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The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from South Africa

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This page contains a list of the greatest South African Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,148 Tennis Players, 22 of which were born in South Africa. This makes South Africa the birth place of the 19th most number of Tennis Players behind Romania and Canada.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South African Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous South African Tennis Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South African Tennis Players.

Photo of Louis Raymond

1. Louis Raymond (1895 - 1962)

With an HPI of 46.50, Louis Raymond is the most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages on wikipedia.

Louis Bosman Raymond (28 June 1895 – 30 January 1962) was a male tennis player from South Africa. At the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium, he defeated Ichiya Kumagai in the finals to win the gold medal.He won the South African Championships six times; four consecutive titles from 1921 through 1924 as well as victories in 1930 and 1931. In 1924 he made it to the semifinal of the singles event at the Wimbledon Championships, losing to eventual champion Jean Borotra in straight sets. In 1927 he reached the quarterfinal of the French Championship in which he was defeated by Bill Tilden. Between 1919 and 1931, Raymond played in ten ties for the South African Davis Cup team and has a record of ten wins and eleven losses.In Tilden's book, The Art of Lawn Tennis, Raymond is described as a "hard working and deserving player" and someone who "attains success by industry rather than natural talent".

Photo of Kevin Curren

2. Kevin Curren (1958 - )

With an HPI of 45.40, Kevin Curren is the 2nd most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Kevin Melvyn Curren (born 2 March 1958) is a South African former professional tennis player. He played in two Grand Slam singles finals and won four Grand Slam doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 5 in July 1985. During his career he won 5 singles and 16 doubles titles.

Photo of Harold Kitson

3. Harold Kitson (1874 - 1951)

With an HPI of 44.26, Harold Kitson is the 3rd most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Harry Austin Kitson (17 June 1874 – 30 November 1951) was a male tennis player from South Africa who won a gold medal at the men's doubles event at the 1912 Summer Olympics.

Photo of Johan Kriek

4. Johan Kriek (1958 - )

With an HPI of 43.47, Johan Kriek is the 4th most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Johan Christiaan Kriek (born April 5, 1958) is a South African–American former professional tennis player and founder of the Global Water Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to delivering clean water to the world's neediest communities. As a tennis player, he won two Australian Open titles and reached the semifinals at the French Open and US Open, as well as the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships. Kriek won 14 professional singles and eight doubles titles, reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7 in September 1984. He attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans High School for Boys, also known as Affies), a public school located in Pretoria. Kriek became a naturalized American citizen in August 1982. He currently resides in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida with his wife, Daga and their children Karolina and Kristian.

Photo of Frew McMillan

5. Frew McMillan (1942 - )

With an HPI of 42.90, Frew McMillan is the 5th most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Frew Donald McMillan (born 20 May 1942) is a former professional tennis player from South Africa who won five grand slam doubles titles including three Wimbledons with Bob Hewitt. All together, he won 63 doubles titles, surpassed only by the Bryan brothers, Daniel Nestor, Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, John McEnroe and Tom Okker. He was also ranked No.1 in Doubles on the ATP Computer for a significant period from 1977 to 1979 when he was aged 37.

Photo of Ilana Kloss

6. Ilana Kloss (1956 - )

With an HPI of 41.56, Ilana Kloss is the 6th most famous South African Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ilana Sheryl Kloss (born 22 March 1956) is a former professional tennis player, tennis coach, and commissioner of World TeamTennis from 2001–21. She was the World's No. 1 ranked doubles player in 1976, and World No. 19 in singles in 1979. She won the Wimbledon juniors singles title in 1972, the US Open juniors singles title in 1974, and the US Open Doubles and French Open Mixed Doubles titles in 1976. She won three gold medals at the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Photo of Kevin Anderson

7. Kevin Anderson (1986 - )

With an HPI of 38.77, Kevin Anderson is the 7th most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Kevin Michael Anderson (born 18 May 1986) is a South African professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) ranking of world No. 5 on 16 July 2018. He was the first South African to be ranked in the top 5 since Kevin Curren was No. 5 on 23 September 1985.On 6 February 2011, Anderson defeated Somdev Devvarman in his hometown of Johannesburg to capture the South African Open title for his first ATP Tour-level title. His second ATP title came at the 2012 Delray Beach Open when he defeated Marinko Matosevic. Anderson won his third championship in 2015 at the Winston-Salem Open with a victory over Pierre-Hugues Herbert. He ended 2017 winning the exhibition World Tennis Championship. His fourth title came in February 2018 at the New York Open. Anderson reached his maiden Grand Slam final at the 2017 US Open, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. In the 2018 Wimbledon semifinals, Anderson reached his second major final by defeating American John Isner in the second-longest match in the history of major tournaments. The match, which lasted 6 hours and 36 minutes, was only beaten in length by the 2010 match between Isner and France's Nicolas Mahut. He then lost to Novak Djokovic in the final in straight sets. On 3 May 2022, Anderson retired at age 35 but he announced his comeback in July 2023.

Photo of Amanda Coetzer

8. Amanda Coetzer (1971 - )

With an HPI of 37.63, Amanda Coetzer is the 8th most famous South African Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Amanda Coetzer (born 22 October 1971, in Hoopstad) is a South African former professional tennis player. Coetzer finished in the WTA rankings top 20 for ten consecutive seasons (1992–2001), peaking at world No. 3. She reached three Grand Slam semifinals (Australian Open 1996 and 1997, French Open 1997) and one Grand Slam doubles final (US Open 1993). Coetzer earned a reputation for regularly beating players who were ranked higher than her. By virtue of scoring so many upset wins in spite of her five-foot-two (1.58m) stature, she gained the nickname: "The Little Assassin".

Photo of Wayne Ferreira

9. Wayne Ferreira (1971 - )

With an HPI of 37.16, Wayne Ferreira is the 9th most famous South African Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Wayne Richard Ferreira (born 15 September 1971) is a South African former professional tennis player and current tennis coach.

Photo of Liezel Huber

10. Liezel Huber (1976 - )

With an HPI of 35.71, Liezel Huber is the 10th most famous South African Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 32 different languages.

Liezel Huber (née Horn; born 21 August 1976) is a South African-American retired tennis player who represented the United States internationally since August 2007. Huber has won four Grand Slam titles in women's doubles with partner Cara Black, one with Lisa Raymond, and two mixed doubles titles with Bob Bryan. On 12 November 2007, she became the co-world No. 1 in doubles with Cara Black. On 19 April 2010, Huber became the sole No. 1 for the first time in her career.

Pantheon has 22 people classified as tennis players born between 1874 and 1997. Of these 22, 20 (90.91%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living tennis players include Kevin Curren, Johan Kriek, and Frew McMillan. The most famous deceased tennis players include Louis Raymond and Harold Kitson. As of April 2022, 2 new tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Lloyd Harris and Cameron Norrie.

Living Tennis Players

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Deceased Tennis Players

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Newly Added Tennis Players (2022)

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