To celebrate TENNIS Magazine’s 40th anniversary, we’ve chosen the 40 best players of the last four decades. Here are numbers 24 through 21.

24. Guillermo Vilas
Photo by Lionel Cironeau/AP Photo

You might assume that Argentina has always been a powerhouse in men’s tennis. After all, the country has five players in the Top 30. But they didn’t put Argentina on the map. The man who gets that credit emerged from the decade of disco; he was a burly, headbanded poet named Guillermo Vilas, who went on to become a clay-courter for the ages.

Noted for his strength and endurance, the “Young Bull of the Pampas” wore down his opponents with long, loopy ground strokes that turned matches into wars of attrition. (How Vilas generated so much topspin with a wood racquet is a question best left to physicists.)

Vilas employed this grueling strategy to compile one of the most dominating seasons in history. In 1977, he won 145 matches, 17 of 33 tournaments, including Roland Garros and the U.S. Open, and strung together a 50-match win streak, still the men’s Open era record. The fact that Vilas finished No. 2 behind Jimmy Connors, who didn’t win a major that year, was a rankings travesty of the highest order.

But there was never any question about who was No. 1 among fans. After winning the ’77 Open, spectators stormed the court at Forest Hills and carried Vilas on a joyous victory lap. Vilas invariably captured the heart of the crowd, even as he ground opponents into dust. – JAMES MARTIN

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> Won four major titles
> Only Argentine in the tennis Hall of Fame
> Won 50 matches in a row in 1977, a men’s Open era record 
 
23.  Evonne Goolagong
Photo by Michael Cole/AP Photo

Legend once held that “Goolagong” means “tall trees by still water” in aboriginal dialect. But this 5-foot-6 native of rural New South Wales, Australia, says the real meaning is more like “nose of the kangaroo.” It’s a pity, because the former evokes a far more appropriate image for a woman who, in stark contrast to her rival Chris Evert, built her success on an inventive, fluid, and fragile game.

Goolagong’s father, Ken, was an itinerant sheep-shearer; it seemed unlikely that any of his eight children would become tennis pros. But through the kindness of strangers, Evonne was introduced to the game and whisked away to Sydney at 13 by teaching pro Vic Edwards. Not that she needed much grooming. Goolagong won Roland Garros before she turned 20, in 1971, and less than a month later beat her countrywoman, Margaret Court, for the Wimbledon title.

Graceful, gracious, and shy, Goolagong was dubbed “Sunshine Supergirl” by London’s tabloids. But the same easy ways that made her beloved among fans cost her some major titles (she won seven). While Goolagong was notorious for occasional lapses of concentration, at her best she played smooth serve-and-volley tennis, hit winners from anywhere on the court, and made the impossible look easy. — PETER BODO

 CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> Won seven major titles
> In 1980, became the first mother to win Wimbledon in 66 years  

22. Martina Hingis
Photo by Michael Cole/AP Photo

The most sensational prodigy since Tracy Austin, Martina Hingis was as skilled as she was precocious. For even as she was busy updating her lengthy list of “youngest ever” accomplishments, she showed off a dazzling variety of shots—spins, angles, changes of pace, you name it—that usually are the domain of savvy veterans. All told, they embellished greatly what might otherwise have been a conventional baseline game.

But there was more to Hingis’ swift ascent (she reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal in Australia at 15 and never looked back) than a knack for diverse shotmaking. She had an aptitude for the strategic game, as well as a deep reserve of pugnacity. With those talents woven together, Hingis often seemed to be playing the tennis equivalent of chess while her opponents dabbled in checkers.

In the long run, though, all of Hingis’ finesse and will couldn’t make up for a deficiency in power. In the years after her rise to No. 1 in 1997, she was challenged, and eventually overtaken, by bigger, stronger women—namely, Lindsay Davenport and Venus and Serena Williams—whose force trumped Hingis’ point construction. Although she won “only” five Grand Slam singles titles, the real testament to Hingis’ talent was ’97, when she came within a single match (the final of Roland Garros) of becoming just the fourth woman in history to complete a Grand Slam. —TONY LANCE 

CURRENT  HIGHLIGHTS:
> Won five major titles > Youngest player to reach No. 1, at 16 years, six months
> In 1998, became the fourth woman to win a doubles Grand Slam   

21. Roy Emerson
Photo by Michael Cole/AP Photo

You could say Roy Emerson made himself into a champion without ever picking up a racquet. As a kid in the Australian outback town of Black Butt, “Emmo” laid the foundation for his Hall-of-Fame game by doing what he had to do: chores on the family farm. His hard work helped build the superhuman fitness that would be his greatest weapon on court.

Of course, Emmo played a little tennis down on the farm, too. He developed his lunging, leaping, serve-and-volley game on an ant-bed court. Breaking onto the international scene at 22, he helped Australia to the 1959 Davis Cup title and won the Wimbledon doubles. The latter was a sign of things to come, as Emerson would go on to win 28 major titles (12 singles, 16 doubles)—a men’s record.

While that mark may never be broken, Emerson wasn’t considered to be in the same class as fellow Aussies Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall. And it’s true that Emerson padded his Slam total by remaining an amateur while they joined the professional ranks. Still, Emmo was their equal in versatility. His hellbent attacking style was perfectly suited to grass, but he was also gritty and patient enough to win two titles at Roland Garros and achieve a career Grand Slam.

Statistics aside, Emerson, who’s currently running clinics around the world even as he approaches his 70s, will be remembered as one of the game’s all-time personalities. Player and author Gordon Forbes described his friend like this: “An unbelievable disposition—perhaps the perfect combination of kindness, humor, determination, and ruefulness. Tremendous lust for life. Emerson.” —STEPHEN TIGNOR  

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> Won 28 Grand Slam singles and doubles titles, the men’s record
> One of only five men in history to win all four major singles titles in a career