64 singles wins, ten of them were on grass. Current number one and the one active player who continues to dominate Wimbledon, Roger Federer, put paid to Sampras’ hopes of an eighth title win, when he knocked him out in the fourth round of the 2001 tournament, breaking Sampras’ 31-match winning streak on grass.

Bjorn Borg

Bjorn Borg’s record of five consecutive Wimbledon wins was broken by current Wimbledon giant, Roger Federer in 2007. This takes nothing away from the genius of the Swede. He won 11 Grand Slams in his career, and is the only player to have won at both Roland Garros and the All England Club for three consecutive years, said to be “the most difficult double in tennis”.

He claimed six French Open titles to match his five Wimbledon crowns, but never won at the Australian or US Open. His winning streak at the French Open is yet to be matched.

He claimed the scalps of the foremost in men’s tennis in the 1970s and 80s - Manual Orantes, Guillermo Vilas, Ilie Nastase, Jimmy Connors, Roscoe Tanner and Vitas Gerulaitis all fell to the grace and finesse of arguably the finest tennis player in the history of the game.

Roger Federer

Roger Federer is currently the “sweetheart” of Wimbledon. In 2007 he matched Bjorn Borg’s record of five consecutive wins, and bets are on that he will set a new record at Wimbledon 2008, with a sixth consecutive title.

Federer has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, matching the great Roy Emerson. He still has to catch up with Pete Sampras who has two more singles crowns than him, but it will probably only be a matter of time before the Swiss master etches his name into the history books for all time.

Place your bets on the next Wimbledon men’s tennis champions!