TENNIS PLAYERS from Greece

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Greek Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Greek Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Stefanos Tsitsipas (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 43.60, Stefanos Tsitsipas is the most famous Greek Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 38 different languages on wikipedia.

Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greek: Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, pronounced [ˈstefanos t͡sit͡siˈpas]; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the ATP, which he first achieved on 9 August 2021, making him the highest-ranked Greek, tied with Maria Sakkari. Tsitsipas was the champion at the 2019 ATP Finals, becoming the youngest winner of the year-end championships in eighteen years. He has won eleven ATP singles titles (including three Masters 1000 championships) and has contested two Major finals at the 2021 French Open and 2023 Australian Open, finishing runner-up to Novak Djokovic both times. He has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 64, achieved on 29 August 2022. Born into a tennis family – his mother Julia was a professional on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour and his father Apostolos trained as a tennis coach – Tsitsipas was introduced to the sport at age three and began taking lessons at age six. As a junior, he was ranked No. 1 in the world, and won the 2016 Wimbledon boys' doubles event. Winning his first match on the ATP Tour in late 2017, Tsitsipas quickly ascended the ATP rankings the following year. He won his first title at the 2018 Stockholm Open and made a runner-up finish at the 2018 Canadian Open, becoming the youngest player to defeat four top ten opponents in a single tournament at the latter event. Since culminating that season with an exhibition title at the Next Gen ATP Finals, Tsitsipas has remained an almost constant fixture in the top 10 of the ATP rankings. He won his first Masters 1000 event at the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters, defended his title in 2022 and won again in 2024. Tsitsipas was named the Greek Male Athlete of the Year for 2019.

2. Maria Sakkari (b. 1995)

With an HPI of 39.52, Maria Sakkari is the 2nd most famous Greek Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Maria Sakkari (Greek: Μαρία Σάκκαρη, pronounced [maˈri.a ˈsakari]; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the WTA, which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her the highest-ranked Greek player, tied with Stefanos Tsitsipas. Her career-best doubles ranking is world No. 169, achieved on 9 September 2019. Sakkari has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, including a WTA 1000 title at the 2023 Guadalajara Open. She is known for her aggressive, all-court style of play, centered around her strong serve and powerful groundstrokes. She served the sixth most aces of any WTA player in 2020, with 144 aces served in 31 matches. Sakkari reached the semifinals at the 2017 Wuhan Open, where she defeated Caroline Wozniacki for her first top-10 win. In 2019, she reached another Premier 5 semifinal at the Italian Open where she defeated, among other players, Petra Kvitová. In 2020, Sakkari reached the fourth round at both the Australian and US Opens. In 2021, she reached the semifinals at the French and US Opens, making her the first Greek woman to reach a major semifinal. She was named the Greek Female Athlete of the Year for the years 2020 and 2021.

3. Eleni Daniilidou (b. 1982)

With an HPI of 35.99, Eleni Daniilidou is the 3rd most famous Greek Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Eleni Daniilidou (Greek: Ελένη Δανιηλίδου; [eleˈni ðaniˈiliðu]; born 19 September 1982) is a Greek former tennis player from the island of Crete. She is considered one of the best Greek tennis players of the Open Era, winning five singles titles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour. In 2003, she reached the mixed-doubles final of the Australian Open, making her the first Greek player to have reached a Grand Slam final. Her highest singles ranking is world No. 14, making her the only female tennis player from Greece to have reached the top 20 until Maria Sakkari in February 2020. No male tennis player had achieved this until Stefanos Tsitsipas reached 15th place in August 2018. By beating Justine Henin in the first round of the 2005 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first player to defeat a reigning French Open champion in the first round of Wimbledon.