ATP/WTA Tour: Anna Kournikova & Co. – The Most Successful Players Without Tournament Victory

We present the so-called near men and near women on the ATP and WTA tour. 10 successful players who have never won an ATP or WTA title.

There are some of the most successful players who missed the career-grand-slam.There are the most successful players without a Grand Slam title.There are some of the most successful players who have never been number one.And there are also the most successful players without tournament victories on ATP or WTA level, the so-called near-men and near-women.In this listing tennisnet. com presents ten successful players, eight men and two women, who were in the finals, achieved strong results time and again, but never experienced the happiness of an ATP or WTA title.

Anna Kournikova is the most successful player without a title on the WTA tour.We have already examined this fact in our article “Anna Kournikova and the myth of a bad player”.In poker language, the combination of Ace-King and Kournikova’s initials means:”Looks good, but never wins”, but the Russian has won many times in her career, except for one title in the singles.While she was number one in doubles and won the Australian Open twice, it should not be in the singles, also because she had to end her career at the age of 21.Kournikova was considered a child prodigy and established herself at the top of the world early on. In 1997 she reached the semi-finals in Wimbledon at the age of 16 years and one month.Between May 1996 and October 1998, Kournikova never lost to a player who was less well placed in the world rankings. In 1998, she moved into the top 20 and beat the Grand Slam winners Martina Hingis, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Steffi Graf, among others.

In November 2000, she was number eight in the world, but the hoped-for single title failed to materialise.The Russian played her four finals on the WTA tour against legends and lost all four: 1998 in Miami against Venus Williams, 1999 in Hilton Head and 2000 at the home tournament in Moscow against Martina Hingis.Kournikova had the big chance to win the title in September 2002 at the tournament in Shanghai, where she was defeated by top seeded Israeli Anna Smashnova.Kournikova, who suffered from the “Yips” in the meantime and served a total of 182 double errors in ten matches, made headlines as a sex symbol again and again.My breasts are pretty good because they don’t hang out.They are firm and perfect,”she once explained.I hate women’s tennis, but I would even watch her play badminton for two hours,”said Richard Krajicek, winner of Wimbledon.Kournikova has been involved with the singer Enrique Iglesias since 2001 and is still omnipresent in the media.

It was in 1999 when Alexandra Stevenson catapulted herself onto the tennis map and reached the semi-finals in Wimbledon at the age of 18 as a qualifier.The US-American then concluded a well-paid contract with Nike.Stevenson couldn’t get off to a good start, however.Although she was number 18 in the world in October 2002, she didn’t get past the second round of the Grand Slams. In 2002 she was also close to a WTA title, but she lost the finals in Memphis and Linz.The defeat in Memphis was particularly painful as she lost to compatriot Lisa Raymond in the tiebreak of the third set 9-11.Stevenson, now 36 years old, is still active and continues to try as a professional.The US-American has set a sad record on the tour over the years, raising questions.No other player has given up as many matches as Stevenson, who instead of being a title champion has thrown in the towel early in her career, has thrown an unbelievable 71 times in professional matches.The last year that Stevenson ended a season without a match task was her best year, 2002.

Steve Denton goes down in the history of tennis as the most successful player in the men’s team, who could not win a tournament.The American, who was once the world’s No. 12, was in the 1981 and 1982 Australian Open finals, losing both times against Johan Kriek.It is also worth mentioning that many top players did not travel to Australia in the past.Denton also reached four more finals, including the 1982 Cincinnati vs.In 1983 and 1984 he lost the finals in Richmond, against Guillermo Vilas and John McEnroe.Denton certainly had the biggest chance to win the title in Metz in 1982, when he lost to his compatriot Erick Iskersky.

Julien Benneteau is the most successful player in the men’s singles, who has not yet won a single tournament.In doubles he even won the French Open 2014, but in singles he just can’t make it to the 35-year-old Frenchman, who was number 25 in the ATP ranking in 2011.Benneteau has won 258 matches on the ATP Tour so far and was in the quarter-finals of the French Open in Wimbledon in 2006.Grand Slam title of Roger Federer, he had the “Maestro” even on the brink of defeat, when he lacked only two points to win.In 2009, at the clay court tournament in Kitzbühel, it would have been almost as far as Benneteau’s absence from the title in 2009, when Lucky Loser was only a few points short of Lucky Loser, and he lost to the Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in a 3:41 hour marathon match.The Frenchman was even closer to the tournament in Kuala Lumpur in 2013, when he even had a match ball in the final against Joao Sousa.The hard court event in Malaysia was the favourite tournament of Benneteau.Between 2012 and 2014, he reached the final three times in a row.His tenth and last final was lost to Kei Nishikori.With this, he also sets a new record.Cedric Pioline had lost his first nine finals in the nineties, but then won five more titles.Time is running out of the Frenchman.He turns 36 in December.It would be a great surprise if Benneteau could win another single title.

Mischa Zverev is currently the best placed player in the ATP ranking without an ATP title.The strong performances in the last twelve months, including the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, brought the 30-year-old German to 25th place.Zverev won five titles on the Challenger Tour, twice at ATP level, and twice up to the final. In 2010 in Metz (against Gilles Simon) and this year in Geneva (against Stan Wawrinka) he came out on top.A few days ago, he was once again close to the first ATP title in Metz.Zverev went into the German semi-finals as a favourite against the later tournament winner Peter Gojowczyk, but had to give up in the second set due to illness.Zverev should take an example from Gilles Müller, who proved this year that it is never too late for the first ATP title.The 34-year-old from Luxembourg celebrated his first title win in Sydney after losing five final games in January, and won his second victory in’s-Hertogenbosch.

29!Yen-Hsun Lu has won so many ATP-Challenger tournaments in his career.The Taiwanese is thus a record holder in this category.The 34-year-old is still waiting for a tournament victory on the ATP Tour.Lu has won 158 matches on the ATP Tour so far and was number 33 in the ATP ranking in 2010. In 2014 he reached his only final in Auckland, where he was defeated by John Isner.Lu has celebrated a few outstanding victories at ATP level. In 2010, he defeated Andy Roddick in a memorable match in Wimbledon’s last sixteen and reached a Grand Slam quarter-finals for the only time.Lu is also responsible for Andy Murray’s only single defeat to date at the Olympic Games. In 2008 in Beijing, he defeated the Scotsman in the first round.The next title won by Lu is certainly better to be an ATP title, even though 30 Challenger titles would be a nice round sum.

Like Yen-Hsun Lu, Dudi Sela is one of those jumpers between the Challengers and ATP tournaments.The Israeli is the second most successful player on the Challenger Tour.This year he won his 22nd place.Titles on this tournament level.On the ATP tour, Sela has so far not had the resounding success.The 32-year-old has so far won 134 matches on the ATP Tour and was number 29 in the world in 2009. In 2008 in Beijing and 2014 in Atlanta he was close to the ATP title, but both finals were lost.Selas best result at a Grand Slam: the round of sixteen at the Wimbledon 2010.If it doesn’t work with a title on ATP level, then Sela might be able to break Lu’s Challenger record.

Potito Starace has won 162 ATP level matches in his career to date and was number 27 in the world in 2007.The Italian is a classic sandbox groomer.But even on the ashes Starace didn’t have enough to win an ATP title.He was the loser in all four final participations (Valencia, Kitzbühel, Umag and Casablanca) and lost out.Starace made big headlines when it was banned for life in August 2015 due to alleged betting manipulation.Two months later, however, in the appeal process, Starace was acquitted of all allegations.However, the Italian has not played a professional match since then.

Brett Steven is the most successful player from New Zealand after Chris Lewis, who reached the 1983 Wimbledon final. 175 match wins on the ATP Tour and 32nd place in Steven’s Vita.In the 1993 Australian Open Grand Slams he scored his best result when he entered the quarter-finals.Steven played three finals on the ATP Tour, 1993 in Schenectady, 1996 at the home tournament in Auckland and 1997 in Newport.He was very close to the title in Schnectady when he lost the final against Thomas Enqvist in the tiebreak of the third set.

When Henrik Holm had his professional days, at the end of the eighties and in the nineties, the Swedish men’s tennis was still full of first-class players.For Holm, there were only three bets in the Davis Cup.Nowadays, Holm would be the big figurehead in Sweden.In 1993 he was number 17 in the world and in that year he defeated Michael Stich in the first round of the US Open. In 1992 Holm was in the round of sixteen at Wimbledon and also had his best year in his career.In Washington he played his first ATP final, which he lost to Petr Korda.In Tokyo, he also entered the final in Tokyo.On the way there he defeated Boris Becker 6-1,6-2.In the final he found his master in Ivan Lendl.