Jannik Sinner is not the only Grand Slam champion who has not won many clay court titles.
Sinner is a four-time Grand Slam champion, but he has only won one title on clay.
This time came at the Croatia Open in 2022, when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in the final, but Sinner lost in two clay court finals last year to the Spaniard including the French Open.
While Sinner has only won one clay court title, there is actually a six-time Grand Slam champion who never won a single title on the surface.
Boris Becker did not win a single clay court title in his career
Boris Becker won six Grand Slam titles, and was world number one for a total of 12 weeks.
The German won a total of 49 titles in his career, with Becker winning over 63% of the finals he played in his career.
Of his 49 career titles, Becker won 16 on hard courts, seven on grass and 26 on carpet, which no longer is a surface used on the ATP Tour.
However, Becker was unable to win a clay court final, despite being in six finals on the surface in his career.
| Boris Becker’s record in finals | |
| Hard | 16-6 (72.7%) |
| Clay | 0-6 (0%) |
| Grass | 7-5 (58.3%) |
| Carpet | 26-11 (70.3%) |
| Overall | 49-28 (63.6%) |
While it was definitely not his best surface, Becker was more than capable on clay courts.
Becker reached six finals on the surface, with five of these finals at Masters 1000 or equivalent tournaments.
Three of these finals were at the Monte Carlo Masters, which was the tournament where Becker came extremely close to winning his first clay court title.
In his third and last final at the Monte Carlo Masters in 1995, Becker led Thomas Muster by two sets to love and even had two championship points in the fourth set.
Becker led the fourth set tie-break 6-4, before hitting a double fault and then a forehand in the net to allow Muster back into the match.
The final clay court final Becker played in his career was at the Swiss Open in 1998, where he was beaten by Alex Corretja.
| Clay court tournament where Boris Becker reached the final | Result |
| Monte Carlo Masters 1989 | Alberto Mancini beat Becker, 7-5 2-6 7-6(4) 7-5 |
| Hamburg Open 1990 | Juan Aguilera beat Becker, 6-1 6-0 7-6(7) |
| Monte Carlo Masters 1991 | Sergi Bruguera beat Becker, 5-7 6-4 7-6(6) 7-6(4) |
| Italian Open 1994 | Pete Sampras beat Becker, 6-1 6-2 6-2 |
| Monte Carlo Masters 1995 | Thomas Muster beat Becker, 4-6 5-7 6-1 7-6(6) 6-0 |
| Swiss Open 1998 | Alex Corretja beat Becker, 7-6(5) 7-5 6-3 |
What was Boris Becker’s best result at the French Open?
As previously mentioned, Becker won six Grand Slam singles titles in his career.
Becker won two Australian Open titles, three Wimbledon titles and one US Open, but he was never able to win the French Open.
In his nine appearances at the clay court major, Becker won 74% of his 25 matches at the tournament.
| Year | Boris Becker’s result at the French Open |
| 1985 | Second Round |
| 1986 | Quarterfinal |
| 1987 | Semifinal |
| 1988 | Fourth Round |
| 1989 | Semifinal |
| 1990 | First Round |
| 1991 | Semifinal |
| 1993 | Second Round |
| 1995 | Third Round |
Becker’s best results at the French Open came in 1987, 1989 and 1991, when he reached the semifinals.
The closest Becker came to reaching the French Open final was in 1989, when he took Stefan Edberg to five sets.
Becker’s final appearance at the French Open was in 1995, when he lost in the third round to Romanian qualifier Adrian Voinea.
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