The definitive best player to never win thread

B

Blocker

Professional
Best player to never win Wimbledon?
Lendl

Best player to never win the French Open?
Sampras

Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the Australian Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the season ending?
Nadal

Best player to never win the Davis Cup?
Federer

Best player to never win the career slam?
Sampras

Best player to never be number 1?
Murray

Pretty hard to argue with the above.
 
J

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
You are going just open era right?

I think Borg isn't necessarily a worse player than Sampras.

Other than that, the Murray one seems most arguable, although no particular player comes to mind that might be better but was never no. 1 in the world.
 
Phoenix1983

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
joeri888 said:
You are going just open era right?

I think Borg isn't necessarily a worse player than Sampras.

Other than that, the Murray one seems most arguable, although no particular player comes to mind that might be better but was never no. 1 in the world.
Click to expand...

He must mean Open Era, otherwise the Wimbledon one would be Gonzales or Rosewall, and the Australian would be Gonzales.

Vilas is a guy who was never (officially) ranked no 1 and is arguably better than Murray.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
The best player to never win the FO twice? Federer
The best player to never win 18 majors or more? Federer
The best player to never win Monte Carlo/Rome/Acapulco/Barcelona/the challenger in Sopot? Federer
The best player to never like Djokovic's camp? Federer
The best player to never shave his chest? A toss-up between Sampras and Federer.

I can go on foreverer.
 
kOaMaster

kOaMaster

Hall of Fame
just some more suggestions to think about
- a title on clay
- a masters title
- a grass tournament
- the player of the year-award
 
tennisaddict

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Dumb selections in OP. How can Sampras be the best player not to win FO, if he didnt make a finals in countless attempts ? Same with Murray. someone who until last month who loses to Chardy, Young, Bogomolov , Janowicz does not yet to deserve to be No 1.
 
SQA333

SQA333

Hall of Fame
tennisaddict said:
Dumb selections in OP. How can Sampras be the best player not to win FO, if he didnt make a finals in countless attempts ? Same with Murray. someone who until last month who loses to Chardy, Young, Bogomolov , Janowicz does not yet to deserve to be No 1.
Click to expand...

I think his criteria for this would be players with excellent records in events other than the one being referred to. In this case, player with the most number of slams outside of RG (Sampras) takes it.
 
tennis_pro

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
tennisaddict said:
Dumb selections in OP. How can Sampras be the best player not to win FO, if he didnt make a finals in countless attempts ? Same with Murray. someone who until last month who loses to Chardy, Young, Bogomolov , Janowicz does not yet to deserve to be No 1.
Click to expand...

That's right - I'm going with Santoro and Nalbandian on this one.

At least they were fun to watch..
 
axel89

axel89

Banned
he's talking about the best player all around not at that tournament that's why he said sampras
 
pc1

pc1

G.O.A.T.
Blocker said:
Best player to never win Wimbledon?
Lendl

Best player to never win the French Open?
Sampras

Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the Australian Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the season ending?
Nadal

Best player to never win the Davis Cup?
Federer

Best player to never win the career slam?
Sampras

Best player to never be number 1?
Murray

Pretty hard to argue with the above.
Click to expand...

Best player never to win Wimbledon-Either Pancho Gonzalez or Rosewall

Best player never to win the French-Either Bill Tilden or Pancho Gonzalez

Best player never to win the Australian-Borg, Gonzalez or Tilden

Best player never to win a career slam-Borg, Gonzalez, Tilden

Best player to never be number one-Roche but I can see Andy Murray easily.
 
dudeski

dudeski

Hall of Fame
By far the best player to never play without at least some kind of dirty gamesmanship?
Nadal.
 
90's Clay

90's Clay

Banned
AO-Murray as of now. Still can't believe he hasn't won there yet. The surface you would figure would suit his game style PERFECTLY

French-Sampras

Wimbledon- Rafter (the old grass suited his game very well)

USO- Borg

Davis Cup-Federer

YEC- Tough one.
 
R

Razoredge

Banned
90's Clay said:
AO-Murray as of now. Still can't believe he hasn't won there yet. The surface you would figure would suit his game style PERFECTLY

French-Sampras

Wimbledon- Rafter (the old grass suited his game very well)

USO- Borg
Click to expand...

Murray is at his best on fast hard courts believe it or not.
 
J

joeri888

G.O.A.T.
90's Clay said:
AO-Murray as of now. Still can't believe he hasn't won there yet. The surface you would figure would suit his game style PERFECTLY

French-Sampras

Wimbledon- Rafter (the old grass suited his game very well)

USO- Borg

Davis Cup-Federer

YEC- Tough one.
Click to expand...
You are doing something different here. Rafter is not a better player than Lendl. His game was more suited for the surface so he 'should have won it' maybe just as much, but that Lendl is a more accomplished player than Rafter is a given.
 
kishnabe

kishnabe

Talk Tennis Guru
Best player to never win Wimbledon?
Lendl, Rosewall, Pancho Gonzo, Henin

Best player to never win the French Open?
Sampras, Connors(multiple SF and missing it peak years), Ashe...though he was a crappy clay courter, Djokovic till proven, Ferrer till proven

Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg, Some Australian guy who won 3 majors in a row and got drunk on the 1934 US Open final.

Best player to never win the Australian Open?
McEnroe, Hewitt

Best player to never win the season ending?
Nadal

Best player to never win the Davis Cup?
Federer

Best player to never win the career slam?
Sampras, Rosewall, 1934 Ausssie guy, Ashe, and plety of guys who had the 3 of the 4 legs.

Best player to never be number 1?
Murray till proven,
 
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
Razoredge said:
Best female player to never win Wimbledon: Justine Henin
Click to expand...

She was an excellent grass player and came close twice. I wish people would give all the credit she deserve instead of downtalk her for not winning Wimbledon.

Good to see you back. I don't see the warrant for banning you since there are trolls that doesn't get banned at all.
 
SQA333

SQA333

Hall of Fame
TMF said:
She was an excellent grass player and came close twice. I wish people would give all the credit she deserve instead of downtalk her for not winning Wimbledon.

Good to see you back. I don't see the warrant for banning you since there are trolls that doesn't get banned at all.
Click to expand...

Interesting signature.
 
Monsieur_DeLarge

Monsieur_DeLarge

Semi-Pro
kishnabe said:
Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg, Some Australian guy who won 3 majors in a row and got drunk on the 1934 US Open final.
Click to expand...

Sounds more like Hoad in '56, foiled at the last by Ken Rosewall.


Based on my previous choices of the greatest players...
  • Pancho Gonzales or Borg at the AO
  • Tilden, Pancho or Sampras at the FO
  • I'd say Pancho and Ken Rosewall have a better claim than Lendl for Wimbledon (but definitely Ivan in the Open Era)
  • Borg at the USO
  • Federer at the DC
  • Pancho or Sampras for the career slam
  • Never to be #1? If we limit it to post-1973 then it has to be Vilas, surely? Four slam wins from eight finals puts him well ahead of Murray.


Regards,
MDL
 
Last edited:
T

TMF

Talk Tennis Guru
batz said:
I'm not here to defend Toni but that was clearly a joke.
Click to expand...

But that was poorly done. I would expect someone like a brat(Bernard Tomic) but not a grown man like Toni. And it wasn't funny at all. Had Federer or Murray made the same terrible joke, they get crushed by the media and the fans.
 
batz

batz

G.O.A.T.
TMF said:
But that was poorly done. I would expect someone like a brat(Bernard Tomic) but not a grown man like Toni. And it wasn't funny at all. Had Federer or Murray made the same terrible joke, they get crushed by the media and the fans.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it was a good joke mate, I just said it was a joke. I personally think it's mildly amusing but you are of course at liberty to say you didn't find it funny. Not everyone finds the same things to be funny - it would be a pretty dull world if we did.

The point is though, it was said as a joke - not as a serious point. Whether or not it is a good or funny joke isn't hugely relevant; what's relevant is the intent - and I think Toni intended to make people smile. The fact that you didn't find it funny doesn't alter this intent.
 
batz

batz

G.O.A.T.
Monsieur_DeLarge said:
Sounds more like Hoad in '56, foiled at the last by Ken Rosewall.


Based on my previous choices of the greatest players...
  • Pancho Gonzales or Borg at the AO
  • Tilden, Pancho or Sampras at the FO
  • I'd say Pancho and Ken Rosewall have a better claim than Lendl for Wimbledon (but definitely Ivan in the Open Era)
  • Borg at the USO
  • Federer at the DC
  • Pancho or Sampras for the career slam
  • Never to be #1? If we limit it to post-1973 then it has to be Vilas, surely? Four slam wins from eight finals puts him well ahead of Murray.


Regards,
MDL
Click to expand...

+1. You can't put Murray ahead of Vilas.
 
J

jean pierre

Professional
batz said:
+1. You can't put Murray ahead of Vilas.
Click to expand...

About Vilas, it depends the way of thinking.
If we are just looking ATP ranking, Vilas was never n°1, so, of course, he's the best player who's never been n°1 (better than Murray of course).
If we say : "ok, he was never n°1 at the ATP ranking, but he was of course the world champion in 1977 and everybody knows that", we can say that Murray is the best player who's never been n°1.
 
tennisaddict

tennisaddict

Bionic Poster
Best Player not to win FO :
- Alex Corretja
- Robin Soderling

Corretja had like 22 ATP Clay finals, winning 14 of them. He has wins over Muster, Courier and other clay greats.

Soderling beat Fed and Nadal to get to 2 French finals.

These two deserve FO more than Sampras.

Best Player Not to be No.1 - Guillermo Vilas . 4 time major winner and 4 runner ups. No way Murray.

End of thread.
 
D

Deleted member 307496

Guest
Blocker said:
Best player to never win Wimbledon?
Lendl

Best player to never win the French Open?
Sampras

Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the Australian Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the season ending?
Nadal

Best player to never win the Davis Cup?
Federer

Best player to never win the career slam?
Sampras

Best player to never be number 1?
Murray

Pretty hard to argue with the above.
Click to expand...
I agree entirely.
 
B

Blocker

Professional
joeri888 said:
You are going just open era right?
I think Borg isn't necessarily a worse player than Sampras.

Other than that, the Murray one seems most arguable, although no particular player comes to mind that might be better but was never no. 1 in the world.
Click to expand...

Yep. Sorry for not qualifying that.

And yep again. I had difficulty choosing that one. But settled on Murray, however, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he reaches numer 1.
 
B

Blocker

Professional
SQA333 said:
I think his criteria for this would be players with excellent records in events other than the one being referred to. In this case, player with the most number of slams outside of RG (Sampras) takes it.
Click to expand...

Yes that's what I meant.
 
roundiesee

roundiesee

Hall of Fame
Blocker said:
Best player to never win Wimbledon?
Lendl

Best player to never win the French Open?
Sampras

Best player to never win the US Open?
Borg

Best player to never win the Australian Open?
Borg
.
Click to expand...


You can't win it if you don't take part in it, :) As far as I can recall, Borg hardly entered the Australian Open. During those days, it was held in December rather than January, and quite a number of top players stayed away.
 
McLovin

McLovin

Legend
roundiesee said:
If I'm not wrong, Becker never won a clay court tournament. I think the closest he got was leading Muster by two sets to love at Monte Carlo in 1995, but lost the next three sets.
Click to expand...

Correct:

He had a few shots at Monte Carlo, as well as Gstaad & Rome, but could never get over the hump.

McEnroeisanartist said:
I don't believe Connors ever won a title on red clay.
Click to expand...
While it is true Connors never won on red clay, he still has titles on clay, the US Open being one of them. And if they were to break it into red/green clay categories, then they'd have to start breaking it into different speed hard courts as well.
 
D

Deleted member 307496

Guest
Best player never to win a slam? David Nalbandian.
 
McLovin

McLovin

Legend
FEDisanAlien said:
Best player to never win French open coria guillermo
Click to expand...

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum, but are you saying Coria was better than Sampras? Because Sampras never won the French, and I may be going out on a limb here, but I'm fairly certain he was better than Coria...
 
90's Clay

90's Clay

Banned
roundiesee said:
You can't win it if you don't take part in it, :) As far as I can recall, Borg hardly entered the Australian Open. During those days, it was held in December rather than January, and quite a number of top players stayed away.
Click to expand...

Borg entered a few AOs I think
 
batz

batz

G.O.A.T.
As a slight aside, with a couple of honourable exceptions (PC1 and Sabratha), this thread is a split infinitive nightmare. :)

images
 
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