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Winning a Grand Slam is no mean feat. Ask anyone apart from the "Big 3", or "Big 4" for that matter, and they would tell you. For years now, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams have been dominating the tennis circuit, and winning almost every Grand Slam.
Prior to this era, players like Pete Sampras, Steffi Graf, and Andre Agassi dominated the circuit. And, prior to them, there were players like Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Billie Jean King, and Margaret Court, just to name a few.
Due to the domination by these players, there were plenty of other talented players, who despite making a mark for themselves, failed to win a single Grand Slam title. Some of these players came agonisingly close to doing so but just never managed to get their hands on the trophy.
Here, we look at 5 such players who were unlucky to have never won a Grand Slam title.
#5 David Ferrer
David Ferrer is still a few months away from retiring but has already played his last Grand Slam. The 36-year-old Spanish veteran was constantly a part of the top 8 players in the world until just a couple of years ago.
He was known for his fighting spirit and for the ability to keep the ball in play and make his opponents move around the court a lot.
The closest Ferrer came to winning a Grand Slam was reaching the final of the French Open in 2013 where lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Apart from that, he reached the semifinals of the US Open and Australian Open twice. His best result at the Wimbledon Championships was a quarterfinal appearance in 2012 and 2013.
He reached a career-high ranking of 3 in 2013.
#4 Dinara Safina
Dinara Safina is the younger sister of 1-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin. However, unlike her brother, Safina failed to get her hands on a Grand Slam trophy despite holding the world no. 1 ranking as well.
She finished as the runner-up in the 2008 French Open, 2009 Australian Open, and the 2009 French Open and reached the summit of the WTA rankings in April 2009. She won a total of 12 singles titles in her career and won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics.
However, she did find success in doubles, winning the US Open in 2007 alongside Nathalie Dechy.
#3 Marcelo Rios
Marcelo Rios is the only male player in tennis history to have held the world no. 1 ranking and not win a Grand Slam title. The former Chilean tennis player, who plans to make a sensational comeback to the sport in 2019, did not have great results at the Grand Slam level, apart from reaching the final of the Australian Open in 1998.
However, he had a lot of success at the Masters level. He won a total of 18 titles in his career and was the first person to have won the three clay Masters at Monte Carlo, Rome, and Hamburg.
He held the world no. 1 ranking for six weeks in 1998.
#2 Miloslav Mecir
The former player from Slovakia won the Olympics singles Gold in 1988 and even reached the finals of two Grand Slams(US Open in 1986 and Australian Open in 1989) but failed to win either of them, losing both to Ivan Lendl.
However, he did win the year-ending Championships in 1987, defeating John McEnroe in the final. He won a total of 11 titles in his singles career and reached a career-high ranking of no. 4 in the world in February 1988.
He retired from the sport in the year 1990.
#1 Elena Dementieva
Elena Dementieva consistently performed well at the top stage and was constantly beating top players but failed to win a single Grand Slam title. Just like Mecir, Dementieva too won the Olympics singles Gold. She achieved this feat in 2008, defeating Dinara Safina in the Gold medal encounter in Beijing.
She reached the final of the 2004 French Open and US Open and cracked the semis of the Grand Slams on 7 other occasions. She won a total of 16 titles in her singles career and reached a career-high ranking of no. 3 in 2009. She retired from the sport in 2010 after the year-ending Championships.
