Top 4 Tennis Legends Who Never Won A Tennis Grand Slam Title

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Winning a grand slam title is nothing short of a dream for any professional tennis player. However, a majority of legendary tennis players, including Marcelo Rios, David Nalbandian, Henri Leconte and many others who have been a nightmare for their opponents, failed to clinch the grand slam title in their otherwise flourishing professional tennis careers.

Although these tennis stalwarts had everything required in them to clinch the coveted grand slam title, their fate decided otherwise, and they failed to clinch the grand slam title multiple times by a small margin.

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In this article we will take a look at the top four tennis players who never won a Grand Slam title in their professional tennis careers.

Top 4 Tennis Legends Who Never Won A Tennis Grand Slam

• Marcelo Rios

Chilean former professional tennis player Marcelo Andrés Ríos Mayorga, popularly referred to as “Marcelo Rios”, is at the first spot in our list of the top four tennis players who never won a Grand Slam title. Ranked as the world No. 1 in men’s singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), Marcelo Rios clinched a phenomenal total of 18 ATP Tour-level singles titles, including five Masters events, and was the runner-up at the 1998 Australian Open.

Although Marcelo Rios had everything in him, he still failed to clinch the coveted Grand Slam title and shockingly became the only man in the Open Era to have been world No. 1 without ever winning a major singles tournament. Marcelo Rios was forced to retire from professional tennis in 2004 at the young age of 29 due to prolonged and repeated injuries.

• David Nalbandian

At the second spot in our list of the top four tennis players who never won a Grand Slam title in their professional tennis careers, we have Argentine former professional tennis player David Nalbandian, who reached his highest ranking in singles at world No. 3 in March 2006, during an extremely glitzy career that spanned from 2000 to 2013. Nalbandian clinched a total of 11 singles titles, including the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005 and two Masters 1000 tournaments.

Additionally, Nalbandian was also a member of the Argentinian Davis Cup team who reached the finals of the World Group in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Despite his strongest efforts, David Nalbandian failed to clinch the coveted Grand Slam title and announced his official retirement from professional tennis on 1 October 2013.

• Henri Leconte

Another tennis stalwart, Henri Leconte was forced to retire from professional tennis without living his dream of securing a Grand Slam title. French former professional tennis player, Henri Leconte played a major role in helping France capture the Davis Cup in 1991.

Although Henri Leconte was ranked at No. 5 in the world tennis ranking, he still failed to clinch the grand slam title. Leconte lost his career’s final French Open against Swedish former professional tennis player Mats Wilander with a 5-7, 2-6, 1-6 score. Although Henri Leconte never won a grand slam title in singles, he did manage to win a grand slam title in doubles in 1984.

• Nikolay Davydenko

Finally, at the fourth spot in our list of top four tennis players who never won a Grand Slam title in their professional tennis careers, we have Russian former professional tennis player Nikolay Davydenko, who achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 in November 2006. Nikolay Davydenko clinched the 2009 ATP World Tour Finals, and he also won three ATP Masters Series.

Although Nikolay Davydenko failed to clinch the coveted Grand Slam title, he managed to reach a total of four semi-finals against the legendary tennis player Roger Federer twice each, at the French Open and the U.S. Open, and unfortunately, ended up losing all of them. Nikolay Davydenko ultimately announced an official retirement from professional tennis in October 2014 without clinching even a single Grand Slam title.

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