In the myriad of confusing and convoluted tennis history since the birth of modern tennis in 1870s, marred by elitism and amateurism, a few giants of tennis stand as the illuminating way for us to understand the vagaries of tennis. This is not a list of the ever popular, precise and totally irrelevant GOAT discussion - but rather a guide to understand tennis history and its perplexing but enthralling tennis and its characters. Populism comes and goes in each era - but there are a few on who's shoulders that the modern Federers and Sampras' stand on.

Age	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	Career

Tilden	1911	1912	1913	1914	1915	1916	1917	1918	1919	1920	1921	1922	1923	1924	1925	1926	1927	1928	1929	1930	1931	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	Career
Australian						x	x	x													x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	-
French					x	x	x	x	x		W						F		SF	F	x	x	W	W	F		SF	F	F	3
Wimbledon					x	x	x	x		W	W						SF	SF	SF	W	x	x	x	RR3	F	F	F	F	RR3	3
US Open						r128	r32	F	F	W	W	W	W	W	W	QF	F		W	SF	W	F			W				SF	9b

Budge	1932	1933	1934	1935	1936	1937	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944	1945	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	Career
Australian							W	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x			x	x	1
French							W	W	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x		x	x		x				2
Wimbledon				SF	SF	W	W	W	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	SF	SF		SF	SF								3
US Open			r16	QF	F	W	W		W	r16	W	QF	x	a	F	F	SF	F			SF	F	SF	QF						4

Gonzales	1946	1947	1948	1949	1950	1951	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	Career
Australian					x	x	x	x		x	x			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	r16						0
French				SF	x	x	x		x	x	F	x	SF			F			SF				SF							0
Wimbledon				r16	W	W	W	F	x	x	W	SF	SF			SF			SF				r32	r16		r64	r64			4
US Open		r64	W	W		RR2	F	W	W	W	W	W	W	W		W		QF	F	SF			QF	r16	r32	r32	r128	r128		10

Rosewall	1952	1953	1954	1955	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	Career
Australian	QF	W	SF	W	F			x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	x	r16		W	W	r32			SF	SF	QF	r16		4c
French	r64	W	r32			x	W	SF	W	W	W	W	W	W	W	SF	W	F												10
Wimbledon	r128	QF	F	SF	F	W	SF	SF	W	W	W	W	F	SF	F	F	r16	r32	F	SF			F	r16						5
US Open	QF	SF	SF	F	W	SF						W	SF	W	F	SF	SF	QF	W		r64	SF	F			r32				4

Laver	1956	1957	1958	1959	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	Career
Australian	r32	r32	r16	r16	W	F	W	x	x	x	x	x	x	W		r16														3
French	r128	a	r64	r32	r32	SF	W	F	F	F	F	W	F	W																3
Wimbledon	r128	a	r32	F	F	W	W	QF	W	W	W	W	W	W	r16	QF						r64								8
US Open	r128	a	r16	QF	F	F	W	F	W	F	W	W	r16	W	r16		r16	r32		r16										5
Age	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45

• Green shaded boxes represent Pre-open Era amateur division of traditional grandslams.
• Blue boxes represent Pre-open Era under Pro division, whose 3 Grand slam equivalents were French Pro, Wembley and US Pro till 1967.
• White boxes represent the Open Era, however "contract" professionals were banned for several grand slams (shown in light blue boxes) due to conflicts between NTL, WCT and ITLF till 'true' Open Era started in 1973 US Open with the formation of ATP in 1972.
  

Note: Age at the begining of the tennis season, Jan 1.

Note2: x indicates that the tournament was not held for that year.

Note3: Budge served in United States Air Force during 1943-45. Laver served at Australian Army in 1957. Both are indicated by 'a' for the respective grand slams.

Note4: Bill Tilden played till his untimely passing in 1953. He played in 6 more U.S Pro - 1940 (SF), 1941 (QF), 1943 (QF), 1945 (SF), 1946 (r16) and 1952 (QF). U.S. Pro was not held in 1944. Those are not shown in the table above and is indicated by 'b' on his US Open Career column.

Note5: Ken Rosewall played at age 16, in 1951 Australian Championships with his first round (r32) and is not shown in the table above. It is indicated by 'c' on his Australian Open Career column.

Note6: French Championships pre-1925 are from World Hard Court Championships (1912-23), which has a direct lineage to the modern French Open rather than club-member only event (1891-1924) that has been typically considered as the precursor.

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