Top 10 players to have never won a Grand Slam

We all remember Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Pat Rafter, Boris Becker, Jim Courier and all those players who successfully won Grand Slam titles. But what about those players who never won one? Even though they may have played really well throughout their careers and enjoyed notable success on the ATP or WTA tour, they are hardly remembered by fans.This is a list of the top 10 players who were as good as anyone else, but failed to win a single Major in their career.(Note: only retired players have been taken into consideration)

#10 Pam Shriver

On top of doubles, but not in singles – Pam Shriver

Pam Shriver was a player who enjoyed immense success at the doubles level, winning a total of 22 Grand Slam titles in doubles, She also won a women's doubles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul with Zina Garrison as her partner, although her usual doubles partner was Martina Navratilova.

Shriver was well known for her variety, including sharp volleys and all-round solid technique at the net. She also possessed a strong slice forehand and used underspin approach to good effect. She did enjoy a lot of success in the singles level as well, but was never able to win a Grand Slam singles title, but she had more than 600 victories in singles over her playing years.

She peaked at No. 3 in singles, finished sixth or better three times in the year-end rankings and made the semifinals seven times at majors. In her only Grand Slam final, she lost to Chris Evert as a 16-year-old at the 1978 U.S. Open.

She reached a career high of no. 3 in the world, but enjoyed a long time on top of the rankings in doubles.

#9 Amanda Coetzer

Amanda Coetzer turned pro in 1988. After breaking into the top 20 in 1993, she stayed there for 10 consecutive seasons. She enjoyed a lot of success in singles, winning 9 WTA titles, but was never able to win a Grand Slam Singles title. Her best result was reaching the semi-finals of two Australian Open tournaments and one French Open.

At the Canadian Open in 1995, Coetzer defeated three players ranked in the world's top-5 – Steffi Graf, Jana Novotná and Mary Pierce – before finally losing to Monica Seles in the final. The defeat of Graf ended a 32-match winning-streak for the German. As a result of her many upset wins and her small size, she earned the nickname "The Little Assassin."

She reached a career high of no.3 in the world when toppled world No. 1s Steffi Graf and Martina Hingis in her breakout '97 season.

#8 Helena Sukova

A lot of success in doubles, but not in singles

Helena Sukova, the player from Czechoslovakia enjoyed massive success in doubles, but was never able to win a Grand Slam singles titles, even though she reached the final on 4 occasions. During her career, she won 14 Grand Slam doubles titles, 9 of them in women's doubles and 5 of them in mixed doubles. She reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon on 6 occasions, but never went on to the semi-finals.

She reached the finals of the U.S Open and Australian Open twice each, but was not successful on both occasions, losing to Steffi Graff twice, Martina Navratilova once and Chris Evert once. She reached a career high of no. 4 in singles in the world,but was World no. 1 for a long time in doubles.

Post retirement, in 1999, Suková helped re-establish the International Lawn Tennis Club of the Czech Republic and became its president.

#7 Elena Dementieva

Dementieva with her Gold Medal from Beijing 2008 Olympics

Elena Dementieva was one of the few women’s tennis players to have won the Olympic Gold Medal in singles ( Beijing 2008) , but to have never won a major in her career. She reached the final on two occasions, where nerves got the better of her, once in the French Open and once in the U.S Open, losing to Anastasia Myskina and Svetlana Kuznetsova respectively.

She won 16 WTA singles titles, and was also part of the Russian team that won the 2005 Fed Cup, won the 2002 WTA Championship doubles with Janette Husárová and was the runner-up in two US Open doubles finals – in 2002 with Husárová and in 2005 with Flavia Pennetta.

Dementieva had a very poor serve, but in spite of that, enjoyed a lot of success in her career.

Dementieva ended her career ranked World No. 9 and between 2003 and 2010 she only ended one year, in 2007, outside the top 10. She reached a career high rank of no. 3 in the World.

#6 Dinara Safina

Dinara Safina is one of the few women’s tennis players to have reached 3 Grand Slam singles finals, but never won a slam. she was runner-up at the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the 2009 French Open, falling to Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, respectively.

Safina, who is the sister of two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin, are the only sister-brother pair to have been both ranked no. 1. She also won the Olympic silver medal in women's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and has a Grand Slam doubles title to her name as well.

She won a total of 16 singles titles in her career ( 12 WTA and 4 ITF ) and reached a career high rank of no. 1 in the world in April 2009. She officially retired in 2014, after having a recurring back injury since 2011. She is only 28 years of age.

#5 David Nalbandian

David Nalbandian – unfortunate to have never won a Grand Slam

David Nalbandian, the former Argentine No.1 is another player who enjoyed a lot of success on the ATP Tour, but was not able to convert his chances at the majors.

Nalbandian was one of the youngest players to reach a Grand Slam final, reaching the Wimbledon final in 2002. He beat David Sánchez, Paul-Henri Mathieu, George Bastl, Wayne Arthurs, Nicolás Lapentti and Xavier Malisse on his way to the final. He lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final.

Both Nalbandian and Davydenko, you could say, were unfortunate to have played during the majestic phase of tennis, which was set by the “Big 4”, i.e Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, U.S Open and French Open in his career and had a career high ranking of no. 3 in the World on 20th March 2006. He won the tour finals in 2005. He retired on 1st October 2013 at the age of 31.

#4 Nikolay Davydenko

Nikolay Davydenko’ s best performance was reaching the semi-finals of a Grand Slam on 4 occasions, twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open, losing to Roger Federer in all but one of them. Davydenko employs an offensive baseline game, using deep and penetrating groundstrokes on both wings.

Davydenko produced a lot of good results in his career, where he won a total of 21 titles including 3 masters series. His best result would probably be winning the ATP World Tour Finals in 2009 in London.

Davydenko was the only person, till now to have a better win-loss record against Rafael Nadal, having played at least 11 matches. Davydenko leads Nadal 6-5 in their head to head meetings over the years.

Davydenko reached a career-high of No. 3 in the rankings in November 2006.

#3 Tim Henman

Before Andy Murray came into the picture, it was Tim Henman, who was Britain’s top player, but unlike Murray, who has 2 Grand Slam titles now, Henman was never able to win one. He was always under the shadow of Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer towards the end of his career.

He will always be remembered as that player who reached 4 Wimbledon semi-finals, but was never able to reach the final. Henman came within two points of a Wimbledon final in 2001, where he beat the emerging Federer in the quarter-finals, but lost a five-set marathon to two-time finalist and wildcard Goran Ivanisevic. His style of play was serve and volley, which made his game really fast paced.

He won a total of 15 ATP titles ( 11 in singles and 4 in doubles) and reached 6 Grand Slam semi-finals in his career. He reached a career high rank of 4 in the world.

Tim Henman retired in 2007, but is active in the ATP Champions Tour.

#2 Miloslav Mecir

Miloslav Mecir, the Slovakian, is one of the few players to have won an Olympic Gold Medal in singles, but to have never won a Grand Slam singles title. He was known for his versatility on the court and his change of pace on the court. Mecir clinched gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympic games.

He played during the time of Boris Becker, Mats Wilander, John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, who dominated the sport at the time. He did enjoy a lot of success though, both in singles and doubles, winning 11 and 9 titles respectively. He had a lot of notable results, where he beat the likes of Stevan Edberg, Wilander and Becker during his playing time.

He reached a career high rank of 4 in the world in singles and 9 in doubles. His son, Miloslav Mecir Jr. is currently playing professionally and is ranked 206 in the world in singles.

#1 Marcelo Rios

The only World no. 1 in men’s tennis to have never won a grand slam

Marcelo Rios is the only man since the computer based ranking which came out in 1973 to be ranked no. 1 in the ATP World Rankings, but never have won a Grand Slam in his career. Rios spent 6 weeks on top of the table and enjoyed a lot of success and a prize money of almost $10 million before he retired.

He was the first Latin American player to reach the top position in the rankings. He had enjoyed the top position in the junior ranks as well, where he had won the junior U.S Open title.

The Chilean won 18 titles in his career,but reached only one Grand Slam final, the 1998 Australian Open, where, as the ninth seed, he lost to sixth-seeded Petr Korda in straight sets. On July 16, 2004, after years of constant injuries and back discomfort, and at just 28 years old, Rios announced his retirement from tennis during a press conference in Santiago.