Round of 16 Ceiling Players

Duncan Donuts

Professional
I was just thinking about how Roberto Bautista-Agut has been remarkably consistent in Slams over the last 3 years. He always seems to get to the 4th round before bowing out to the likes of Djokovic, Federer or Murray.

Bautista-Agut has made the 4th round at every major BUT he has never gone past the 4th round.

Are there many more players like him?

Who are players (present or past),(male or female) who have made it no further than the round of 16 at the AO, FO, Wimbledon ans USO?

Goffin used to be that guy until FO 2016. Kevin Anderson used to be that guy until USO 2015. Victor Troicki has not made the 4th round at the AO (surprisingly). Alize Cornet is missing the USO. EDIT correction. Andreas Seppi has not done it at the USO.

So so far I have
1. Bautista-Agut


Who are some others?
 
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Mikael

Professional
How about Kevin Anderson ? Always struck me as a R16 kind of guy... He may have made the QF once but I'm not sure, anyway he's surely made a few R16s.

Edit - didn't notice him in your original post! I'll have to think of someone else...
 
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Flash O'Groove

Hall of Fame
I was just thinking about how Roberto Bautista-Agut has been remarkably consistent in Slams over the last 3 years. He always seems to get to the 4th round before bowing out to the likes of Djokovic, Federer or Murray.

Bautista-Agut has made the 4th round at every major BUT he has never gone past the 4th round.

Are there many more players like him? Oh wait...Andreas Seppi. He has made the 4th round at all 4 slams as well.

Who are players (present or past),(male or female) who have made it no further than the round of 16 at the AO, FO, Wimbledon ans USO?

Goffin used to be that guy until FO 2016. Kevin Anderson used to be that guy until USO 2015. Victor Troicki has not made the 4th round at the AO (surprisingly). Alize Cornet is missing the USO.

So so far I have
1. Bautista-Agut
2. Seppi

Who are some others?

Gasquet is that kind of player. He has lost in the 4th round 18 times! He went further than the 4th round 5 times.

Likewise Wawrinka was this kind of player. Until 2013, he reached the 4th round 9 times, but could go further only once.
 

MasturB

Legend
How about Kevin Anderson ? Always struck me as a R16 kind of guy... He may have made the QF once but I'm not sure, anyway he's surely made a few R16s.

Edit - didn't notice him in your original post! I'll have to think of someone else...

If KA finished off Nole Fed would have had 18 at Wimby a few years ago. :(
 

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
Maggie Maleeva comes to mind, although she did make 1 QF she lost in the fourth round a total of 14 times through her career. Her one QF came at the US Open. she lost in the 4r 4x each at the AO, French and Wim. She technically doesn't fit but when you consider she reached #4 in the world those results are pretty shocking.

I think Alize Cornet has made the 4th round at all 4 majors.

Funny many of the women I thought of, when I thought further, all made at least 1 QF.
 

Dave1982

Professional
Actually like concept of this thread...sure as hell beats the current trend of "How great is Federer" or "is Djokovic in decline mode?" threads which currently fill the board...& I say that as a massive Federer fan...seriously give it a rest!

Anyway I agree, especially over past 20 years there are quite a few players who fall into bracket defined in OP. maybe not exclusively but certainly on basis that they've only gone past 4th Rd in Slams on handful of occasions.

Obviously dominance of Big 4 is a major factor in this, their mental edge over rest of the field is not to be underestimated...every time they step on court they might as well start a set & a half ahead when playing anyone ranked 5 or higher (slight caveat for Stan obviously - just his inconsistency means he could be ranked anywhere).

Without going to google other players I consider in that bracket are:
Gilles Simon
John Isner
Sam Querry
Ivo Karlovic (4th rd probably a stretch)
Marcos Bhagdatis (yes I know he made a final but beyond that...What a Sf & QF?!?!)
feliciano Lopez
Alexander Dolgopolov
Juan Monaco
Mikhail Youzny
Radek Stepanek
Tommy Robredo

In reality I'm sure per letter of the law majority of abve don't qualify but they are guys I put in that category of "you'd rather not meet them in first round, but unlikely they'll be there in 2nd week!"
 

boredone3456

G.O.A.T.
I found an entrant for the ladies (yes I went looking because there had to be somebody) and I found 1, Rita Grande of Italy.

Funny a lot of names I thought of (Shaughnessy, Sugiyama, Farina Ellia, Fendick and a few others) all have at least 1 QF or at 1 major failed to make the 4th round in some cases (Danillidou and Razzano are examples here)
 

buscemi

Hall of Fame
Rita Grande is definitely the classic example on the women's side. She has the "Fourth Round Grand Slam" and actually made the Fourth Round of the Australian Open twice.

As the OP notes, RBA is probably now the classic example on the men's side, with the "Fourth Round Grand Slam" and a total of three Australian Open and two U.S. Open Fourth Round appearances. I think everyone else mentioned in this thread has at least one Major QF, which technically disqualifies them unless we're applying a soft ceiling test.

The name that jumped to my mind on the men's side is Paul-Henri Mathieu, who has somewhat similar numbers to RBA. Career-high ranking of #12 (vs. #13 for RBA), and 4 titles (vs. 5 for RBA). But, while PHM has two Fourth Round appearances at the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon, his best results at the U.S. Open are two Third Round appearances.

So, that's RBA (seven 4R w/no QFs), PHM (six 4R w/no QFs), and Grande (five 4R w/no QF). Are there any other players w/5+ 4R losses and no QF appearances?
 

reaper

Legend
Kiefer was actually more successful than that. He was 5-4 in Fourth Round matches at Majors, leading to 4 QFs and one SF.

I wasn't far out...for going off the top of my head. He was a 1/4 final special...Losing 4/5 1/4 final matches.
 

Dope Reign

Banned
Was checking Kohlschreiber earlier as he was playing Murray and his results reminded me of this topic. 8 times he's bowed out at the 4th round. The one time he got to the quarters he had a qualifier in the 4th at wimbledon.
 

Steve0904

Talk Tennis Guru
For the women I've noticed that Cara Black (sister of Byron Black and fantastic doubles player) has one R16 result in singles at RG 2001. She has three 3rd rounds at Wimbledon, four 2nd rds at the AO and three 2nd rds at the USO as her other best results.
 
D

Deleted member 743561

Guest
Hate to even give this guy a mention...

Been around forever but he's got that proverbial ceiling. Captain consistency/mediocrity (albeit beautiful also-ran game). Yes, a few QFs in there... but there are a lot of mirrors in Feliciano Lopez's hall of majors:

f_lopez_wiki.png
 

Phoenix1983

G.O.A.T.
Hate to even give this guy a mention...

Been around forever but he's got that proverbial ceiling. Captain consistency/mediocrity (albeit beautiful also-ran game). Yes, a few QFs in there... but there are a lot of mirrors in Feliciano Lopez's hall of majors:

f_lopez_wiki.png

I didn't realise that Lopez only has to play all the slams until and including W 2018 to break Federer's record for most consecutive appearances at the major tournaments.
 

Mazz Retic

Hall of Fame
Was watching past matches and lo and behold, paradorn srichaphan. Made it to round 4 of all majors but French.
 
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