GGOATRANK
🇺🇸
Tennis · Serve and volley · United States

Althea Gibson

1949–1958 · The first Black champion at Wimbledon and the US Championships.

Retired
Ranking model

100% titles, statistics, dominance, longevity and global competition depth.

Pure sporting data
72.5
Cultural & brand footprint 55/100 · total legacy 69.4
Grand Slam singles titles
5
Grand Slam doubles titles
6
Wimbledon titles
2
US Championships titles
2
Year-end No. 1 finishes
2

Category profile

Dominance
80
Peak
88
Longevity
62
Honours
80
Statistics
80

Career timeline · Titles per season

SeasonTitles per seasonShare of career
19500
19510
19520
19530
19540
19551
19563
19573
19581

Data sources

  • ATP
  • WTA
  • ITF

Figures come from public records and are normalised per sport. See the methodology for category weights. Method

Why Althea Gibson ranks #73 in Tennis

Althea Gibson ranks 73rd among Tennis athletes on GOAT Rank and 883rd of 1063 across every sport in the index. The published GOAT Score of 78.0 is the weighted result of five verified category scores: Dominance 80, Peak 88, Longevity 62, Honours 80, Statistics 80. Those categories are normalised against the full Tennis reference universe of 250 records, not a shortlist, so the position reflects the whole sport rather than a handful of famous names.

The record covers 1949–1958 with 9 documented competitive seasons. The strongest single season in that series is 1956, which sets the Peak component at 88. Peak is the defining strength of the profile at 88 out of 100, and it carries 20% of the final score. The underlying career record includes grand slam singles titles 5, grand slam doubles titles 6, wimbledon titles 2, us championships titles 2.

Immediately ahead sits Patrick Rafter on 77.4, a gap of -0.6 points. Directly behind is Robin Söderling on 77.3. The position moves whenever the verified record moves: new titles, new seasons or a corrected source all feed straight back into the same formula, and every change is dated on this profile.

Althea Gibson GOAT Score explained

Dominance80/100 · weight 25%
Measures how far Gibson stood above the field while competing. Scored 80/100 against the full Tennis cohort.
Peak88/100 · weight 20%
Rates the best sustained stretch of the career, centred on 1956. Scored 88/100.
Longevity62/100 · weight 20%
Rewards staying at that level over time: 9 years of competition and 9 recorded seasons. Scored 62/100.
Honours80/100 · weight 20%
Counts documented titles, majors and awards in the verified record. Scored 80/100.
Statistics80/100 · weight 15%
Normalises the raw career numbers against everyone in the sport reporting the same metric. Scored 80/100.

Althea Gibson — frequently asked

Is Althea Gibson the GOAT?
Not on the current data. Althea Gibson ranks 73rd in Tennis with a GOAT Score of 78.0, behind Novak Djokovic on 97.6.
What is Althea Gibson's GOAT Score?
78.0 out of 100. It is the weighted sum of Dominance 80 (25%), Peak 88 (20%), Longevity 62 (20%), Honours 80 (20%), Statistics 80 (15%), computed from the verified career record.
Where does Althea Gibson rank all time?
883rd of 1063 eligible athletes in the cross-sport index, and 73rd within Tennis.
Althea Gibson vs Patrick Rafter: who ranks higher?
Althea Gibson, on 78.0 against Patrick Rafter's 77.4 — a margin of 0.6 points.
Compare with Djokovic