WITH no live tennis on currently due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, Draft Central will take a look back at some of the best players of past and present and rank them based on a specific set of guidelines. In our first Top 10 countdown, we look at the Top 10 ATP Players to never have won a Grand Slam title, moving onto number nine, a more recent Chilean talent who was most known for his clay court ability.

#9 Fernando Gonzalez (572 matches – 64.7% winning record, 11 career titles, #5 career-high rank)

A player who retired somewhat young compared to others is Fernando Gonzalez after the Chilean star wrapped up his career early in 2012 at the age of 31. He turned professional at the turn of the century and unfortunately rocked up in the era between the last generation of stars and the new generation of champions. He was a consistent title winner from his first title at Orlando in 2000 through to his 11th title at Vina del Mar (his fourth at the event) in 2009. He was often knocked for his work outside the clay court circuit, but few might forget that he reached an Australian Open final and won silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

While Gonzalez had an easier run than others – he faced eighth seed James Blake in the semi-finals after the American stunned Roger Federer – but nonetheless earned his place in the final and pushed gold medalist Rafael Nadal all the way. Indeed it was Federer who had stopped the Chilean at Melbourne Park the year before when Gonzales was seeded 10th, though he had made his way there courtesy of a straight sets win over Nadal in the quarter finals and then 12th seed, Tommy Haas in the semis. The knock on Gonzalez for his work on hard court was somewhat justified with just two titles coming on the surface and a winning record of 61 per cent. On clay, he had eight titles and won 70.2 per cent of the time.

He will still be remembered as one of the better players of the era, particularly on hard court. He always challenged the top players, and when on clay no one could take him for granted. But unfortunately for Gonzalez, as he was hitting his prime, Nadal was getting going and winning everything on clay. If he had entered the Tour a few years earlier, he might well have finished his career with a Roland Garros or two.

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Top 10 ATP Players without a Grand Slam title:

#10 Wojciech Fibak (Poland)
#9 Fernando Gonzales (Chile)