10 World No. 1 tennis players who failed to win the French Open

#9 Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)

Lleyton Hewitt was a quarter-finalist at the French Open twice.

The youngest World No. 1 in the history of the ATP rankings, Lleyton Hewitt is a streetfighter like no other. He isn't the most attractive player on court, but Hewitt can stir the senses of even the stone-hearted with his perseverance.

Hewitt was 20 years and 268 days old when he became the World No. 1 in 2001, a position to which he had ascended owing largely to his victory at the US Open that year. He followed his success at the US Open with a triumphant run at Wimbledon the following year.

Success at Roland Garros, however, remained unattainable. In 2001 and 2004, he made it to the quarterfinal of the event. While Juan Carlos Ferrero got the better of him in 2001, it was David Nalbandian that he went down to in 2004.

Hewitt’s failure at the French Open is rather hard to fathom since the surface suited his style of play, which largely revolved around dictating from the baseline.