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 six where a finalist at just 20-years-old could not quite fulfil that success later in his career, coming close but ultimately being a step behind the ‘Big Three’.

#6 David Nalbandian (575 matches – 66.6% winning record, 11 career titles, #3 career-high ranking)

The Argentinian was best remembered for his Wimbledon run in 2002, when the then 20-year-old, in only his third professional year, reached the final. Nalbandian won his maiden title at Estoril, defeated Finn, Jarrko Nieminen in straight sets for the title, an ironic moment for later in his career as a loss to Nieminen at Indian Wells would be his final match some 11 years later. The 2002 Wimbledon tournament was a strange one with top 10 seeds Marat Safin, Andre Agassi, Pete Sambras and Juan Carlos Ferrero all bundled out in the Round of 64, after seventh seed youngster Roger Federer and eighth seed Swede, Thomas Johansson suffered shock losses in the first round. By the Round of 16, there were only three top 20 players – including world number one Lleyton Hewitt who would go on to reach the final to take on Nalbandian. It would be a one-sided contest with the Australian in the best form of his life, knocking out the 28th seed 6-1 6-3 6-2. But Nalbandian’s career was only getting started.

He won at Basel later in the year, but would have to wait three more years before winning another – this time at Munich. However it was his fourth title that will be remembered the most, as he took out the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup (the equivalent of the ATP Finals). Ranked 11th in the world at the time, and making the cut due to a number of withdrawals, Nalbandian made it all the way to the final where he came from two sets down – losing both tiebreakers – to Federer before somehow finding a way to defeat the Swiss Master and world number one, 6-7 6-7 6-2 6-1 7-6 in a match that is never likely to be forgotten. The win would bolster him into the top 10 again and he stayed in the top four throughout 2006. He reached the semis of the Australian Open before being stunned by Melbourne Park bolter, Marcos Baghdatis in the semis, also making the semis at Roland Garros before having to retire. While he only took home the one individual title that year – at Estoril – Nalbandian would spearhead Argentina to the 2006 Davis Cup final where he defeated both Safin and Nikolay Davydenko in the final. Unfortunately, Argentina went down 2-3 overall.

His 2007 year yielded his best titles yet with to ATP Masters 1000s in Madrid and Paris, and he would back it up with wins in Buenos Aires and Stockholm a year later. Nalbandian was able to finish his career with 11 titles, but it was his ability to play across all surfaces that really stood out. He held a 65 per cent winning record across each of the surfaces with a nice split of five titles on hard court, four on clay, two on carpet and he made a Wimbledon final on grass showing he was more than capable there too. He might not have won a Grand Slam, but for a while the Argentinian could match it with the world’s best.

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Top 10 ATP Players without a Grand Slam title:

#10 Wojciech Fibak (Poland)
#9 Fernando Gonzales (Chile)
#8 Tim Henman (Great Britain)
#7 Robin Soderling (Sweden)
#6 David Nalbandian (Argentina)