Wimbledon has seen some of the greatest players in history lift the title, but not all top players have found success at SW19.
This has already shown at this year’s tournament, with eighth seed Holger Rune already out of Wimbledon.
Rune is not the only top 10 seed already out of the men’s singles event, with Lorenzo Musetti and Daniil Medvedev also crashing out.
Both Medvedev and Rune have actually won matches at Wimbledon before, but there is a former world number one who was never able to claim victory at the grass court major.
The former world number one who never won a match at Wimbledon
That man is Thomas Muster, who was never able to win a single match at Wimbledon in his entire career.
Muster made his first appearance at Wimbledon in 1987 as a 19-year-old, but suffered a straight sets defeat to Frenchman Guy Forget.
The Austrian did not return to Wimbledon until 1992, where he would once again suffer a straight sets first round loss, this time to lucky loser Grant Stafford.
Oliver Delaitre would be the next player to beat Muster in straight sets in 1993, before he made one final appearance in 1994.
Muster would get closest to winning a match at Wimbledon in 1994, even having a match point in his crushing five set defeat to qualifier Alexander Mronz.
| Year | Thomas Muster’s Wimbledon Result |
| 1987 | Guy Forget beat Muster, 6-4 6-4 6-4 |
| 1992 | Grant Stafford (LL) beat Muster, 6-3 6-3 7-6(6) |
| 1993 | Oliver Delaitre beat Muster (16), 7-5 6-4 6-2 |
| 1994 | Alexander Mronz (Q) beat Muster (WC), 5-7 7-6(3) 6(7)-7 6-4 8-6 |
After winning his only Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 1995, Muster skipped Wimbledon and would never return to SW19 again.
A year later, his manager Ronnie Leitgeb told the press that Muster felt disrespected by Wimbledon’s seedings.
At the time, Wimbledon would seed players using a formula that took into account their previous grass court performances rather than just their ATP ranking.
“Never in the history of Wimbledon has a world number two, a former number one, been seeded so low,” Leitgeb said ahead of Wimbledon in 1996.
“That’s a subtle way of saying they don’t want him. This is further proof that the people in Britain don’t value Thomas. When they call him on Monday, they will soon find out whether he’s there or not.”
Despite reaching the semi-finals of Queen’s, Muster did not show up to Wimbledon in 1996 and would retire as the only former world number one without ever winning a match at the grass court major.
Other former top 10 ATP players who have never won a match at Wimbledon
While Muster is the highest ranked ATP player in history to have never won a match at Wimbledon, he is not the only big name to have been winless at the grass court major.
There are eight former top 10 players who have never won a match at Wimbledon, but two of those never actually competed at the grass court major.
Seven of those eight players are now retired, with Pablo Carreno Busta being the only active player from this list.
| ATP Player | Career-high ranking | Win-loss Record at Wimbledon | Current Status |
| Thomas Muster | No.1 | 0-4 | Retired |
| Harold Solomon | No.5 | 0-4 | Retired |
| Kent Carlsson | No.6 | 0-0 | Retired |
| Alberto Berasategui | No.7 | 0-1 | Retired |
| Alberto Mancini | No.8 | 0-0 | Retired |
| Andrei Chesnokov | No.9 | 0-7 | Retired |
| Mariano Puerta | No.9 | 0-4 | Retired |
| Pablo Carreno Busta | No.10 | 0-7 | Active |
The Spaniard has lost all seven of his previous matches at SW19, with Carreno Busta withdrawing from Wimbledon this year.
Carreno Busta is now 33-years-old and has endured many injury struggles in recent years, meaning that his chances to win Wimbledon may be running out.
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