The 4 players to reach world No 1 but never lift a Grand Slam title – ft. Karolina Pliskova, Marcelo Rios
Reaching world No 1 is one of the toughest and greatest achievements in tennis, and only a select few have ever done it without ever winning a Grand Slam title.
Here, we look at the four players who have sat atop either the ATP or WTA Rankings, but ultimately never tasted major glory.
Marcelo Rios
Rios was the second man to reach world No 1 having not won a Slam, following in the footsteps of Ivan Lendl.
However, while the Czech would ultimately win eight major titles, Rios remains the only ATP player to be world No 1 but not lift a Grand Slam singles title.
The Chilean undoubtedly had a hugely impressive career, winning 18 career titles – including five victories at Masters 1000 events – and reaching 13 further tour finals.
Alongside spending six weeks as No 1, he is probably best remembered for his run to the 1998 Australian Open, where he fell to Petr Korda in straight sets.
That proved to be Rios’ only major final and the only time he made it past the last eight of a Slam, with five quarter-final defeats across the rest of his career.
Jelena Jankovic
Seven women have reached world No 1 before winning a major, and Jankovic is the first of three women who were ultimately unable to claim Grand Slam glory.
The Serbian spent a week at No 1 in August 2008 before being dislodged by compatriot Ana Ivanovic, though returned to the top in October – weeks after a US Open final loss to Serena Williams.
Jankovic was the year-end No 1 for 2008 and reigned for a total of 18 weeks, though was unable to reach a second Grand Slam singles final.
She reached a further five Grand Slam semi-finals – including three at Roland Garros – and won a total of 15 WTA singles titles, including six WTA 1000 victories.
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Dinara Safina
Perhaps no one on this list has come closer to winning a Slam than Safina, who was the runner-up in three major finals.
Safina reached her first Slam final at the 2008 French Open, losing to Ivanovic, and was then runner-up to Williams at the 2009 Australian Open.
The Russian rose to No 1 for the first time in April 2009 and then went on to reach a second straight French Open final that summer, but fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the last major final for both women.
Safina was the world No 1 for 26 weeks that year and won 12 WTA singles titles, including five WTA 1000 titles.
Karolina Pliskova
The most recent entry on this list is Pliskova, who has been the runner-up at two Grand Slam tournaments.
The Czech reached her first Slam final at the US Open in 2016, falling to Angelique Kerber in three sets, and rose to world No 1 the following summer.
Pliskova reigned for eight weeks before a quarter-final defeat at the 2017 US Open ended her brief sprint at the top.
However, she remained a consistent force towards the top of the game for a lengthy period and reached the Wimbledon final in 2021 – being beaten by Ashleigh Barty.
Pliskova is also a former semi-finalist at both the Australian Open and Roland Garros and has won an impressive 17 WTA titles.
