Best players who never made it to the top 10

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Personal favourite: Kohlschreiber.
Popular answer will be Santoro.

Other players deserving to be mentioned: Dolgopolov, Karlovic (serve is a shot like any other), Malisse (talented head case), Arazi (pure talent), Hrbaty. And maybe Mirnyi and Woodbridge (not too sure).

Current very good players who never made to the top 10 but still young enough to make it soon: Fognini, Tomic.

(didnt follow the 80's)

 

[Bukmeikara]

Dolgopolov, the marocian guy El ... , Kohlscreiber is a good answer, Tursunov probably, Ginepri

 

[llodra_fan]

I agree with you - Kohlschreiber is first one who comes to mind, not considering anyone under 30.

 

[Inanimate_object]

Arazi is definitely a good choice. Can't remember the middle-tier players in the 80s very well. Istomin is pretty good though.

 

[mightyrick]

I'd have to pick Brian Baker. If not for injuries, I think the guy was easily Top-10. All-court player.

People Brian Baker Has Defeated
Tsonga - Junior French Open
Baghdatis - Junior French Open
Gaudio - US Open (straight-setted)
Malisse - French Open (straight-setted)
Istomin - Cincy (straight-setted)
Janowicz - Auckland
Stepanek - Basel
Young - Beijing
Kohlschreiber - Cincy
Niemenen - Wimbledon
Paire - Wimbledon
Monfils - Nice
Kukushkin - Nice
Davydenko - Nice
Darcis - Futures

The guy had an incredible all-court game. Great serve. Amazing return of serve.

It kills me to think what this guy could have been. After being off for YEARS and then to be able to come roaring back beating veterans at the highest of levels. Really tragic.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Brian Baker is the most unlucky player of all time.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

What about Lopez? He's only made it as high as #12 but he's top 10 material in my opinion.

 

[merwy]

How about Feliciano Lopez? One could argue he's better than Kohlschreiber. Maybe not from the baseline but his all court game might be better. At least he's ranked higher now than Kohlschreiber ever was.

 

[tennisaddict]

Ernie Gulbis.

Notable mention to Kohli, Dolgopolov, Fognini, Younes Elanoyi.


Tanko Quitsarevic for someone who should not have made it.

 

[newpball]

Ernie Gulbis.

He actually made it to the top 10, but only for a very short period!

 

[Beacon Hill]

Brian Baker is the most unlucky player of all time.

Sad story. The latest news I could find is he had yet another surgery Dec 31st and still plans to play again.

 

[Mainad]

Ernie Gulbis.

He actually made it to the top 10, but only for a very short period!

He was ranked #10 from 9 June 2014 to 6 July 2014.

 

[Rubens]

Guillermo Garcia Lopez.

 

[Moose Malloy]

I believe the player with the most career titles who never got in the top 10 was Vijay Amritraj - #16, Wimbledon & US Open quarterfinalist

some others:

David Wheaton, Wimbledon Semifinalist, reached high of #12
Malivai Washington, Wimbledon finalist, #11
Slobodan Zivojinovic, Wimbledon semifinalist, Australian Open semifinalist, #19
Nicolas Escude, Australian Open semifinalist, Davis Cup Champion, #17
Ramesh Krishnan, Wimbledon & US Open quarterfinalist, #23
Amos Mansdorf, Australian Open quarterfinalist, #18
Jaime Yzaga, Australian & US Open quarterfinalist, #18
Andrei Pavel, Toronto Masters Series winner, French Open quarterfinalist, #13
Jan-Michael Gambill, Wimbledon quarterfinalist, #14

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Lopez... well I don't find him to be particularly dangerous to any top player to be honest, yes he had his best ranking last year and that was one of the strangest things that happened on the tour recently

On grass he had once a top 10 game though, I agree (in 2011)

I like Escude whom you mentioned Moose Malloy, his peak game was very good. Escude in year 2002 won Rotterdam by beating:
Ferrero, Robredo, Federer, Grosjean, Henman.

 

[Laurie]

Lopez... well I don't find him to be particularly dangerous to any top player to be honest, yes he had his best ranking last year and that was one of the strangest things that happened on the tour recently

On grass he had once a top 10 game though, I agree (in 2011)

I like Escude whom you mentioned Moose Malloy, his peak game was very good. Escude in year 2002 won Rotterdam by beating:
Ferrero, Robredo, Federer, Grosjean, Henman.

Plus Escude beat Australia in Australia in the Davis cup final in 2001, when they laid grass, completely forgetting nearly all top French players past and present prefer grass anyway

 

[Chanwan]

Kohlscreiber is a good mention. With a better mental game, he would have spend the vast majority of his career inside top-15 and some inside top-10.
Karlovic could have been up there too. The GOAT-slayer, Hrbaty, as well.
I'm not impressed with Fognini outside of clay, so I don't think he belongs there.

 

[Laurie]

Anyone for Magnus Larsson?

 

[ArcspacE]

I'd have to pick Brian Baker. If not for injuries, I think the guy was easily Top-10. All-court player.

People Brian Baker Has Defeated
Tsonga - Junior French Open
Baghdatis - Junior French Open
Gaudio - US Open (straight-setted)
Malisse - French Open (straight-setted)
Istomin - Cincy (straight-setted)
Janowicz - Auckland
Stepanek - Basel
Young - Beijing
Kohlschreiber - Cincy
Niemenen - Wimbledon
Paire - Wimbledon
Monfils - Nice
Kukushkin - Nice
Davydenko - Nice
Darcis - Futures

The guy had an incredible all-court game. Great serve. Amazing return of serve.

It kills me to think what this guy could have been. After being off for YEARS and then to be able to come roaring back beating veterans at the highest of levels. Really tragic.

This can only be considered as admissible evidence if presented in a spreadsheet / graph format

 

[RF-18]

Anyone for Magnus Larsson?

Magnus Larsson was in the top 10. In 1995.

 

[jg153040]

All players who were ranked 11?

 

[accidental]

Juan Ignatio Chela maybe

He was consistenly threatening to top players for his entire career

 

[tennisaddict]

Juan Ignatio Chela maybe

He was consistenly threatening to top players for his entire career

Sorry. This guy had nothing , just another top 30 clay player , the likes of Granollers , Andujar, Agut

 

[accidental]

Sorry. This guy had nothing , just another top 30 clay player , the likes of Granollers , Andujar, Agut

Wrong. He had wins over a ton of top 10 players and was just as good on hard court as well as clay. He was always a tough opponent for any player

 

[tennis_pro]

Can someone name the players with a career high rank of 11-25?

 

[Boom-Boom]

Sorry. This guy had nothing , just another top 30 clay player , the likes of Granollers , Andujar, Agut

Right. Plus he was convinced for doping. Like a lot of his fellow clay-grinders-moonballers...

 

[Boom-Boom]

Paul-Henri Matthieu
Guillermo Perez-Roldan

 

[accidental]

Paul-Henri Matthieu
Guillermo Perez-Roldan

lmao
This guy has never even made a grand slam quarter final. Has been to the quarters or beyond in a masters only once in his entire career.

 

[Boom-Boom]

lmao
This guy has never even made a grand slam quarter final. Has been to the quarters or beyond in a masters only once in his entire career.

at least he reached #12...better than your doper-moonballer Chela guy

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Mathieu peak level was impressive
he gave Nadal a very hard time at the french open .. 4 hours and a half for 4 sets
but mentally he is one of the greatest midgets ever - in the same league as Almagro and Anderson
so...nope not top 10 material

 

[accidental]

at least he reached #12...better than your doper-moonballer Chela guy

lol
3 places higher than Chela. But Chela has 4 slam QF and 8 Masters QF

Plus Matthieu is possibly the most mentally weak player of all time

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

Mathieu's career got ruined by very serious injuries though, but yeah mental midget, the loss vs Youzhny in Davis cup final when Mathieu was up 2 sets to love, it just ruined his career, he was never the same after that match

 

[Laurie]

Magnus Larsson was in the top 10. In 1995.

I always thought he had it in him

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[augustobt]

Brian Baker is the most unlucky player of all time.

hahahaha I won't agree because thats too ample. But I'd say that Baker is definitely one of the players who could have achieved much more without the constant injuries.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Was Chris Woodruff ever in the top 10? He was a pretty decent player. Won the Canadian Open beating peak Kuerten in the final (1997).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmIM6O7GyGk

 

[Vegito]

Agustín Calleri. Some highlights: He beats Agassi in Miami 2004, runner-up Hamburg 2003. He beats Ferrero in Spain, in Davis Cup 2003. Juan Carlos was the world number one in that moment. He beats Hewitt in the US Open 2007. In all those matches he played an outstanding tennis. Injuries, and some of inconsistency didn't allow him to have more success.

 

[Wendigo]

x-man malisse hands down

 

[Baron Zbimg]

Here's a comprehensive list of players with career high rankings between n°11 and n°15 in the world, chronologically ordered (active players in bold):

#11
Roger Taylor
Marty Riessen
Tomas Smid
Scott Davis
MaliVai Washington
Franco Squillari
Sjeng Schalken
Sam Querrey
Carlos Alcaraz (as of this week)

#12
Paolo Bertolucci
Nikola Pilic
Roy Emerson
Mark Cox
Hans Gildemeister
Balazs Taroczy
Steve Denton
Paul Annacone
David Wheaton
Arnaud Boetsch
Dominik Hrbaty
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Viktor Troicki
Feliciano Lopez
Borna Coric

#13
Cliff Drysdale
Guillermo Perez-Roldan
Andrei Cherkasov
Derrick Rostagno
Andrei Pavel
Jarkko Nieminen
Nick Kyrgios
Taylor Fritz

#14
Jaime Fillol Sr.
Ross Case
Pat Dupre
John Sadri
Carl-Uwe Steeb
Alexander Volkov
Jan Siemerink
Jan-Michael Gambill
Younes El Aynaoui
Martin Verkerk
Alexander Dolgopolov
Jerzy Janowicz
Ivo Karlovic
Kyle Edmund
Aslan Karatsev

#15
Robert Lutz
Tim Gullikson
Kim Warwick
Buster Mottram
Mark Edmondson
Victor Amaya
Wally Masur
Robbie Ginepri
Juan Ignacio Chela
Alex de Minaur

Alcaraz is the 201st player to reach number 12 or better, how many can you find?

Top 200 Male Tennis Players in the Open Era

Can you name the 200 best Male Tennis players of the Open era, ordered chronologically and by their career high ATP ranking?

www.sporcle.com

 

[DIMI_D]

Personal favourite: Kohlschreiber.
Popular answer will be Santoro.

Other players deserving to be mentioned: Dolgopolov, Karlovic (serve is a shot like any other), Malisse (talented head case), Arazi (pure talent), Hrbaty. And maybe Mirnyi and Woodbridge (not too sure).

Current very good players who never made to the top 10 but still young enough to make it soon: Fognini, Tomic.

(didnt follow the 80's)

King KYRIOS