Week 3- Australian Open

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 3- Australian Open

philwrig · Hall of fame

Who's dm ?

steven · Tennis legend

stevemcqueen wrote:

Pub quiz question for tennis nerds.....

Which player(s) have reached more than one Grand Slam final but not won a Grand Slam title?

8 players have reached the Finals of two slams in the Open era without ever winning one:

Robin Söderling (RG 2009 & 2010)
Mark Philippoussis (USO 1998 & Wimb 2003)
Alex Corretja (RG 1998 & 2001)
Todd Martin (AO 1994 & USO 1999)
Cedric Pioline (USO 1993 & Wimb 1997)
Miloslav Mecir (USO 1986 & AO 1989)
Kevin Curren (AO 1984 & Wimbledon 1985)
Steve Denton (AO 1981 & 1982)

However, to find the last time a player reached the Finals of three slams without ever winning one, you have to go back to the 1930s, when (you've guessed it!), the last Brit before Andy to win Queen's, Bunny Austin finished runner-up at Wimbledon in 1932 and 1938 and at RG in 1937.

You don't have to go much further back than that to find the previous 3-time runners-up who never won slams - the other players who have done this since the 1st world war are:

Harry Hopman (after whom a certain team tournament is named!), who lost the AO Final 3 years in a row 1930-32
Frank Hunter (Wimbledon 1923, USO 1928-9)

Austin was part of a DC-winning team, while Hopman and Hunter both won grand slam doubles titles.

As far as I can tell, nobody has ever reached 4 grand slam Finals without going on to win a slam at some point in their career.

Nerdy enough for you? wink

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 1st of February 2011 10:21:08 AM

steven · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:

Who's dm ?

Daily Fail - it's hidden in http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-1352291/AUSTRALIAN-OPEN-2011-Andy-Murray-grow-blasts-Mats-Wilander.html

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

Yeah, that's quite nerdy.....You found more than I did anyway.

We are all members of tennis clubs, and most of these clubs probably have quiz nights. Perhaps we might collate 20 or so tricky questions for a "tennis nerd" section of the quiz?

Talking of Hop,I had the honour of meeting him. I'm showing my age now.....

-- Edited by stevemcqueen on Tuesday 1st of February 2011 02:50:44 PM

Spectator · All-time great

Whether or not one agrees entirely with his analysis, Pete Bodo's article on tennis.com is, I think, both kind and fair : http://blogs.tennis.com/tennisworld/2011/02/tj.html.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Another link. I've read quite a few opinions about Andy's performance but this is one a like alot, talking about the additional mental strength Andy needs in order to claim his first grand slam title.

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/tennis/patrick-mouratoglou/article/1277/murray-needs-clearer-gameplan/