Novak Djokovic and Margaret Court have won the most Grand Slam titles, tied at 24 each. Serena Williams has 23 Grand Slam titles. Rafel Nadal and Steffi Graf each have 22 Grand Slam titles.
On the other extreme, I thought it would be interesting to look at other great male players who have never won a Grand Slam title. I was surprised to learn that some of these players have never won a Grand Slam title.
List of Great Players Who Never Won a Grand Slam Title
1. Tomas Berdych
The Czech player, Tomas Berdych, ranked as high as #4 on the ATP rankings. He did win 13 career titles between 2002 and 2019, but none of them were at any of the Grand Slam tournaments.
His greatest success at Grand Slam tournaments was the final at Wimbledon 2010 when he was defeated by Nadal in three sets. In other Grand Slam tournaments, he never managed to advance beyond the semifinals.
2. David Ferrer
Like Berdych, David Ferrer was also unlucky because he competed during the era of the Big Three (Djokovic, Federer, and Nadal). The closest Ferrer ever came to winning a Grand Slam was when he made it to the finals at the French Open in 2013.
Just like Berdych, Ferrer also lost to Nadal in three sets. Ferrer finished his career with 27 trophies and his best ranking was #3.
3. Guillermo Coria
Guillermo Coria, from Argentia and nicknamed El Mago, also reached the #3 position in the ATP rankings. Like David Ferrer, El Mago played his only Grand Slam final at the 2004 French Open.
He failed to take advantage of the opportunity to win a Grand Slam as he was defeated by his compatriot, Gaston Gaudio in a memorable final. Coria had a two-set lead and ended up losing in five sets, 6-0, 6-3, 4-6, 1-6, 6-8. Coria, who is known as a specialist on clay, never made it past the quarter-finals at any other Grand Slam tournament.
He finished his career in 2009 with a total of 9 tournament titles, although none of them were Grand Slams.
4. Andrei Medvedev
Not to be confused with Daniil Medvedev, who won the 2021 U.S. Open, Andrei Medvedev, who was ranked as high as number four in the world, never won a Grand Slam title.
During a decade of playing professional tennis, Andrei managed to achieve his greatest success at the 1999 French Open when he played the legendary Andre Agassi in the final.
Medvedev had a two-set lead but ended up losing to Agassi in five sets, 6-1, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 4-6. Medvedev, who retired in 2001, won 11 titles in his career.
5. Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko was ranked as high as #3 in the world ranking. He also won 21 titles during his career. And he did all of this without ever reaching the finals of a Grand Slam tournament.
He reached the semi-finals four times, twice at the French Open and twice at the U.S. Open.
6. Henri Leconte
Henri Leconte, who in recent years has entertained us in Legends exhibition matches, never was able to win a Grand Slam title. The closest he came was in 1988 when he made the finals of the French Open.
Leconte, who is French, had a lot of support from the crowd but suffered a three-set loss to the then-two-time French Open champion Matts Wilander. He ended his career with nine titles and was ranked as high as #5 in the world.
7. David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian was a great player and it is a shame that he never won a Grand Slam. Even in his junior days, Nalbandian showed great promise as a junior and was ranked as high as #3 in the junior rankings.
He even beat Roger Federer to win the 1998 juniors U.S. Open. As a professional, he also reached #3 in the world ranking. However, he never won a Grand Slam title. His best success at a Grand Slam was when he reached the 2002 Wimbledon final when he was only 20 years old.
Nalbandian was defeated by Lleyton Hewit in the final. He played well at other Grand Slams as well. In fact, he made the semi-finals at every other Grand Slam tournament.
His name has gone down in tennis history as the only player who managed to beat Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic in the same tournament, which he did at the 2007 ATP Masters in Madrid, a tournament that he won. Nalbandian ended his career with 11 titles.
8. Marcelo Rios
We end the list of great tennis players who never managed to win a Grand Slam title with a player who was ranked #1 in the world. Marcelo Rios was the best player in the world in 1998, the same year that he reached the finals of the Australian Open.
He was defeated by Petr Korda who lasted only 85 minutes and that saw Rios win only six games.
Rios lost the match 2-6, 2-6, 2-6. Not only was this the only Grand Slam finals he ever played in, but he never made it past the quarter-finals at any other Grand Slam. Rios retired in 2004 after playing professionally for 10 years. He ended his career with 18 titles, but no Grand Slams.
