Note: Chris wrote about male players who have lost the most number of times to the eventual champion in Grand Slams. Below, he analyzes the women’s fields.
Again, these results are only since the 2003 Australian Open. Grand Slam titles won in that time are in parentheses, as well as finals appearances.
7 – Sharapova (’04 W, ’06 US; one final)
6 – Clijsters (’05 US; three-time loser in finals)
5 – Kuznetsova (’04 US; one final), Davenport (two finals)
4 – Henin (’03 FO, ’03 US, ’04 AO, ’05-’07 FO; three-time loser in finals), Venus (’05 W, ’07 W; two losses in finals), Pierce (two-time loser), Petrova
3 – Serena (’03 AO, ’03 W, ’05 AO, ’07 AO; one finals loss), Myskina (’04 FO), Dementieva (two finals losses), Ivanovic (one loss), Capriati, Santangelo, Loit, Pratt
2 – Mauresmo (’06 AO, ’06 W), Hantuchova, Jankovic, Schnyder, Vaidisova, Sugiyama, Pin, Krajicek, Craybas, Frazier, Randriantefy, Zuluaga, Callens
Maria has lost to the eventual champ in seven of the 19 slams she’s played. Knock her all you want, but there’s only been four times since she won her Wimbledon title in 2004 that she hasn’t made it to the Semifinals or beyond.
J-Cap lost to the eventual champion three of the seven slams that she played since 2003. Clijsters went six for twelve in that time.
Should we call Petrova the best player to have never won a slam or even made it to the finals? Will she ever shed this title in her career?
And what about Davenport and Pierce? Always the bridesmaids, seldom the brides…
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