Best player never to make a grand slam final?

[Rhino]

I was thinking "what list could Tim Henman be top of?"...
Best volleys? Mmm, maybe, but what about Best player never to make a grand slam final?

Other contenders: Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer, Nikolay Davydenko, Ivan Ljubicic, Wayne Ferreira, Karol Kucera, Marc Rosset... All are top 10 players/grand slam semifinalists.

My vote still goes to Tiger Tim!
#4 in the world. 4 Wimbledon semifinals, and 4 quarterfinals. US Open semifinals. Roland Garros semifinals.

 

[chiapants226]

lol, just on this sorta note, i was just wondering, has any player ever been no. 1 in the world without winning one of the 4 grand slams???

 

[Pro Staff Pete]

Yeah agreed, Henman has been close so often at the Slams.. I remember the year at Wimbledon when he lost in the semis to Ivanisevic. I believe that match took three days to complete! On the other hand, Goran deserved it much so.

His semifinal at Roland Garros was a great result aswell imo.

 

[Maestro Nalbandian]

lol, just on this sorta note, i was just wondering, has any player ever been no. 1 in the world without winning one of the 4 grand slams???

I guess that would be Rios?

I agree with OP that Tim Henman would be right up there. Making so many semi and quarter final appearances at wimby and even semis at roland garros were amazing achievements.

 

[Pro Staff Pete]

That would be Rios yeah

 

[Tempest344]

Tommy Haas for sure

has the game, the serve to contest a slam
if not for injuries I think he may have had a USO or two

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

I was thinking "what list could Tim Henman be top of?"...
Best volleys? Mmm, maybe, but what about Best player never to make a grand slam final?

Other contenders: Tommy Haas, Nicolas Kiefer, Nikolay Davydenko, Ivan Ljubicic, Wayne Ferreira, Karol Kucera, Marc Rosset... All are top 10 players/grand slam semifinalists.

My vote still goes to Tiger Tim!
#4 in the world. 4 Wimbledon semifinals, and 4 quarterfinals. US Open semifinals. Roland Garros semifinals.

for me, tim is on the top of this list !

and he has the numbers with him... among those who never made it to a slam final, he is the one who played the most SF (at least in the open era).
4W + 1RG + 1USO = 6 !
(then with 4 you have players like grosjean and davydenko, for instance)

--> see [Wuornos et al., 2008] for the complete stats !
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=189358

 

[Rhino]

--> see [Wuornos et al., 2008] for the complete stats !
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=189358

Wow, nice find vive le beau jeu.
It looks like Henman's closest rival on this list is Ham Richardson, a top tennis player in the 1950s and early ’60s: 4 slam semifinals, and 6 quarterfinals!
And I'd forgotten about Sébastien Grosjean.

 

[Deleted member 22147]

Henman should have won the French Open back in 2004, he was beating Coria by a set and should have been 2 sets up. And Gaudio was nervous as hell in the final at the start, Henman would have captured the title I am sure. How ironic would it have been to see Henman lift that trophy?

 

[Magix]

Tommy Haas for sure

has the game, the serve to contest a slam
if not for injuries I think he may have had a USO or two

I agree.

Actually, Tommy played at the Australian Open. So I'd say a US Open and a few Aussie Opens.

 

[saram]

Davydenko.

 

[AznHylite]

lol, just on this sorta note, i was just wondering, has any player ever been no. 1 in the world without winning one of the 4 grand slams???

One player that coems to my mind is Amelie Mauresmo.

 

[vive le beau jeu !]

Wow, nice find vive le beau jeu.
It looks like Henman's closest rival on this list is Ham Richardson, a top tennis player in the 1950s and early ’60s: 4 slam semifinals, and 6 quarterfinals!
And I'd forgotten about Sébastien Grosjean.

hey, between pachydermata, we can help !

 

[Nickognito]

Best player without any GS semifinal: Guy Forget.

 

[A.J. Sim]

One player that coems to my mind is Amelie Mauresmo.

Mauresmo won the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. She also lost to Hingis in an Australian Open final; don't remember what year.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Best player never to make a grand slam final?

Jose-Luis Clerc is up there as well imo.

Best player without any GS semifinal: Guy Forget.

Yeah, the fact that he never made one is pretty amazing.

Some other good players that never made a SF:

Blake, Mancini, Gilbert, Emilio Sanchez, Nystrom, Robredo

 

[Pro Staff Pete]

Sjeng Schalken could've made one or two at Wimby and got to the semis at the US Open.

 

[PROTENNIS63]

I would put Haas and Henman up there for sure. Two very good players.

 

[Bobble]

Haas, Grosjean, Blake, Davy, and Ljubicic all sound about right

 

[joeri888]

Sjeng Schalken could've made one or two at Wimby and got to the semis at the US Open.

If he'd just had a little bit better serve Thing still is, the year Hewitt won Wimbledon, Sjeng was the best player

 

[jgreen06]

henman would definitely be first, next i would have to go with davydenko

 

[Crisp]

Yes Tiger Tim it is. I just hope that Tomas Berdych doesn't end up in one of these woulda shoulda coulda topics.

 

[Rhino]

^^^well he's won the Paris ATP Masters Series, so that's a bad sign for him.

A lot of the 'woulda shoulda coulda' characters mentioned in this thread have had their best career moment at that tournament... Henman, Grosjean, Davydenko, Guy Forget.

 

[vbranis]

Definetly Tim at the top of the list. Other players that haven't been mentioned already include Bjorkman (career high #4), Ferreira (#6), and Jiri Novak (#5).

 

[roysid]

I would go for Davydenko. Though his GS performance is inferior to Henman, overall he is a better player. Very consistent, most of the time in top 5.