A look at the best female players never to win the French Open

We have taken a look at the best male players never to win the French Open and now it is time to look at the ladies to never win the tournament. 

Like the men, some of the best female players have failed to win the title, showing once again what a unique surface European clay has proven to be for the very best players in the Open era.

Venus Williams

Venus Williams has played in all four major finals in her career, including the French Open final in 2002. Unfortunately for Venus, she lost to her sister in all four major venues between 2002 and 2003 which must be tough to take, even though Venus handled the losses with great dignity.

Venus has a very good record on clay if not a stellar record at the French Open.  Venus has won 9 clay titles so far in her career and played in 6 other finals.  Venus has won the Italian Open in 1999 and Hamburg twice, plus titles in Warsaw, Acapulco and on the green clay in Charleston. 

However, when it comes to the French Open, like so many other American players, Venus hasn’t found the formula to transcend her aggressive hardcourt game to the slow red clay of Paris.  In recent years Venus has struggled to make an impression, and with every passing year is less likely to be a threat the French Open.

Martina Hingis

Martina Hingis is a player you thought would have been certain to win the French Open before her career was over.  Hingis was finalist in 1997 and 1999 plus semifinalist in 1998 and 2000. 

In 1997 Hingis played in all four major finals, but had a surprising loss in straight sets to Iva Majoli of Croatia, who promptly went on to disappear.  Hingis then went on to lose an infamous final in 1999 to Steffi Graf; when in control with a set and a break, let a suspect line call get to her which changed the whole momentum of the final and got the French crowd on her back, Hingis never recovered from that experience at the French Open. 

Hingis won 7 clay titles including the Italian Open in 1998 and 2006 in her comeback year.  Hingis also won the German Open and Charleston on the green clay in 1999.  Hingis had all the shots to be a great claycourt player, including excellent court craft, skills at the net and vision, all required to be a good clay court player.  Hingis probably lacked that extra bit of speed around the court and didn’t possess a very powerful serve, which made her vulnerable against players with big games.  We tend to think this will be a problem on hardcourts, but it was also a problem for Hingis on clay because players with big shots have even more time to go for their shots.

Having said that, Hingis should have won at least one French Open title.

Kim Clijsters

Another player more known for being a hardcourt specialist, Clijsters has played in two French finals so far in her career, in 2001 and 2003.  In 2001, Clijsters lost an epic final to Jennifer Capriati and then in 2003 lost in straight sets to Justine Henin.  It is fair to say that since Clijsters’ loss to Capriati in 2001, there has not been a final in Paris anywhere near as good.

Clijsters has won 3 clay titles so far in her career including the Italian Open in 2004, Hamburg in 2002 and Warsaw in 2006.  Clijsters also played in the German Open final in 2003, losing to Justine Henin.  Clijsters’ game is based on speed, athleticism and quick strikes which is why her game is tailor made for hardcourts.  But at the same time, athleticism should take you very far on clay so there is no reason why Clijsters couldn’t do better on the clay post 2006 when she got to the semifinals of the French Open.

Clijsters has been denied a couple of times by Justine Henin, one of the greatest claycourt players of the Open era.  Clijsters’ window of winning the French open is closing, and I wonder if she had to chose, whether she would concentrate harder on winning Wimbledon which might suit her game better, especially as Clisjsters heads to retirement from the sport.

Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport is another hardcourt specialist who failed to win the French Open.  Davenport’s best result came in 1998 where she reached the semifinal, losing to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.  Davenport also made the quarterfinal in 2005, losing to Mary Pierce.  

Davenport won 8 clay court titles in her career, in fact her first ever title in 1993 was on a claycourt in Switzerland.  Davenport won titles in Strasbourg and Amelia Island on green clay in 1998 and 2004.  Davenport would never win a tier 1 event on European red clay.

Davenport’s style of play is often described as the California big game, which is possessing a big serve and big groundstrokes, Pete Sampras and Venus Williams also played this type of game.  Like the two other players mentioned, Davenport wasn’t afraid to venture to net and had a very good doubles record at grand slam level, like every other female player on this list.  Like many other hardcourt players, Davenport found it difficult to transfer the baseline game from that surface to the clay surface.  This was due to the fact that not only does clay feel different underfoot to hardcourts, but Davenport was not able to practice first strike tennis as easily.  Davenport’s lack of mobility was also a problem on the clay as you have to do a lot of running, and to win 7 matches that way was probably asking too much of Davenport. 

Conchita Martinez

Conchita Martinez is the ultimate claycourt specialist who didn’t win the French Open.  In fact, Martinez played one final only, losing to Mary Pierce in straight sets in 2000. 

Martinez won over 15 claycourt titles in her career including the German Open in 1998 and the Italian Open four times in a row from 1993 to 1996 which is a record. Martinez also won her fair share of hardcourt titles and a very respectable 33 titles overall.  Martinez’ most incredible achievement  is her Wimbledon title which she won in 1994 defeating Martina Navratilova in the final in 3 sets.  Martinez is the only Spanish female player to win Wimbledon, made more remarkable by the fact that she was very much the clay court specialist.  Martinez also played in the Australian Open final in 1998, losing to Martina Hingis.

Martinez had a western grip on the forehand side and generated an incredible amount of topspin on her forehands and backhands.  Martinez also employed the slice backhand, and due to a very good doubles record, had good hands at net.  Martinez didn’t have a very powerful serve; therefore she was always vulnerable to the very best players in the world and had a losing record to many top players including Graf, Seles and Mary Pierce.

This might explain why Martinez was unable to win the French Open, some of the greatest players of the Open era dominated the French Open in the 1990s, namely Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Gabriela Sabatini

Gabriela Sabatini won a major title at the US Open on hardcourt in 1990.  In that final Sabatini defeated Steffi Graf in straight sets in a very impressive performance.  Sabatini had a game that was well suited to the clay surface and would have expected to have done better at Roland Garros.

Sabatini won 22 titles in her career including 11 on clay.  Sabatini won the Italian Open on four occasions in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1992.  Sabatini also won Amelia Island on green clay in 1988, 1991 and 1992.  Sabatini reached the semifinal of the French Open on five occasions in 1985 as a 15 year old, 1987, 1988, 1991 and 1993.  In the 1993 semifnal, Sabatini held a 6-1 5-1 lead against Mary Joe Fernandez and even had five matchpoints, but went on to lose 10-8 in the 3rd set.  Sabatini never really recovered her confidence after that experience.

Sabatini had a similar game to Conchita Martinez, which was based around a lot of topspin on both her forehand and backhand.  Sabatini had a suspect serve and 2nd serve in particular; this probably prevented her from winning more major titles and at least making one French Open final.

Others

Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva are not considered great players, but were probably the two best players of recent years not to win the French Open.