The Most Talented Players to Never Win Titles

Tennis is a brutally competitive sport and being good is simply not enough. Sometimes you have to have luck even if you’re the best of all time, arguably. If Robin Söderling didn’t beat Rafael Nadal at the 2009 Roland Garros, Roger Federer might have never won that event, for example.

That is how much luck matters in tennis, and some players have been rather unlucky in that sense. There have been some amazing players who have never won singles trophies, and we’re going to go over some of them below.

1. Alejandro Davidovich Fokina

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina is an active player who is ranked inside the top 50. He’s a really solid player capable of playing some amazing tennis on both hard courts and clay courts.

His best ranking came in 2023 when he was No 21 in the world, but he’s yet to win a trophy. So far, he has made it to three finals, one of which was even at the Masters 1000 level in Monte-Carlo. He wasn’t close to winning that one, at least not as close as winning the next one in Delray Beach in 2025.

He had match points against Miomir Kecmanovic but suffered a massive collapse to lose the final in a close third set. The next chance came not long after that in Acapulco, but once again he was beaten, this time in straight sets.

Davidovich Fokina might have missed out on some trophies, but at just 25 years old he will get more chances in the future. For a player of his talent to go titleless in his career would be incredibly unlucky.

2. Tomas Martin Etcheverry

Tomas Martin Etcheverry is a very strong Argentinian player who made the Roland Garros quarter-finals in 2023, demonstrating how good his top level is. He has been a regular in the world’s top 50, with a career-high ranking of No 27.

The Argentine has mostly had success on clay, but is not exclusively a clay player as highlighted by some good wins on hard courts as well.

Etcheverry has had a couple of chances to win a trophy, having made three finals so far. The first two came in 2023 on clay, with the first one being in Chile where he lost to Nicolas Jarry in three tight sets. The next one came in Houston on clay again, with the loss being against Frances Tiafoe in two sets.

His most recent loss in a final happened last year in Lyon where he lost to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in another three set match. He was pretty close both in Chile and in Lyon, but ultimately just lacked finishing.

At 25, Etcheverry will have chances to get it done, and with his clay prowess it’s bound to happen sometime. He’s too good and there are too many clay events for him to fail getting it done sometime in the future.

3. Roman Safiullin

Another player who deserves a spot on this list is Roman Safiullin (image on top). He’s not a world-beating player by any measure, but he has done some good stuff on the Tour, so he deserves a mention. Safiullin peaked at No 36 in the rankings, with his ranking currently being No 69, so a bit worse after a poor start to the 2025 season.

Safiullin made the Wimbledon quarter-final in 2023, which is proof that he can play super solid tennis. It doesn’t happen by chance, and you have to be good at what you do. He also scored some amazing wins over top 10 players, having beaten Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz in the past.

The lone final he made was in 2023 in Chengdu, where he missed out on the trophy against Alexander Zverev, who barely won that match. What’s even more interesting is that Safiullin has a 6-0 record in Challenger finals, so he is a good player. At 27, there is still time for him to lift silverware.

Read more about the racquet of Roman Safiullin.

4. Fabian Marozsan

Another player that we have to mention is Fabian Marozsan. The reason why he’s mentioned is his potential. The Hungarian hasn’t made a single ATP final yet, though it’s coming sometime in the future we expect. He is 25 years old, so slowly but surely entering his prime as a tennis player, and his game is that of a champion.

He plays aggressive tennis and can hit some amazing shots while having a solid serve. The problem for Marozsan so far has largely been the volatility of his form. It goes up and down too much, but it’s something he will manage to figure out with more time and experience.

The ingredients are there, highlighted by some of his wins. He’s beaten top 10 ranked players six times, with wins over Carlos Alcaraz, Casper Ruud, Holger Rune, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov and Andrey Rublev.

Those are massive victories, and if he finally figures out how to play consistent tennis, he will win a trophy in no time.

5. Julien Benneteau

While most contemporary tennis fans might not know who this player is, he was a fantastic tennis player at his peak and he never won a singles trophy. Benneteau has won doubles trophies, but when it comes to singles trophies it simply didn’t happen.

The French veteran made 10 finals. The first one came in 2008 in Morocco, while the last one came in Malaysia in 2014. Five of those 10 were straight sets losses, so not that close, but the rest went the distance.

None of his losses in finals were particularly close outside of being three-set matches as he always lost the final set comfortably, which is regrettable as this is a player who peaked at No 25 in the world.

He also made a few solid runs at the Grand Slam level, making the Roland Garros quarter-finals in 2006 and the Wimbledon fourth round in 2010. He’s by far one of the best players to have never won a trophy, both past and present.

Which other players would you add to this list? Comment below!