Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport hit the ball flatter and cleaner than anyone of her era, taking it early and driving it through the court with no wasted motion; Serena Williams called her the hardest hitter she ever faced. Gold came before the majors, at Atlanta in 1996 over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, and the 3 slams followed: the 1998 US Open and 2000 Australian Open, both over Martina Hingis in the final, with Wimbledon 1999 past Steffi Graf in between.

The rankings measure the consistency: 98 weeks at world No. 1 and four year-end No. 1 finishes, in 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005, a mark matched since 1975 only by Evert, Navratilova, Graf and Serena Williams. The 2005 Wimbledon final was the great near miss: a match point up on Venus Williams, she lost 4-6, 7-6, 9-7 in the longest women's final the tournament had seen. She finished with 55 career titles, entered the Hall of Fame in 2014, coached Madison Keys and settled into the Tennis Channel commentary booth.