The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from Switzerland

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This page contains a list of the greatest Swiss Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,569 Tennis Players, 14 of which were born in Switzerland. This makes Switzerland the birth place of the 26th most number of Tennis Players behind China, and Brazil.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Swiss Tennis Players of all time. This list of famous Swiss 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 Swiss Tennis Players.

Photo of Roger Federer

1. Roger Federer (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 62.94, Roger Federer is the most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 136 different languages on wikipedia.

Roger Federer ( FED-ər-ər, Swiss Standard German: [ˈrɔdʒər ˈfeːdərər]; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. He won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most since the start of the Open Era in 1968, including 20 major men's singles titles (among which a record eight men's singles Wimbledon titles, and an Open Era joint-record five men's singles US Open titles) and six year-end championships. A Wimbledon junior champion in 1998 and former ball boy, Federer won his first major singles title at Wimbledon in 2003 at age 21. Between 2003 and 2009, Federer played in 21 out of 28 major singles finals. He won three of the four majors and the ATP Finals in 2004, 2006, and 2007 as well as five consecutive titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open. He completed the career Grand Slam at the 2009 French Open after three consecutive runner-up finishes to Rafael Nadal, his main rival until 2010. At age 27, he surpassed Pete Sampras's record of 14 major men's singles titles at Wimbledon in 2009. Federer and Stan Wawrinka led the Switzerland Davis Cup team to their first title in 2014, following their Olympic doubles gold victory at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Federer also won a silver medal in singles at the 2012 London Olympics, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray. After a half-year hiatus in late 2016 to recover from knee surgery, Federer returned to tennis, winning three more majors over the next two years, including the 2017 Australian Open over Nadal and an eighth singles title at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships. At the 2018 Australian Open, Federer became the first man to win 20 major singles titles and shortly after the oldest ATP world No. 1 at the time, at age 36. In September 2022, he retired from professional tennis following the Laver Cup. A versatile all-court player, Federer's grace on the court made him popular among tennis fans. Originally lacking self-control as a junior, he transformed his on-court demeanor to become well-liked for his graciousness, winning the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award 13 times. He also won the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award a joint-record five times. Outside of competition, Federer played an instrumental role in the creation of the Laver Cup team competition. He is also an active philanthropist. He established the Roger Federer Foundation, which targets impoverished children in southern Africa, and has raised funds in part through the Match for Africa exhibition series. By the end of his career, Federer was routinely one of the top-ten highest-paid athletes in any sport, and ranked first among all athletes with $100 million in endorsement income in 2020.

Photo of R. Norris Williams

2. R. Norris Williams (1891 - 1968)

With an HPI of 54.51, R. Norris Williams is the 2nd most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Richard Norris Williams II (January 29, 1891 – June 2, 1968), generally known as R. Norris Williams, was an American tennis player and passenger aboard RMS Titanic. He survived the sinking of the Titanic. He won the U.S. National Tennis Championships in men's singles in 1914 and 1916. He was ranked the U.S. No. 1 player for 1916 by the USLTA, and world No. 2 for 1914.

Photo of Stan Wawrinka

3. Stan Wawrinka (b. 1985)

With an HPI of 49.44, Stan Wawrinka is the 3rd most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 65 different languages.

Stanislas Wawrinka (French: [stanislas vavʁiŋka]; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 on 27 January 2014. He is a three-time Grand Slam champion, at the 2014 Australian Open, the 2015 French Open and at the 2016 US Open, where he defeated the world No. 1 player in the final on all three occasions. Other achievements include reaching the final of the 2017 French Open, winning a Masters 1000 title at the 2014 Monte-Carlo Masters, and reaching three other Masters finals (at 2008 Rome, 2013 Madrid and 2017 Indian Wells). Representing Switzerland, Wawrinka won gold in doubles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics partnering Roger Federer, and was also pivotal in the Swiss team's victory at the 2014 Davis Cup. Wawrinka considers clay his best and favorite surface, and his serve and backhand his best shots. John McEnroe once said that Wawrinka has one of the most powerful backhands ever, and in 2009 said he possessed "the best one-handed backhand in the game." He has been described by The Economist as "tennis's great latecomer", owing to finding his greatest success late in his career. Prior to the 2014 French Open, he requested and was granted a formal change in his name from "Stanislas Wawrinka" to "Stan Wawrinka", stating that he plans to use the abbreviated name in tournament draws and press conferences.

Photo of Marc Rosset

4. Marc Rosset (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 46.74, Marc Rosset is the 4th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Marc Rosset (born 7 November 1970) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He is best known for winning the men's singles gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also won a major doubles title, at the French Open in 1992 partnering compatriot Jakob Hlasek.

Photo of Heinz Günthardt

5. Heinz Günthardt (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 44.09, Heinz Günthardt is the 5th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Heinz Peter Günthardt (born 8 February 1959) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland.

Photo of Patty Schnyder

6. Patty Schnyder (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 41.06, Patty Schnyder is the 6th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 33 different languages.

Patty Schnyder (born 14 December 1978) is a Swiss retired tennis player. A former top 10 player in singles, she twice defeated a reigning world No. 1 player in her career: Martina Hingis at the 1998 Grand Slam Cup (by retirement) and Jennifer Capriati at the Family Circle Cup in 2002. In addition, she has notable wins over such former No. 1 players as Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Amélie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova, Jelena Janković, Ana Ivanovic, and Caroline Wozniacki. In her career, she reached six Grand Slam singles quarterfinals and one major singles semifinal. She won eleven WTA Tour singles titles including Zurich Open (Tier I), and five WTA doubles titles, and earned almost $8.6 million in prize money.

Photo of Belinda Bencic

7. Belinda Bencic (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 39.16, Belinda Bencic is the 7th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 45 different languages.

Belinda Bencic (Slovak: Belinda Benčičová, pronounced [ˈbelinda ˈbentʂitʂɔʋaː]; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 4 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won eight career singles titles, including a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and two doubles titles on the WTA Tour. Bencic was born in Switzerland to Slovak parents; she began playing tennis at the age of two. Her father arranged for her to train with Martina Hingis's mother and coach Melanie Molitor daily from the age of seven. By the time she was 16, Bencic was the No. 1 ranked junior in the world and won two junior Grand Slam singles titles at the French Open and Wimbledon. On the professional tour, she made her top 100 debut shortly after turning 17. Her big breakthrough came at the 2014 US Open, where she became the youngest quarterfinalist since Hingis in 1997. Bencic won her first two WTA Tour titles in 2015, including the Canadian Open where she defeated four of the top six players in the world. She then made her top-ten debut the following year while still 18 years old. From 2016 through 2018, Bencic struggled with a variety of injury issues, most notably needing to have wrist surgery in 2017 that kept her out for five months and saw her drop outside the top 300 in the WTA rankings. Nonetheless, she rebounded quickly and rose back into the top 50 within a year of her comeback. She then posted her best season to date in 2019, winning her second Premier-5 title at the Dubai Championships reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open, qualifying for her first WTA Finals where she reached the semifinals, and finishing the year inside the top 10 for the first time, which helped her win the WTA Comeback Player of the Year award.

Photo of Bettina Bunge

8. Bettina Bunge (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 38.54, Bettina Bunge is the 8th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Bettina Bunge (born 13 June 1963) is a retired German tennis player. Born in Adliswil, Switzerland, she was part of a large group of successful German players in the 1980s, which also included Steffi Graf, Claudia Kohde-Kilsch, Sylvia Hanika, and Eva Pfaff.

Photo of Timea Bacsinszky

9. Timea Bacsinszky (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 38.17, Timea Bacsinszky is the 9th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Timea Bacsinszky (Hungarian: Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. A former top ten singles player, Bacsinszky reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 9, on 16 May 2016. She won four singles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit A former prodigy on the junior tennis circuit, Bacsinszky semi-retired from tennis in 2011 at the age of 22 following a major foot injury. After playing a qualifying match at the 2013 French Open, she made a full comeback onto the WTA Tour in 2014 with success, winning her opening-round match at three of the major events and upsetting world No. 4 and five-time Grand Slam winner Maria Sharapova en route to the quarterfinals in Wuhan, earning her a first ever year-end top 50 ranking. Her breakthrough year in singles came in 2015, winning a career-best 15 consecutive matches spanning two titles, upsetting Madison Keys and Petra Kvitová en route to the semifinals of the French Open (the first time she advanced past the third round of a major), reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open, and becoming the first Swiss female tennis player to be ranked in the top 10 since Martina Hingis in 2007. Bacsinszky received the WTA Most Improved Player of the Year award for her massive singles rise that year. She once again reached the semifinals of the French Open in 2017. She also reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2015, and of the French Open in 2016. Bacsinszky announced on 16 July 2021 that she had retired from the sport. Representing Switzerland, Bacsinszky has a Fed Cup career match record of 28–25. She won the silver medal in women's doubles at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, partnering Hingis.

Photo of Emmanuelle Gagliardi

10. Emmanuelle Gagliardi (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 37.60, Emmanuelle Gagliardi is the 10th most famous Swiss Tennis Player.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Emmanuelle Gagliardi (born 9 July 1976) is a retired Swiss tennis player. She was coached by Marco Tarelli and her preferred surface was hardcourt. Gagliardi never won a WTA Tour singles title, but reached the semifinals of the 2002 Indian Wells Masters, losing to eventual champion Daniela Hantuchová, in three sets. She was a member of the Switzerland Fed Cup team that reached the final in 1998. She was also a member of the Swiss team for the 2008 Summer Olympics and played doubles with Patty Schnyder, reaching the second round. She has not been active on the WTA Tour ever since. In doubles, Gagliardi reached the semifinals of the 2003 Australian Open with Petra Mandula and won the 2004 China Open, a Premier tournament, with Dinara Safina.

People

Pantheon has 17 people classified as Swiss tennis players born between 1891 and 1999. Of these 17, 16 (94.12%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Swiss tennis players include Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, and Marc Rosset. The most famous deceased Swiss tennis players include R. Norris Williams. As of April 2024, 3 new Swiss tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Yves Allegro, Rebeka Masarova, and Marie-Gaïané Mikaelian.

Living Swiss Tennis Players

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Deceased Swiss Tennis Players

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Newly Added Swiss Tennis Players (2024)

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