Sampras, Hingis: Ranking of TBS Champions Missing “RG” for Career “Slam”
Alexander Nasonov June 10, 2023, 08:45 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.
We compiled all the winners of the Grand Slam tournaments, who won all the majors, except the clay court one.
Clay tennis is a special type of sport. Throughout history, at least 13 pieces of evidence of this claim have been collected. This is how many athletes could or can say about themselves that for the “Slam” career they only lacked the title at Roland Garros. Among them are both stars of the distant past and tennis players who have recently finished their careers. And Angelique Kerber, who took a breather due to the birth of a child, could theoretically drop off this list next year. Which of them is really the strongest is up to you. You can explain your choice in the comments.
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Ranking: the best TBS champions who did not win at Roland Garros in singles
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Pete Sampras (United States)
It was Sampras who for a long time held the record for the number of TBSH titles in men’s singles – 14. Only later was he beaten first by Roger Federer (20), and then by Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic (both – 22 each). The American has won Wimbledon seven times and, according to this indicator, only Federer surpasses him (8). Pete has also won the US Open five times and the Australian Open twice. And at Roland Garros, his best result was the semifinal in 1996. He was then defeated in three sets by Evgeny Kafelnikov, the future champion of the tournament.
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Martina Hingis (Switzerland)
Surprisingly, Hingis, famous for her universalism, never won Roland Garros, although she did reach the final twice. In 1997, she lost to Croatian Iva Majoli, and in 1999, to the legendary Steffi Graf. Overall, the 1997 season was perhaps the best in the career of the Swiss, who turned 17 over the course of that year. In 1997, Martina won three TBSH; therefore, she was one match away from the schedule Slam. In addition, she won the Australian Open two more times: in 1998 and 1999.
Photo: Steve Powell/Getty Images
Boris Becker (Germany)
In the mid-1980s, Becker surprised everyone. At 18, the German was already a two-time Wimbledon champion! He took the third major in London in 1989, and a couple of months later he took the US Open. The Australian Open was introduced to Boris in 1991 and 1996. But at Roland Garros, Becker reached the semifinal stage three times, but no more. In 1987 and 1989 he was stopped by the Swedes Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg, and in 1991 by Andre Agassi. Officially, Boris retired from the sport after Wimbledon 1999, when he was not even 32 years old.
Photo: Keystone/Getty Images
Jimmy Connors (United States)
Connors still holds three steep records in men’s singles: 109 titles, 1,557 matches, 1,274 wins. The American achieved the greatest success at his home US Open, which he won five times. Wimbledon came to him twice, the Australian Open once. But at Roland Garros, Jimmy reached the semifinals four times, but he did not win a single victory in these games.
Photo: Simon Bruty/Getty Images
Stefan Edberg (Sweden)
Edberg has won the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open twice each. At Roland Garros, the Swede, a lover of net service tactics, reached the final once. In 1989, Stefan lost the decisive match to the then 17-year-old American Michael Chang: 1: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 4: 6, 2: 6. Moreover, Edberg in Paris did not even reach the semifinals. .
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Lindsey Davenport (United States)
Davenport has won every other TSH once: first taking the US Open (1998) and then Wimbledon (1999) and the Australian Open (2000). And at Roland Garros, the former first racket in the world did not even make it to the final. In addition, the American reached the semifinals only once, specifically in 1998. And he lost there to Arancha Sánchez, who later took the title. At the same time, thanks to stability, Lindsay finished the season four times in the rank of the first racket in the world: in 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005.
Photo: Tony Duffy/Getty Images
Arthur Ash (United States)
The legendary American tennis player, after whom the main arena of the US Open is named, was included in the list of helmets without Roland Garros in 1975 after winning Wimbledon. She took her first TBSH on his home soil in 1968 and won the Australian Open in 1970. But at Roland Garros, Ash, the former world’s No. 2 racket, twice, in 1970 and 1971, reached the quarterfinals, but that’s all. Arthur died in 1993 of pneumonia, which his body, weakened by AIDS, could not cope with. He was only 49 years old.
Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images
Frank Sedgeman (Australia)
Sedgman, who turned 95 in October 2022 (good health to the champion!), has twice won the Australian Open (1949, 1950) and the US Open (1951, 1952). He took Wimbledon in 1952, and came close to taking Roland Garros in the same 1952. But in the final he lost to three-time TBS champion Yaroslav Drobny, who at that point in his career was playing under the Egyptian flag.
Photo: Julian Finney/Getty Images
Angelique Kerber (Germany)
The only person on this list who hasn’t finished acting yet and therefore may fall off our rating next year. Now, however, Kerber’s career is on hiatus: in February 2023, the German gave birth to a girl. She Angelica has once won the Australian Open, the US Open (both in 2016) and Wimbledon (in 2018), and has reached the quarterfinals twice at Roland Garros, in 2012 and 2018.
Photo: Evening Standard/Makeup Images
John Newcomb (Australia)
Newcomb, a seven-time TBS champion, didn’t like Roland Garros very much and didn’t even come to the tournament all the time. Twice, in 1965 and 1969, he made it to the quarterfinals. And so John was flying much more often in the early stages.
Photo: Dennis Oulds/Getty Images
Ashley Cooper (Australia)
One of the best tennis players in the world in the second half of the 1950s – it was during this period that the main hits of Cooper, the former first racket in the world, fell. In 1957, Ashley won the Australian Open at home for himself, and in 1958 he took every TBSH except Roland Garros, where he made it to the semifinals three times, but each time something prevented him from going further.
Photo: Central Press/Getty Images
Louise Brou-Clapp (United States)
The four-time Wimbledon champion has also won the Australian Open and the US Open once, but at Roland Garros she lost three times in the semifinals. But in doubles and mixed doubles, Brou-Klapp won all the majors. In all, she has 21 TSH tag titles and eight mixed doubles. Louise passed away in February 2014. She was 90 years old.
Photo: Frank Tewkesbury/Getty Images
Virginia Wade (UK)
Wade, despite having once won the Australian Open (1972), Wimbledon (1977) and the US Open (1968), was never the first racket in the world in singles, only second. At Roland Garros, the best result for the Briton, who shone in world tennis in the 1970s, was two appearances in the quarterfinals, in 1970 and 1972. For many years, Wade was the only British representative to win the TBS until that Andy Murray won the US Open in 2012. If we take into account only the women’s singles, only in 2021 Emma Radukanu repeated Virginia’s achievement by winning the US Open.
