Steve Johnson names who he thinks is the best player to have never won a Grand Slam title.
Of the hundreds and thousands of players that have competed at tennis’ highest level, only a select few have won a Grand Slam, one of the game’s four biggest and most prestigious titles.
This is especially the case in the era of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who have 66 majors between them.
There are several players during the peak of their careers that did not win a Grand Slam due to their dominance, and former ATP player Steve Johnson thinks one of them is best to never win a major.
Steve Johnson says Tomas Berdych is ‘potentially the best player to never win a Grand Slam’
There are several names that have been mentioned for being the best player to not have won a Grand Slam. One of those names is Tomas Berdych, who played on the ATP Tour for 17 years, and hung up his racket in 2019.
He reached at least the quarter-finals at majors on 17 occasions, and reached his lone final at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships.
The Czech player possessed a thunderous serve with some of the cleanest and most powerful groundstrokes the game has seen.
This is why former player Steve Johnson named Berdych as the best player to not win a Grand Slam on the latest episode of the Nothing Major podcast.
“He has got to be potentially the best player to never win a slam. I think it’s him, a Sacha at the moment. Given the era Berdych was in, it’s tough to do,” the American said.
His co-host Sam Querrey added: “Berdych was so incredibly good, his ball striking was insane. He got wins over Fed, Nadal, Djokovic, you name it.
“I am not going to name names in the current generation but Berdych ranked six or seven for all those years is so much better than the guys five to nine right now.
“He was such an incredible tough out, I feel like if I went on his Wikipedia right now, I feel like the guy was in the quarter final of every Grand Slam and Masters series for 10 straight years. He was so talented. Without the top three I give Berdych a handful of slams.”
What happened when Tomas Berdych played Rafael Nadal in the 2010 Wimbledon final
Berdych’s lone Grand Slam final came at Wimbledon in 2010.
The now 39-year-old stunned defending champion Federer in the quarter-finals 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, before knocking out Djokovic in straight sets in the semi-finals.
With two of the ‘Big 3’ out of the competition, standing between Berdych and a first Grand Slam title was Nadal, the World number one at the time.
The Spaniard was searching for his second Wimbledon title after his epic victory over Federer in 2008.
Nadal made his experience count and as he overwhelmed Berdych, who was not allowed to play his aggressive and free-flowing brand of tennis.
Nadal needed five sets to outlast Federer two years prior but in 2010, he dispatched Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to win his second and final title at the All-England Club.
Berdych came close to winning more majors in future years, as he made four other semi-finals appearances at the highest level, but he just could not make that final step at the highest level.
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