best player to never reach a grand slam final

C

crabgrass

Rookie
off the top of my head i'd go with jose luis clerc,
25 career titles and had outstanding head to head records against 3 greats of his era...7-7 versus lendl...5-5 versus mcenroe...3-1 versus connors.
along with borg he's probably the only guy who doesnt possess a single losing record against any of those guys.
another guy i think underachieved was tommy haas, talentwise he should of broken through a few times but seems the guy was born to be injured.
 
C

crabgrass

Rookie
gene mayer was a pretty usefull player also but like clerc played in that borg mcenroe connors lendl era....was a top 5 player for a few years and won about 15 titles.
 
C

crabgrass

Rookie
brad gilbert should probably be mentioned as well...20 career titles and had a few good wins over becker....was 0-16 versus lendl though.
 
vince evert

vince evert

New User
Guy ( pronounced Gi) Forget (pronounced forshAy) ?!

This guy helped win a davis cup for his native France in 1991 and was Davis cup captain but his record in the Slams was bad, certainly not befitting his talent that's for sure, oooh la-la-la-la.
 
boredone3456

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
At least in Recent Times I would have to give the nod to Haas. The guy has so much raw talent and ability, and yet he always seems to be ailing from something and keeps getting held back because of it. Heman definitely deserves mention, How many Wimbledon Semi's did he lose? 4? and each time the guy that beat him went on to win the title, thats gotta hurt, especially at his home slam.

I also always liked Ljubicic, although whenever the slams rolled around he was always a huge disappointment. Davydenko? I really don't think so, the guy is way to inconsistant and to say he is the best never to play a slam final is a bit much. I always hear people saying Blakes name around topics like this..but I wouldn't exactly list him either.
 
F

FiveO

Hall of Fame
Open Era only:

John Alexander
Eddie Dibbs
Raul Ramirez
Jose Luis Clerc
Miroslav Mecir Sr.
Anders Jarryd
Wayne Ferreira
Tim Henman

5
 
obsessedtennisfandisorder

obsessedtennisfandisorder

Professional
Didn't David Wheaton reach a couple of wimby semi's? seemed a decent
player with no slam finals.

Guy Forget is another from the early 90's like that.

What do people on here think of Sebastian grosjean's career? better than haas?

To me if Roddick could nab a slam..these guys deserved too..I've seen
haas comfortable handle Roddick a few times and Grosjean was always
stuck playing andy on grass.
 
Wuornos

Wuornos

Professional
My personal choice would have to be Nikolay Davydenko, with 2nd place being taken by Owen Davidson and 3rd to Ham Richardson.


Tim
 
Last edited:
thalivest

thalivest

Banned
boredone3456 said:
Davydenko? I really don't think so, the guy is way to inconsistant and to say he is the best never to play a slam final is a bit much. I always hear people saying Blakes name around topics like this..but I wouldn't exactly list him either.
Click to expand...

Blake's name coming up at all is a total JOKEEEEE! The guy is almost 30 years old and he has been in only 3 quarterfinals. He has never been in a slam semifinal even. He wouldnt even be in the 100 best players in history to never reach a slam final I bet.

Davydenko inconsistent? I dont think he is the best player to not reach a slam final either but he has a heck of alot better argument for that than does Blake. Davydenko is far more consistent and accomplished than Blake. Blake is a flash in the pan in and out of the top 10 late in his career. Davydenko is a frequent slam semi and quarterfinalist, a multiple Masters winner, a regular in the top 5 for awhile now.
 
DunlopDood

DunlopDood

Semi-Pro
Tommy Hass. This was a great talent, absolutely beautiful game from an aesthetics standpoint. Too bad he was injured throughout half of his career.
 
boredone3456

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
thalivest said:
Blake's name coming up at all is a total JOKEEEEE! The guy is almost 30 years old and he has been in only 3 quarterfinals. He has never been in a slam semifinal even. He wouldnt even be in the 100 best players in history to never reach a slam final I bet.

Davydenko inconsistent? I dont think he is the best player to not reach a slam final either but he has a heck of alot better argument for that than does Blake. Davydenko is far more consistent and accomplished than Blake. Blake is a flash in the pan in and out of the top 10 late in his career. Davydenko is a frequent slam semi and quarterfinalist, a multiple Masters winner, a regular in the top 5 for awhile now.
Click to expand...

Hey I never said I agreed with the Blake Argument, I mean I think the guy has some talent but not the best never to reach a Final. I just know people who always bring up his name in that line of discussion. Granted I think in the grand scheme Blake is definitely a bit of an underachiever, but not that much of one really.

As for Davydenko, Honestly he is pretty inconsistant for a top 5 player, at least IMHO. He does well one tournament...then will flame out in the next. i just don't think he is mentally a great player, even though he is undeniably talented.
 
B

BTURNER

Legend
The ladies: some nominees [not inclusive at all, using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_tennis_players, which stopped at the 'm's giving the data I needed and then just listed players. ( someone needs to finish at that site! )
Reached # 8 in the world Kournakova and Carling Bassett
Reached # 7 in the world Bettina Bunge and Julie Halard
Reached # 6 in the world Katrina Maleeva and Annette Van Zyl
Reached # 5 in the world Jo Durie and Julie Heldman
Reached # 4 in the world Dianne Balestrat, Magdalena Maleeva, Kimiko Data, Anke Huber
Reached # 3 in the world Jedrzejowska, Amanda Coetzer and yes, yet another Maleeva, this time Manuela. How frustrating for their parents!

None of these players made it into a GS final!

Again the site stopped after the m's listing ranking and other data.
 
C

crabgrass

Rookie
BTURNER said:
The ladies: some nominees [not inclusive at all, using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_tennis_players, which stopped at the 'm's giving the data I needed and then just listed players. ( someone needs to finish at that site! )
Reached # 8 in the world Kournakova and Carling Bassett
Reached # 7 in the world Bettina Bunge and Julie Halard
Reached # 6 in the world Katrina Maleeva and Annette Van Zyl
Reached # 5 in the world Jo Durie and Julie Heldman
Reached # 4 in the world Dianne Balestrat, Magdalena Maleeva, Kimiko Data, Anke Huber
Reached # 3 in the world Jedrzejowska, Amanda Coetzer and yes, yet another Maleeva, this time Manuela. How frustrating for their parents!

None of these players made it into a GS final!

Again the site stopped after the m's listing ranking and other data.
Click to expand...

huber made the australian final in the 90s...lost to seles.
 
vive le beau jeu !

vive le beau jeu !

Talk Tennis Guru
most SF played withought reaching any final (in the open era) : henman with 6 (4 W + 1 RG + 1 USO).
then you've got davydenko (2 USO + 2 RG) and grosjean (2 W + 1 AO + 1 RG) with 4...
 
Wuornos

Wuornos

Professional
The performance Ratings I calculate would give the following list post WWII.

1 Nikolay Davydenko 2655
2 Owen Davidson 2628
3 Ham Richardson 2625
4 David Ferrer 2618
5 Tommy Haas 2607
6 Raúl Ramírez 2604
7 Anders Järryd 2599
8 Slobodan Živojinović 2598
9 Tim Henman 2598
10 Bill Talbert 2597

Henman of course made 6 semi final appearances but his lack of versatility on differing surfaces hampered his Peak Performance Rating.

Please see http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=244754 for an explanation of Performance Ratings.

Regards

Tim
 
boredone3456

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
Yeah for the ladies all three of the Maleeva's would have to be somewhere in the discussion, all got into the top 10 and for the most part were pretty decent players but really were mentally inconsistant at the slams, especially Maggie.

Manuela was probably the one that had the best shot and strongest mind and should have gotten to a final, but considering she played in the
80's in not really a big suprise she didn't with Graf, Evert, Navratilova and to a lesser extent Mandlikova around. She still made quite a few Quarterfinals and the Semi's twice at the US Open. She also Retired at 27, so she wasn't exactly well past her prime when she decided to leave.
 
grafrules

grafrules

Banned
Manuela had a great shot at the 1990 French Open where she was leading Seles 4-1 in the 3rd set of their quarterfinal. She took an injury timeout that Seles in her book felt was gamesmanship and Seles then stormed back to win. If she had closed that out she would have played 14 year old Capriati in the semis and most likely beaten her. Then a sluggish out of form Graf in the final, although Graf probably still beats her on mental strength alone. Still she had a great shot of atleast being in the final that year.
 
Wuornos

Wuornos

Professional
boredone3456 said:
Yeah for the ladies all three of the Maleeva's would have to be somewhere in the discussion, all got into the top 10 and for the most part were pretty decent players but really were mentally inconsistant at the slams, especially Maggie.

Manuela was probably the one that had the best shot and strongest mind and should have gotten to a final, but considering she played in the
80's in not really a big suprise she didn't with Graf, Evert, Navratilova and to a lesser extent Mandlikova around. She still made quite a few Quarterfinals and the Semi's twice at the US Open. She also Retired at 27, so she wasn't exactly well past her prime when she decided to leave.
Click to expand...

With reference to the women the performance Ratings I calculate would give the following list post WWII.

1 Claudia Kohde-Kilsch 2675
2 Karen Krantzcke 2641
3 Kimiko Date 2640
4 Jo Durie 2638
5 Barbara Scofield 2631
6 Julie Heldman 2631
7 Annette VanZyl Duplooy 2630
8 Amanda Coetzer 2626
9 Robyn Ebbern 2625
10 Manuela Maleeva 2624

Please see http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=244754 for an explanation of Performance Ratings.

Regards

Tim
 
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