A look at The Best Players Never to win Wimbledon

With Wimbledon upon us for another year, it would be interesting to take a look at some of the best players who excelled at Wimbledon but never managed to lift the trophy in the last 30 years.

Ivan Lendl

Ivan Lendl had a very good grass court record. He made it to two finals in 1986 and 1987, plus the semifinals in 1983, 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1990.

You won’t get a much better record than that. Plus, there have been players who have won Wimbledon with nowhere near as good an overall record of wins. Lendl lost in straight sets to a brilliant Boris Becker in 1986 and Pat Cash in 1987.

Lendl had many attributes to win Wimbledon, including a big serve plus athleticism, but the criticism was that he changed his game for grass by serving and volleying when he should have played his natural game instead.

This critique is tough because back then everyone came to the net, and the grass courts weren’t as playable for baseline tennis as they are now.

Pat Rafter  

Pat Rafter did not have his best results at Wimbledon until towards the end of his career.
A contemporary of Sampras and Ivanisevic, Rafter took to the grass courts from 1998 onwards.  Up until that point, Rafter was a hard court specialist player due to his big kick serve and even bounce hard courts offered his game.

One can argue Rafter was unlucky; in 1999 he lost in the semifinal to an inspired Andre Agassi. In 2000, Rafter played the best match of his career beating Agassi in five sets in the semifinal but came up against Sampras in the final. Even though Rafter won the first set in a tiebreak, Sampras was always threatening to run away with the match by persistently returning well, and he eventually did after turning around the second set tiebreak.

In 2001, Rafter came from behind twice to defeat Agassi in a five-set thriller in the semifinal and then played one of the best matches of the Open era against Ivanisevic in an amazing five set final with both players desperate to win after Sampras’ demise.
Both players deserved to win, but Ivanisevic came through 9-7 in the fifth to avoid being included in this discussion.

Rafter had all the physical and mental attributes to win Wimbledon but maybe just didn’t have the little bit of luck needed at the highest level to pull it off.

Andy Roddick

Perhaps I’m too quick to include Andy Roddick  here because he’s still on the Tour and not yet 30 years old.

But you wonder if his last chance has gone after blowing the second set tiebreak against Roger Federer in the 2009 final. Roddick has been to three finals, each time losing to Roger Federer, so one can argue that he has been slightly unlucky.

However, it can also be argued that out of players listed, Roddick is the least naturally talented and relies too much on his serve. He doesn’t possess the athleticism of the other players mentioned, and his return game is the least effective.

When it comes to Wimbledon, the serve is often focused as the most important shot, but if you cannot return serve well, winning Wimbledon is virtually impossible. Pete Sampras has often said that it’s the return of serve which wins Wimbledon, and Andy Roddick needs to improve this aspect of his game to have any chance of winning Wimbledon late on in his career.

Tim Henman

Tim Henman is an interesting choice because he never actually made a final. But he did make it to four semi finals between 1998 and 2002. Henman had a lot going for him, he was very athletic, he had fanatical home support, and had a very nice return game.

His best chance came in 2001 when he had Goran Ivanisevic on the rack in the third set, but the rain came and changed everything.  He also gave Pete Sampras a good match in 1999, taking the first set, but Sampras’ experience proved too much in the end.

In my view the reason Henman never won Wimbledon was due to the fact he simply did not have the power to go with his athleticism. His serve wasn’t strong enough consistently, and he was never able to serve many aces or unreturnables, so he always had to work hard, and eventually that takes its toll against the best players. In other words, Henman wasn’t able to intimidate the opposition into mistakes.

Mark Phillippoussis

Mark Phillippoussis made it to the final in 2003, losing to Roger Federer, who won his first Wimbledon. Federer was the better player that day, and even though there were two tiebreaks, Federer’s return game made the difference.

Phillippoussis had many gifts, he was physically imposing and had one of the biggest and best serves in the game.

Unfortunately Phillippoussis had many injury issues, and the word is that he didn’t have the discipline to work hard enough on his game to get the best out of himself.
Therefore you can argue that Phillippoussis was a wasted talent—unfortunately for him.

Justine Henin

Justine Henin came out of retirement in 2010 with the main goal of winning Wimbledon.  Unfortunately, Henin is back in retirement again after failing to recover adequately from an arm injury, ironically sustained at Wimbledon against Kim Clijsters in the 4th round.   Henin has been to two finals, losing to Venus Williams in three sets in 2001 and Amelie Mauresmo in three sets in 2006.

Justine Henin had a beautiful game for grass, she’s athletic, not afraid to attack the net or serve and volley. Plus Henin used the slice to keep the ball low against the many two-handers out there on the backhand side and a beautiful one hand backhand to stretch opponents and hit outright winners from nowhere.  Henin also improved her forehand over the years to make it a much better weapon.

What prevented Henin winning Wimbledon? Henin lacked that extra power that’s needed to conquer Wimbledon against power players of the calibre of Venus and Serena Williams.  In the modern era, power and athleticism are just as important as technique and touch on grass. 

 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario

Arantxa Sanchez Vicario has a record similar to Ivan Lendl—finalist twice and semifinalist on a few occasions.

Sanchez Vicario faced Steffi Graf in the 1995 and 1996 finals. In 1995, Sanchez Vicario gave everything, but there was an incredible ninth game in the third set which lasted almost 25 minutes, and Graf was bale to eventually break and serve out for the title. In 1996 Graf was always in control.

Sanchez Vicario was a crafty and intelligent player who was tactically aware. She won the French Open three times and the US Open once, beating Graf in a great final in 1994.
But again, at Wimbledon, Sanchez Vicario just lacked the power and athleticism of her rivals, including Graf, Jana Novotna, and Martina Navratilova.

Honourable mentions to players who had the game to win Wimbledon and managed to win after coming so close on many occasions:

Honorable Mentions (winners)
Jana Novotna (1998), Goran Ivanesivic (2001)  and Amelie Mauresmo (2006).