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The Most Famous

TENNIS PLAYERS from United Kingdom

This page contains a list of the greatest British Tennis Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,148 Tennis Players, 52 of which were born in United Kingdom. This makes United Kingdom the birth place of the 8th most number of Tennis Players behind Germany and Czechia.

Top 10

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

1. Fred Perry (1909 - 1995)

With an HPI of 63.94, Fred Perry is the most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.

Frederick John Perry (18 May 1909 – 2 February 1995) was a British tennis and table tennis player and former world No. 1 from England who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slam tournaments and two Pro Slams single titles, as well as six Major doubles titles. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships from 1934 to 1936 and was World Amateur number one tennis player during those three years. Prior to Andy Murray in 2013, Perry was the last British player to win the men's Wimbledon championship, in 1936, and the last British player to win a men's singles Grand Slam title, until Andy Murray won the 2012 US Open. Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam", winning all four singles titles, which he completed at the age of 26 at the 1935 French Championships. He remains the only British player ever to achieve this. Perry's first love was table tennis and he was World Champion in 1929. He began playing tennis aged 14 and his tennis career at 21, when in 1930 an LTA committee chose him to join a four-man team to tour the United States. In 1933, Perry helped lead the Great Britain team to victory over France in the Davis Cup; the team's first success since 1912, followed by wins over the United States in 1934, 1935, and a fourth consecutive title with victory over Australia in 1936. But due to his disillusionment with the class-conscious nature of the Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, the working-class Perry turned professional at the end of the 1936 season and moved to the United States where he became a naturalised U.S. citizen in 1939. In 1942, he was drafted into the US Army Air Force during the Second World War. Despite his unprecedented contribution to British tennis, Perry was not accorded full recognition by tennis authorities until later in life, because between 1927 and 1967 the International Lawn Tennis Federation ignored amateur champions who later turned professional. In 1984, a statue of Perry was unveiled at Wimbledon, and in the same year he became the only tennis player listed in a survey of 2,000 Britons to find the "Best of the Best" British sportsmen of the 20th century.

2. Charlotte Cooper (1870 - 1966)

With an HPI of 60.70, Charlotte Cooper is the 2nd most famous British Tennis Player. Her biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Charlotte "Chattie" Cooper Sterry (née Charlotte Reinagle Cooper; 22 September 1870 – 10 October 1966) was an English female tennis player who won five singles titles at the Wimbledon Championships and in 1900 became Olympic champion. In winning in Paris on 11 July 1900, she became the first female Olympic tennis champion as well as the first individual female Olympic champion.

3. William Renshaw (1861 - 1904)

With an HPI of 53.80, William Renshaw is the 3rd most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

William Charles Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 12 August 1904) was a British tennis player active during the late 19th century, who was ranked world No. 1. He won twelve Major titles during his career. A right-hander, he was known for his power and technical ability which put him ahead of competition at the time. Renshaw shared the all-time male record of seven Wimbledon singles titles with American Pete Sampras until 2017 when Roger Federer won his eighth singles title. His six consecutive singles titles (1881–86) is an all-time record. Additionally he won the doubles title five times together with his twin brother Ernest. William Renshaw was the first president of the British Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).

4. Lottie Dod (1871 - 1960)

With an HPI of 52.15, Lottie Dod is the 4th most famous British Tennis Player. Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Charlotte Dod (24 September 1871 – 27 June 1960) was an English multi-sport athlete, best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only 15 in the summer of 1887. She remains the youngest ladies' singles champion. In addition to tennis, Dod competed in many other sports, including golf, field hockey, and archery. She also won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship, played twice for the England women's national field hockey team (which she helped to found), and won a silver medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics in archery. The Guinness Book of Records has named her as the most versatile female athlete of all time, together with track and field athlete and fellow golf player Babe Zaharias.

5. Reginald Doherty (1872 - 1910)

With an HPI of 51.97, Reginald Doherty is the 5th most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Reginald "Reggie" or "R. F." Frank Doherty (14 October 1872 – 29 December 1910) was a British tennis player and the older brother of tennis player Laurence Doherty. He was known in the tennis world as "R.F." rather than "Reggie". He was a four-time Wimbledon singles champion and a triple Olympic Gold medalist in doubles and mixed doubles.

6. Andy Murray (1987 - )

With an HPI of 51.75, Andy Murray is the 6th most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 77 different languages.

Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray has won three Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbledon (in 2013 and 2016) and one at the US Open (in 2012), and has reached eleven major finals. Murray was ranked in the top 10 for all but one month from July 2008 through to October 2017, and was no lower than world No. 4 in eight of the nine year-end rankings during that span. Murray has won 46 ATP Tour singles titles, including 14 Masters 1000 events and two gold medals at the Summer Olympics. Originally coached by his mother Judy alongside his older brother Jamie, Murray moved to Barcelona at age 15 to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy. He began his professional career around the time Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal established themselves as the two dominant players in men's tennis. Murray had immediate success on the ATP Tour, making his top 10 debut in 2007 at age 19. By 2010, Murray and Novak Djokovic had joined Federer and Nadal in the Big Four, the group of players who dominated men's tennis during the 2010s. Murray initially struggled against the rest of the Big Four, losing his first four major finals (three to Federer and one to Djokovic). He made his major breakthrough in 2012 by defeating Djokovic to win the US Open, becoming the first British major singles champion since Virginia Wade in 1977, and the first male champion since Fred Perry in 1936. A month earlier, he had won the men's singles gold medal against Federer at the 2012 London Olympics, and a silver medal in mixed doubles. From 2013 through 2016, Murray reached another six major finals. He won two of these encounters, at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016. Murray had his career-best season in 2016. During that year, Murray made three major finals, winning Wimbledon. He also defended his title at the 2016 Rio Olympics to become the only player, male or female, to win two Olympic gold medals in singles. Murray also became world No. 1 for the first time that season, and clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by winning his only Tour Finals title over Djokovic. Since 2016, he has struggled with various injuries and fell out of the top 100 in 2018 due to only seldom playing on tour, though he has since slowly risen back to the top 50. Murray is an all-court player who excels in particular at defence, returning serve and constructing points. He is generally regarded as having one of the best and most consistent two-handed backhands on the ATP Tour. Murray is considered a national hero in the United Kingdom for re-establishing the country as a leading force in men's tennis for the first time since the early 20th century. He and his brother led the Great Britain Davis Cup team to a title in 2015. Murray has been outspoken as a feminist, and became only the second top-10 player in the history of the ATP Tour to have a female coach when he hired Amélie Mauresmo.

7. Laurence Doherty (1875 - 1919)

With an HPI of 51.17, Laurence Doherty is the 7th most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Hugh Laurence Doherty (8 October 1875 – 21 August 1919) was a British tennis player and the younger brother of tennis player Reginald Doherty. He was a six-time Grand Slam champion and a double Olympic Gold medalist at the 1900 Summer Olympics in singles and doubles (also winning a Bronze in mixed doubles). In 1903 he became the first non-American player to win the U.S. National Championships.

8. Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers (1878 - 1960)

With an HPI of 49.44, Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers is the 8th most famous British Tennis Player. Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Dorothea Lambert Chambers (née Dorothea Katherine Douglass; 3 September 1878 – 7 January 1960) was a British tennis player. She won seven Wimbledon women's singles titles and a gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

9. Spencer Gore (1850 - 1906)

With an HPI of 49.39, Spencer Gore is the 9th most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Spencer William Gore (10 March 1850 – 19 April 1906) was an English tennis player who won the first Wimbledon tournament in 1877 and a first-class cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club (1874–1875).

10. Ernest Renshaw (1861 - 1899)

With an HPI of 49.00, Ernest Renshaw is the 10th most famous British Tennis Player. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Ernest James Renshaw (3 January 1861 – 2 September 1899) was a British tennis player who was active in the late 19th century. Together with his twin brother William Renshaw, Ernest won the men's doubles at Wimbledon five times. He also won the singles championship at Wimbledon once, in 1888 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1983. He won the singles title at the Irish Championships on four occasions (1883, 1887, 1888, 1892). Ernest was the older of the brothers by 15 minutes and half an inch taller. The boom in popularity of the game during the 1880s due to the modern tennis style of the Renshaw brothers became known as the 'Renshaw Rush'.

People

Pantheon has 52 people classified as tennis players born between 1849 and 1992. Of these 52, 22 (42.31%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living tennis players include Andy Murray, Virginia Wade, and Ann Jones. The most famous deceased tennis players include Fred Perry, Charlotte Cooper, and William Renshaw. As of April 2022, 7 new tennis players have been added to Pantheon including Dorothy Holman, Bunny Austin, and Betty Nuthall.