"Utter disrespect, Pete Sampras below Andre Agassi & Carlos Alcaraz?" - Fans dispute top 10 men's players of the century list ft. Federer on top

The likes of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi have featured on ESPN's list of the top 10 men's tennis players of the 21st century, with Carlos Alcaraz joining the established legends. However, their placements have ignited controversy among fans.

After recently ranking the top 100 athletes of the 21st century, ESPN has compiled a list focusing on the 10 greatest men's tennis players. Unsurprisingly, the 'Big 3' topped the list, with Federer leading the pack. Djokovic claimed the second spot, followed by Nadal rounding out the top three.

Murray ranked fourth, despite having three Grand Slam titles, which is fewer than fifth-ranked Agassi's tally of eight and No. 7 Sampras' record of 14 Major titles. Carlos Alcaraz split the legendary American duo by securing sixth place, having recently won his fourth Grand Slam crown.

Andy Roddick took the eighth spot, followed by Stan Wawrinka in ninth place and Lleyton Hewitt closing out the list.

After courting the ire of tennis fans by ranking Serena Williams above the 'Big 3' in the 100 greatest athletes of the century list, ESPN has come under fire from fans once again over their latest ranking.

Although Pete Sampras won most of his Major titles in the 1990s, fans are particularly incensed over the "disrespect" shown to the American legend by ranking him below Andy Murray, Andre Agassi and Carlos Alcaraz.

"This is gross. I’m sorry, no, absolutely not. The utter disrespect for Sampras. He’s below Murray, Agassi, and a 21-yr old Carlos Alcaraz? And just one spot above Roddick? Whoever made this list is obvs not a tennis fan," one fan commented.

"The level of Pete Sampras disrespect," another fan chimed in.

"How is Sampras so low? They need to do this over," a fan asserted.

"Roddick should not even appear on this list and Sampras is easily 4th. Recency bias and scaling performance in the big 3 era makes this list not look great," said another.

Several fans also argued that Novak Djokovic deserves the top spot over Roger Federer, given the Serb's 24 Grand Slam titles compared to the Swiss legend's 20.

"No list can be serious if you don’t be Novak at no1. They are no serious arguments to not give him this spot," one fan posted.

"As a Novak Fan, even Rafa is better than Roger," another fan wrote.

"Djokovic number 1 mate cmon. Numbers don’t lie," said yet another.

"When Pete Sampras won 14 Slams, I said, 'No one will ever achieve that again'" - Roger Federer's ex-coach warned against premature predictions about Carlos Alcaraz's tally

Carlos Alcaraz (Source: Getty)

After Carlos Alcaraz clinched his second Grand Slam title at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, Roger Federer's former coach Severin Luthi cautioned against making premature and bold predictions about how many Majors the Spaniard would win.

In an interview with Blick last year, Luthi illustrated his point by revealing that he had once believed that no player would surpass Pete Sampras' tally of 14 Grand Slam titles, only for Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to outdo it.

"Aside from that, I guess I've been wrong about most of the predictions I've made in my life. I still remember: When Pete Sampras had won 14 Grand Slam titles, I said: No one will ever achieve that again!" he said.

"Now we already have three players who have 20 or more Grand Slam wins. And it's not like 250 years have passed since I made my statement," he added.

Carlos Alcaraz recently added to his impressive tally by winning his fourth Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 2024. With his victory at 21 years of age, the Spaniard has achieved this milestone faster than Federer, Nadal and Djokovic did in their careers.