Top 8 greatest Czech tennis players of all time

The Czech Republic (earlier Czechoslovakia) has churned out numerous Grand Slam champions across singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories over the years. Despite being a relatively small nation, Czech Republic has remarkably produced some of the sport's greatest players.

Numerically speaking, Czechoslovakian athletes won a total of 11 Grand Slam titles in men's singles and 4 women's singles titles prior to 1 January 1993. Post the peaceful dissolution of the nation into Czech Republic and Slovakia, its athletes have accounted for one men's singles Grand Slam title and three women's singles Majors.

Here, we take a look at eight of the greatest athletes to have represented Czechoslovakia and later Czech Republic :

NOTE : Martina Navratilova, who was born in Czechoslovakia, is not included in the list as all of her Grand Slam titles came post her acquiring citizenship of United States of America. However, she will and will always remain the greatest Czech-born player of all time.

#8 Peter Korda

The only male player from the country to have won a Grand Slam singles title in the post Czechoslovakia era is Peter Korda. He won the 1998 Australian Open beating Marcelo Rios in the final. The following week, he rose to his career best ATP ranking of world number 2.

His most famous achievement is winning the now defunct Grand Slam Cup in 1993. In the semi-finals of the Grand Slam Cup that year, Korda beat Pete Sampras and Michael Stich in the semi-finals and the final, both in 5 sets. What is really special about this is that he managed to beat the World Number 1 ranked player and the World Number 2 ranked player in 5 sets in the span of just 3 days.

After having tested positive for steroidal substance - Nandrolone during Wimbledon 1998, he was given a 12-month suspension by the ATP. He retired from the sport during the duration of the ban.