To celebrate TENNIS Magazine’s 40th anniversary, we’ve chosen the 40 best players of the last four decades. Here are numbers 28 through 25.

28. Ilie Nastase
Photo by Michael Cole/Getty Images 

Ilie Nastase blew into the game like a fresh breeze from the exotic reaches of forbidden Romania, a long-haired lothario in skintight bluejeans. By the time the mercurial racquet artist retired, he had wrought as much havoc as a hurricane. Nobody ever questioned the high-strung Nastase’s gifts; to many, he remains the purest natural talent ever to swing a racquet. But Nastase had a penchant— perhaps even a compulsive passion—for turning matches into circus-like forums for gamesmanship, obscenity, umpire-bashing, hysterical meltdowns, and general nose-thumbing of authority. The habit overshadowed the sublime beauty of his game and left him with a well-deserved reputation as the greatest Grand Slam underachiever of all time. While Nastase stopped sabotaging himself long enough to win two majors (the U.S. Open in 1972; Roland Garros in 1973), he choked away numerous chances to win Wimbledon. By contrast, he won four titles at the season-ending championships (the equivalent of the ATP’s Tennis Masters Cup), partly because the round-robin format, in which you could lose a match and still survive, was kinder on his nerves. — PETER BODO

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> 1972 U.S. Open and ’73 Roland Garros titles
> No. 2 (behind Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli) in Davis Cup singles and doubles wins, with 109  

27. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario
Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Good things happen to those who hang around. Just ask Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, the Spanish scrambler who made a Hall-of-Fame career out of it. As tireless as she was weaponless, the 130-pounder sent every ball back with heavy topspin and a message: “I can do this all day.” Sanchez-Vicario eventually hung around so well that, even while laboring in the shadows of Steffi Graf, she snuck away with four Slams and reached No. 1. Nobody played the percentages as relentlessly as Sanchez-Vicario. She rarely hit close to the lines or near the net. While that strategy didn’t work every time, it always gave her a fighting chance. In the 1995 Wimbledon final, she and Graf played a 13-deuce game at 5-5 in the third before the Spaniard was broken, eventually losing 7-5. The nightmare continued at Roland Garros in ’96, when she served for the title twice only to lose to Graf again, this time 10-8 in the third. They say no one remembers who finished second, but Sanchez-Vicario, who ended three seasons at No. 2, should be an inspiration to anyone who strives for greatness in this game. Few played smarter, fought harder, or ran farther to get a shot at the top. —STEPHEN TIGNOR  

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> 1989, ’94, ’98 Roland Garros and ’94 U.S. Open titles
> Won 759 matches, fourth most in WTA tour history

26. Jim Courier
Photo by Michael Cole/Getty Images

The small-town roots, the baseball cap, the nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic— Jim Courier was red-blooded Americanism personified. He used his inside-out forehand to muscle the ball around the court like no player before him. Courier made you tired just watching the effort he put into his strokes. Not surprisingly, his blue-collar game gave rise to the knock that he wasn’t talented but simply worked hard. “That’s the biggest compliment anyone could give me,” the Florida native once said. It was a ludicrous notion, and Courier knew it. Anyone who can dominate his peers with a single stroke has more than a modicum of talent. Courier rode his forehand to the top in the early 1990s. In ’92, he became the first U.S. man to finish No. 1 since John McEnroe in ’84, and he took ownership of Roland Garros. From 1991 to ’94, Courier’s worst finish in Paris was a semifinal in ’94; he played three finals there, winning in ’91 and ’92. Yet the image of Courier as the lunch-pail player endures, especially when he went up against flashier rivals like Andre Agassi. It was easy to imagine Courier muttering beneath those sarcastic smirks, “You can have the girls and jets. I’m here to win. Now get out of my way.” –JAMES MARTIN

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> 1991 and ’92 Roland Garros and ’92 and ’93 Australian Open titles
>Year-end No. 1 in 1992
> Helped the U.S. win the Davis Cup in 1992 and ’95

25. Venus Williams
Photo by Gary M. Prior/Getty Images

When Venus Williams joined the tour, her towering stature, sculpted limbs, regal carriage, and thunderous strokes prompted some to speak of her as if she were the earthly incarnation of her celestial namesake. Big things were predicted—phrases like “could be the greatest ever” were tossed about—and nearly everyone agreed she had the talent to rule the sport for years. Alas, her reign was short. For two glorious seasons, in 2000 and 2001, Williams was the player to beat; she won Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in both years and seemed destined to build a double-digit Grand Slam title collection. But a few things got in the way. First, her kid sister, Serena, emerged as Venus’ equal, and then superior. She was beaten down further, first by injuries, then by the 2003 murder of her half-sister Yetunde Price. Though she’s still a Top Tenner, Williams hasn’t shone quite so brightly the last few years, and her self-belief seems to have dimmed. Without the confidence that once was as extensive as it was deep-rooted, Williams’ forehand and second serve have begun to break down under pressure. But the jury is still out on the future of this introspective 24-year-old. If she finds the will and motivation to apply herself fully to tennis, she may light up the courts again. —TONY LANCE

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
> 2000 and ’01 Wimbledon and ’00 and ’01 U.S. Open titles
> At 2000 Olympics, joined Helen Wills as only women to win gold in singles and doubles