Who is better, Budge or Sampras?
Pete Sampras leads with a GOAT score of 91.0 against 90.9 for Don Budge — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
Shareable comparison — send this exact matchup to anyone.
Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Pete Sampras above Don Budge: 91.0 vs 90.9. Pete Sampras leads on Longevity. Don Budge leads on Peak, Dominance.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →Sampras wins: Longevity
Budge wins: Dominance, Peak
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Sampras leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸 Budge | 0 | 0 | 40 | 90 | 220 | 671 |
| 🇺🇸 Sampras | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 39 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | BudgeRetired | SamprasRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Calendar Grand Slams | 1 | — |
| Major singles titles | 6 | — |
| Major titles including doubles | 14 | — |
| Davis Cup titles | 2 | — |
| Consecutive major wins | 6 | — |
| Grand Slam titles | — | 14 |
| Wimbledon titles | — | 7 |
| Career titles | — | 64 |
| Weeks at No. 1 | — | 286 |
| Year-end No. 1 | — | 6 |
| Davis Cups | — | 2 |
| Dominance w25% | 94 | 92 |
| Peak w20% | 98 | 93 |
| Longevity w20% | 78 | 86 |
| Honours w20% | 92 | 92 |
| Statistics w15% | 92 | 92 |
Pete Sampras leads with a GOAT score of 91.0 against 90.9 for Don Budge — a gap of 0.1 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
Budge scores higher on peak, dominance. Sampras leads on longevity.
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Budge: 90.9, Sampras: 91.0.
Make your case for Budge vs Sampras. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.