If all-time greatness in tennis is measured simply in the number of Grand Slam titles won, then the best players ever to pick up rackets are Pete Sampras and Margaret Court.

Sampras, with 14 titles to his name – currently one ahead of Roger Federer – and Court, with 24, head illustrious lists whose statistics can be massaged to tell a different story.

For all Sampras' dominance at Wimbledon, where he won seven singles titles, he failed to win a French Open crown in his career, denying him entry into the exclusive club for those who have won all four of the major tournaments.

Australian Rod Laver is the only man to have won all four in the same year, in 1962 and again in 1969. The only other player in the Open era to complete the full set is Andre Agassi, who completed his set at Roland Garros in 1999.

Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have won all the women's events, although Court, Navratilova and Doris Hart have also won every Grand Slam doubles and mixed doubles crown.

Others, less concerned by bare statistics, point to the breathless natural talent of Bjorn Borg, the guts of Jimmy Connors or the ferocity of John McEnroe when naming their particular all-time favourites.

Likewise, the surging power of Graf – who stands alone in the Open era with 22 Grand Slam singles titles - or the sheer ground-breaking quality of the Williams sisters split fans who will continue to have their own ideas of what constitutes greatness.