This is a list of verified common nicknames that notable professional tennis players were personally addressed by. Some are group names collectively referring to more than one player.
Roger Federer is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. He won 103 singles titles on the ATP Tour, the second most of all time, including 20 major men's singles titles and six year-end championships.
Jean René Lacoste was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" because of how he dealt with his opponents; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929, and eventually founded the brand and its logo in 1933.
Rafael Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 209 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. Nadal has won 22 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record 14 French Open titles. He has won 92 ATP-level singles titles, including 36 Masters titles and an Olympic gold medal, with 63 of these on clay courts. Nadal is one of three men to complete the Career Golden Slam in singles. His 81 consecutive wins on clay constitute the longest single-surface win streak in the Open Era.
Andrés Gimeno Tolaguera was a Spanish tennis player. His greatest achievement came in 1972, when he won the French Open and became the oldest first-time Grand Slam champion in the Open era at 34 years of age.
The 1997 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at Melbourne Park in Melbourne in Victoria in Australia. It was the 85th edition of the Australian Open and was held from 13 through 26 January 1997.
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentinian former professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is winning the 2009 US Open singles title, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final. He was the only man outside the Big Three to win a major between the 2005 Australian Open and the 2012 US Open, a span of 30 tournaments.
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked No. 1 for a record total of 428 weeks in a record 13 different years by the ATP, and finished as the year-end No. 1 a record eight times. Djokovic has won a record 24 Grand Slam men's singles titles, including a record ten Australian Open titles. Overall, he has won 99 singles titles, including a record 72 Big Titles: 24 majors, a record 40 Masters, a record seven year-end championships, and an Olympic gold medal. Djokovic is the only man in tennis history to be the reigning champion of all four majors at once across three different surfaces. In singles, he is the only man to achieve a triple Career Grand Slam, and the only player to complete a Career Golden Masters, a feat he has accomplished twice. Djokovic is the only player in singles to have won all of the Big Titles over the course of his career, having completed the Career Super Slam as part of that accomplishment.
The 2000 du Maurier Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 111th edition of the event known that year as the du Maurier Open, and was part of the Tennis Masters Series of the 2000 ATP Tour, and of the Tier I Series of the 2000 WTA Tour. The men's event took place at the National Tennis Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from July 31 through August 6, 2000, and the women's event at the du Maurier Stadium in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from August 14 through August 20, 2000.
The 2009 ATP World Tour Finals (also known as the 2009 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for sponsorship reasons) was held in London, United Kingdom between 22 November and 29 November 2009. It was the first time the O2 arena hosted the ATP World Tour Year-End Singles and Doubles Championships. The event was renamed from Tennis Masters Cup to ATP World Tour Finals following the rearrangement of the ATP Tour.
Juan Martín del Potro defeated the five-time defending champion Roger Federer in the final, 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–2 to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2009 US Open. It was his first major title. He became the first Argentine man to win the title since Guillermo Vilas in 1977, and the first to win a major since Gastón Gaudio in the 2004 French Open. This was also the first US Open final since 1999 to go to five sets.
Roger Federer defeated Andy Murray in the final, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6(13–11) to win the men's singles tennis title at the 2010 Australian Open. It was his fourth Australian Open title and 16th major title overall. For the last time in his career, Federer became the reigning champion at three of the four majors, having also won the previous year's French Open and Wimbledon Championships, and missing out only on the US Open.
The tennis rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal is the most prolific in men's tennis in the Open Era. It is widely considered by players, coaches, and pundits as the greatest rivalry in the history of tennis. The pair have contested at least one professional match every year from 2006 to 2022, and in 2024, and the ATP Tour listed the rivalry as the third-greatest of the 2000s decade, despite only starting in 2006. Nadal and Djokovic are statistically two of the most successful male players in the history of the sport.
The 2013 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 117th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 26 May to 9 June. It consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair players also took part in singles and doubles events.
The 2013 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 127th edition of the Wimbledon Championships and were held from 24 June to 7 July 2013. It was the third Grand Slam tennis event of the year and was part of the ATP World Tour, the WTA Tour, the ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour. The championships were organised by the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and the International Tennis Federation.
The 2013 ATP World Tour Finals (also known as the 2013 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament that was played on indoor hard courts at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom, between 4 and 11 November 2013. It was the season-ending event for the best singles players and doubles teams of the 2013 ATP World Tour.
The 2009 Rafael Nadal tennis season officially began on January 5 with the start of the 2009 ATP World Tour.
In tennis, a bagel is when the set ends with a score of 6–0. An extremely rare type of bagel, where no point is lost, is called a golden set. Most bagel sets occur in the early rounds of tennis tournaments where the favorites play lower-ranked players, such as lucky losers or wild cards.
The Big Three was a common nickname in tennis for the trio of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, each considered to be among the greatest players of all time. The trio dominated men's singles tennis for two decades, collectively winning 66 major singles tournaments; Djokovic leads with an all-time record of 24 titles, followed by Nadal with 22 and Federer with 20. They have been ranked as world No. 1s in singles for a total of 947 weeks ; Djokovic for a record 428 weeks, Federer for 310, and Nadal for 209. One of the three finished the season as the year-end No. 1 player every year from 2004 to 2023, with the exceptions of 2016 and 2022. They collectively occupied the top three positions of the year end ATP rankings eight times; in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018, and 2019.
This is a list of the combined career statistics of the Big Four, the four players who have dominated men's tennis in singles for the majority of the first quarter of the 21st century. The Big Four consists of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray.
...it was often said Court's arms were three inches longer than the average woman of her size, which earned her the nickname The Arm
Court's tour-mate Rosie Casals nicknamed her The Arm, for the long, strong right arm that she used to deliver heavy hooking serves, reach out and intercept passing shots, and hammer home winning smashes.
Smith's only other loss was to another young American, Carole Caldwell, but "Mighty Maggie" won 13 of 15 tournaments,
They call him the "Rocket Man." Tennis pro Andy Roddick holds the world's record for fast serves: 155 mph.
Sanchez-Vicario earned the nickname, "The Barcelona Bumblebee" for her buzzing, tenacious style.
She was nicknamed the "Barcelona Bumblebee" for the way she hustled down balls and demoralised opponents with her consistency and variety.
Affectionately known as the Barcelona Bumblebee, Sánchez-Vicario lived up to her moniker, buzzing the width and breadth of the court in the dogged pursuit of tennis balls, none seeming too distant to be deemed a lost cause.
Bar are the first letters of my name, bee is like my nickname [...]
There is a bee representing you often. Is a sort of nickname? Who made it up? Yes, it's my nickname. To be honest, in the past I played many times doubles with Iveta Benesova and she made it up at that time, it was 2011 or 2012. And since then people call me 'bee' [smile].
Stove – who once flipped the man who gave her the nickname "Big Bad Betty", [...]
The late, great Bud Collins once gave the Dutch tennis legend Betty Stöve the nickname "Big Bad Betty."
Clad in his classic Reebok gear, and adorned with trademark beard, the stylish Slovak was content to exist on his wits on the baseline, breaking cover only every now and then to languidly dispatch outrageous winners from the most unlikely angles of the court. It is a style which earned him the nickname the Big Cat...
His ability to cover the court with long, even strides has earned him the nickname Big Cat.
Her waxy, bulbous forehead (which has inspired some on the tour to nickname her "Chucky").
Nicknamed 'The Crocodile' as a result of a bet with his tennis team captain, René Lacoste made this unique animal the iconic logo of his brand.
So tenacious was Lacoste's style of play on court, building his game from the baseline and keeping his opponents on the move with an array of precise groundstrokes, he earned the nickname "Le Crocodile"
He was known as "The Crocodile", a nickname he earned from the American press after he reportedly made a bet with the French Davis Cup captain.
Pick your adjective to describe the woman dubbed "La Divine", which translates into "The Goddess".
[...] wonderful characters like Mile. Lenglen and Maurice McLoughlin remain only clichés, the Maid Marvel and the Flame-Thatched California Comet.
Known as "Emmo" to his wide circle of friends on the circuit, he was gregarious and could lead the partying without jeopardising his high standards of play.
He was once so popular in his native Australia – and the world, beloved by all of his peers and millions of fans -- that a letter simply marked "Emmo" arrived on his doorstep.
Nicknamed the 'Sunshine super girl' early in her career, Goolagong Cawley achieved exactly that feat in 1971, winning the first of Grand Slam titles.
Her play Sunshine Super Girl (named after a nickname given by fans) will chart the life of Australia's first Aboriginal woman world champion...
After a previously disappointing claycourt season, Fed-ex won his first clay title of the spring in Hamburg.
Fred Stolle had his Wimbledon singles frustrations, but overflowed with success everywhere else as one of the overpowering Australian group in the 1960s and 1970s. He was known as "Fiery Fred" or "Fiery" to his teammates for his outspoken competitiveness.
The Flying Dutchman, as he became known, reached the Wimbledon semi-finals 10 years later before retiring in 1981...
"The Flying Dutchman" was his nick-name and he and Ashe played a thrilling five-set final in 1968...
Known as 'Fraulein Forehand', Graf could hit that shot like a hammer.
While the titles piled up the next few year for the "Ice Maiden", the public that had adored her started to lose interest.
"The English press thought a schoolgirl should be giggly, so they dubbed me the ice maiden", Evert recalls.
[...] the 6‐foot‐4‐inch Smith has all the credentials. Finalist to Newcombe a year ago, winner at Forest Hills, the "Leaning Tower of' Pasadena" has the big serve‐and‐follow game that is the absolute requisite to win on fast Wimbledon grass.
[...], Helen Wills (called Little Miss Poker Face because of her lack of expression on court)
She earned her nickname "Little Mo" from the sportswriters who likened her explosiveness on court to the battleship USS Missouri, known as "Big Mo"
After winning the Grand Slam, Connolly was dubbed "Little Mo," referring to the firepower of "Big Mo," the USS Missouri.
Pete Sampras famously labelled him "The Magician", a tribute to his unpredictable use of spins, lobs and drop shots.
Fabrice Santoro, who's nicknamed "The Magician" by his fellow pros for his ability to conjure a bewildering array of angles, spins, and changes of pace with his two-handed ground strokes,...
Two Norwegian Women, Molla Bjurstedt Mallory—the girl from Norway—and Sonja Henie, have been preeminent in American sports. "Marvelous Molla" was born in Oslo and was trained as a teacher of gymnastics and as a masseuse.
Rosewall still answers to the nickname Muscles, which was given to him many decades ago. "It's a nickname that was started by my twin compatriot who is unfortunately no longer here — Lew Hoad", he said. "He had all the muscles and I didn't have any so the name stuck."
When the Open era commenced in 1968, bringing together the two streams of tennis, Rosewall was 33. Crucially, the lightly framed champion nicknamed Muscles was far from done.
[...] a group of Murray fans wearing white shirts with blue letters spelling his nickname "Muzza"...
Known locally as the Paignton Peach, Sue Barker was one of the world's top tennis players during the 1970s.
They called her the 'Paignton Peach' because she had it all going for her – youth, a brilliant tennis talent and eyecatching good looks – and she was from Devon.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)She was quick, combative, distinctive with a home-crafted game that set her apart as the psychedelic strokeswoman.
Nicknamed Rabbit for her quickness afoot [...]
Nicknamed "The São Paulo Swallow" because she appeared out of thin air to swoop in and dominate the net,...
She was labelled the "São Paulo Swallow" for her ability to dominate the net by former BBC Sport commentator John Barrett.
Nicknamed "The Tennis Ballerina" because of her graceful style,...
The 37-year-old "Swiss Miss" has retired twice before...
All the way back at the 1997 Australian Open, when she was 16 and nicknamed "Swiss Miss", Hingis became the youngest major champion of the 20th century,...
Larsen was known as Tappy because he had a fixation for tapping stairs, nets, net posts, benches, anything and everything — a nervous habit from surviving the Normandy invasion in 1944.
"Has a tiger tattoo on her left arm, which earned her the nickname "The Tiger"" [...]
Del Potro is nicknamed the Tower of Tandil...
His peers may be creaking and groaning after a dozen seasons on the road and hundreds of matches contested, but the gentle giant from Argentina (they call him the Tower of Tandil) is still a spring chicken by comparison.
Known as 'The Wizard', Brookes was a master strategist and a shrewd tactician.
Sir Norman Brookes, or 'The Wizard' as he was known...