Tennis Players with Most Facebook Likes

Which tennis players has the most Facebook LIKES? Six of them have more than 1 million followers in Facebook and no, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray are not part of that exclusive list. The top six is split between three women and three men tennis players, but there's a huge gap between the #3 and #4 in the list. Check it out.

#6. Venus Williams. 1,069,572 Facebook LIKES. The elder Williams sister uses her Facebook profile to highlight activities off the court, particularly her fashion endeavors. Recent posts included a link to a New York times article she wrote for the New York times. The article was aptly titled "The Racket Is Optional". The latest post she has promoted a tennis dress which she designed under the brand ELEVEN, and which is available at the tennis-warehouse.com.

#5. Anna Kournikova. 1,734,669 Facebook LIKES. And yes, the retired Kournikova is a tennis player. Yes, she did not win a single singles tennis tournament title but the Russian starlet did come close reaching several championship matches and winning doubles Grand Slam titles. Her popularity has nothing to do with her tennis though. A recent Facebook post of Kournikova gave the following advice: "You don't want to leave things for tomorrow, because that's what you're going to do tomorrow. Even if only for 15 minutes, start today, start now." And, such wisdom was awarded with more than a thousand people giving the post a thumbs up.

#4. Novak Djokovic. 1,903,355 Facebook LIKES. He may be world no. 1 and winner of the last three Grand Slam titles but Djokovic is not no. 1 in Facebook. Not even close. He does post regularly, almost on a daily basis, sometimes more. I was particularly interested in what he posted after being upset in Madrid last week by fellow Serb Janko Tipsaveric. What I saw made me smile.

Djokovic posted a photo of him smiling behind the back of a loaded car with the following caption: "The great thing about tennis is that there is always another tournament around the corner where you have a chance to play better :) Heading to Rome with my team and wishing good luck to Janko for tonight's match! Thank you for all your support and understanding in the past week. :)". Yep, he didn't seem blue-court whiny to me. And, more than 15,400 fans indicated their approval.

#3. Maria Sharapova. 7,154,886 Facebook LIKES. What's likeable about Sharapova's Facebook posts is that she provides glimpses of her humor. Particularly popular are her poses in various places accompanied with some rather personal note. The most liked post she had this month was on a photo of her in a Stuttgart park in a giant chessboard. Here's what Sharapova had to say:

"Here is what I was doing while in Stuttgart...no no, not playing chess, just taking walks in some of the parks and pretending like I knew what I was doing with a chess board. Would be nice to learn...perhaps it will help my patience." That provoked almost 31,000 approvals from her followers.

#2. Rafael Nadal. 10,532,776 Facebook LIKES. Nadal reached 10 million followers a few weeks back and has gained significantly more Facebook followers than any other player since the start of the clay court season. Not really that surprising and I'll not be surprised if he will have the most Facebook followers anytime soon. It was on May 11 when, after losing in the Madrid blue clay, Nadal posed with a frightening catch of a fish with the following caption:

"A beautiful day to go fishing in Mallorca!! :)". The response was overwhelming. 54,500+ fans gave him a thumbs-up and 5,542 commenters gave him a pat on the back. Vamos Rafa!

#1. Roger Federer. 10,546,144 Facebook LIKES. In a few weeks, I believe that Nadal will catch-up to Federer as the current top tennis player with the most Facebook LIKES. In latest postings from the Swiss tennis player, his profile includes a photo of him enjoying a tourist bus tour in Rome, posing with fellow Gillette ambassador and Brazilian football star Kaka, and a link to a YouTube video featuring a sneak preview of the Roger Federer World Tour 2012 by a Federer sponsor, Credit Suisse.